American soldiers as well as Afghan soldiers and citizens face a variety of security threats on a daily basis. Perhaps the most significant of these are IEDs, improvised explosive devices, which have claimed thousands of lives on both sides of the battle. The reason terrorists favor IEDs is that they are easily created, cheap, and deathly effective. As such, Americans have invested around $17 billion in developing the latest technology to detect and defuse these threats. However, as counter-terrorism statistics indicate, the success rate of technology holds constant at about 50%. Despite newer technology, the results simply are not good enough when our troops need them the most. This reality has led to a surprising conclusion: when it comes to successfully detecting concealed bombs, traditional man and dog teams perform substantially better than soldiers with even the latest technology.
Dog enthusiasts everywhere may be nodding their head at this conclusion, and they would be justified. The latest research indicates that soldiers with dogs are around 80% successful in detecting explosives. Once again, that is 30 percent higher than even the best technology we have at our disposal. As compared to technology, dogs offer a 60% higher chance that our soldiers will successfully detect threats and ultimately survive.
New technologies often drive the development of industry. This is certainly the case for many sectors where the newest, most advanced products can be expected to win a large portion of the market. But perhaps the key factor that makes new products so appealing is their ability to meet consumer needs. As a function of both marketing and design, meeting perceived or subconscious needs drives our spending patterns and pushes growth and development forward. This assessment is given credence by big conferences such as the recent ASIS 2010. For many in attendance, discovering the latest and greatest gadgets and practices in the security industry was their reason for coming. However, in situations of greatest need, our soldiers cannot afford to have anything less than the best chances for success and survival. If even the best new developments cannot improve their capability, then they are of little use. Thinking back, maybe it should not come as a surprise that dogs are the most effective bomb finders. Canine units have near-universal adoption with local police forces, particularly when it comes to detecting drugs. My high school certainly made use of them to conduct random drug searches. Such dogs are also highly effective at sniffing out people who are hiding or chasing down criminals on the run. Our canine friends are counted on to perform difficult and dangerous security tasks at a multitude of levels.
From this reality the security industry can derive a simple wisdom. Sometimes the classic, time-tested strategy is the best choice. Newer technology is always appealing, but when it doesn’t deliver results we will stick with what works. Our companies should continue to improve technology in order to maximize safety for the troops, and maybe someday they will develop something that exceeds the dogs’ capability. But for now, man’s best friend takes the cake.