CIA left explosive material on school bus

(Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

published 1 April 2016

The CIA announced on Thursday it left behind "explosive training material" on a Virginia school bus it used for a training exercise last week, but it "did not pose a danger to the passengers on the bus."

Last week, while Loudoun County students were on spring break, CIA trainers placed the explosive material in the engine compartment of the bus and around an area high school to test a dog's ability to find it, The Washington Post reports. The dog was able to find the material under the hood, the CIA said, but some of it fell down and became wedged under hoses. Because it was the same color as the hoses, the bus driver did not see the material during the daily inspection, and it wasn't found until routine maintenance on Wednesday.

While the bus did take students to and from school on Monday and Tuesday, the material was "incredibly stable" and passengers were never in danger, the county sheriff's office said. Wayde Byard, a spokesman for the county schools, said the "putty-type" material is designed for use on the battlefield and requires a special detonator. "We're all very upset by what happened, but we're going to review everything that did happen," he said. "Obviously, we're concerned. The CIA really expressed its deep concern and regret today, and it was sincere."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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