Skip to the list

With the recent igniting of two suspicious packages in Maryland and one in D.C., The List got curious. She’d heard that anyone could learn to make a mail bomb, but it struck her as difficult — chemicals, wires, packaging issues. The List consulted Chris Ronay, president of the Institute of Makers of Explosives, to gauge how hard it really is to make a bomb. This former chief of the FBI’s explosives unit and one-time lead expert on the Unabomber case patiently answered The List’s questions but repeatedly advised her to just go look stuff up on the Internet.

1. Letter bombs are easy to manufacture but don’t do much damage

   Though Ronay says all explosive devices are “scary,” he says most envelope explosives “are probably not very dangerous only because they don’t contain very powerful explosives.” He explains that a letter bomb tends to burn rather than explode. “They put some kind of powder in there that will pop and flash like a firework,” he says. Ronay adds that there is a world of bombs out there on the Internet and suggests The List take a look.

2. A lethal letter bomb is tougher to pull off

   “There a lot of things you could make an explosive out of, common materials,” Ronay says—suggesting once more that The List explore some of them online—“and if you put small quantities in a letter, you’re not going to get much bang for your buck.” Sheet explosive, he says, is a good way to make a letter bomb lethal, but it’s a military product and hard to come by.

3. A very special type of 12-year-old could manufacture a letter bomb

   “If he’s a smart 12-year-old, and mechanically inclined, he might be able to mix something up with the hairspray bottle under your sink,” Ronay says. (He repeats that The List should do some Internet searches on the topic.) While at the F.B.I., Ronay didn’t see any cases with juvenile suspects come across his desk, but “a youngster could do it if he had a mind to do it.”

4. Chemistry background required to make hard-to-find chemicals

   Ronay says highly motivated bombers like terrorists have learned how to manufacture PTT, a common explosive that’s hard to get but highly effective. “It’s a lab procedure,” he says, not for somebody who’s not a chemist.

5. Sending a bomb that detonates at a particular time easier with a bit of cell phone knowledge

   “Used to be a lot harder,” Ronay says. “If you’re going to send something through the mail, there has to be a triggering mechanism that has to be in the package. Usually some sort of spring device. … Nowadays with cell phones and electronic equipment, you can put a cell phone in the device and mail it to somebody.” A call to the phone will detonate the bomb. “You’d have to know a little bit about cell phone circuitry,” he says. “It’s more complicated than the average person would know, but you could learn it pretty easily.” The List says that the wiring sounds complicated. Ronay tells her to look it up on the Internet.