Upkeep Of Security Devices A Burden

The D.C. and Arlington County police bomb squads also dropped the wireless subscription. The Prince George's County bomb squad chose to replace that system with other technology purchased through federal grants, a spokesman said.

Some local squads said they had more pressing needs than maintaining the system, which they described as occasionally helpful but not essential.

"To say it's something that's going to make or break us on the scene, I would say not," Swain said.

Others said they found the kit valuable because of its wireless connection to other bomb experts and its copious reference material.

"We could carry around 10 textbooks, but it's all there" in the computer, said Sgt. Thomas Sharkey, Metro's bomb-squad commander. Metro has continued to maintain its kits, as have bomb squads run by the Fairfax County police and Virginia State Police.

Jeff Fuller, a spokesman for the National Bomb Squad Commanders Advisory Board, said that many squads had found the kits too expensive to maintain but that he didn't know how many stopped using it. Martinez, the FBI official, also said she did not know.

Martinez said the kits were initially successful in teaching bomb technicians about weapons of mass destruction. Now, though, some of the kits are sitting unused, she acknowledged.

"It is sad -- now you've got that paperweight doorstop out there," she said.

But the FBI made it clear from the start that local and state squads would eventually have to pick up the maintenance costs, she said. "Maybe people didn't read the fine print," she added.

FBI bomb technicians across the country have continued to maintain their kits and can take them to scenes to assist, she said.

Was the project a bad use of $25 million? No, Martinez said, but she added, "I wish it came with the maintenance thing."

Because of advances in technology, the 2003 kits would need significant upgrades to be effective now, she said.

In this year's application for its homeland security grant, the region's bomb squads included a request to upgrade their Cobra kits and pay for wireless cards. But local officials say it is not clear whether they would use their funding award on the project because they have higher priorities for their squads, including protective suits and robots.

"The last thing we want to do is put money into something the grant is not going to keep up over time," said Loudoun County Fire Marshal Keith Brower, who heads a regional committee overseeing bomb squads. "We're flagging those issues right now."