Sensing technology has yet to beat a dog's nose.

• Author: Kennedy, Harold
• Position: SNIFFING OUT SMUGGLERS

FRONT ROYAL, VA -- The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency is increasing its reliance on K-9 teams to spot terrorists, illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. The current force of approximately 1,400 teams--each consisting of a dog and a handler--has grown by 200 over the past two years.

The reason is the sensitivity of a dog's nose, said David Sturm, an instructor here, at the CBP's Canine Enforcement Training Center (CETC). "Science hasn't come up with a sensing technology yet that beats a dog's nose," he said. "Humans smell a stew. Dogs smell the carrots, the potatoes, the meat. They break it down."

Several of agencies within the Department of Homeland Security--CBP's parent organization--have active K-9 programs. The Transportation Security Administration, for example, in September announced plans to provide explosive-detecting dogs to 10 mass-transit and commuter-rail systems around the nation.

Most of the CBP's K-9s are trained at the CETC. There are two exceptions. Members of CBP's Beagle Brigade that specialize in sniffing out illegally imported agricultural products learn their skills at the National Detector Dog Training Center in Orlando, Fla., and the Border Patrol's canines, who detect concealed aliens and drugs along the Mexican and Canadian borders, are trained at the National Canine Facility in El Paso, Texas.

All other CBP canine teams are trained in Front Royal, and CETC Director Lee T. Titus would like his facility to take on an even larger role. "We'd like to become the canine training facility for all of DHS," he told National Defense. "We're working on a paper about that right now."

CETC already is working with the canine programs of other DHS agencies, Titus said. The facility has a memorandum of agreement with the Coast Guard, he said. "We've started training their dogs. They've adopted everything we do with our explosives dogs. We're working with them to set up training aids."

Titus wants to establish similar relationships with the canine programs of the TSA, Secret Service and Federal Protection Service.

The 240-acre center--located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains--was previously a beef-cattle research center and U.S. Cavalry remount station.

The facility became a canine-training center in 1974, explained Sturm. Two decades later, it embarked upon a renovation program, adding a 100-run kennel building, small-arms firing range, vehicle training areas and classrooms.

The academic facility was...