Will Obama Call Off the Dogs on the Human Scent-Tracking Initiative?

C. Russell Brumfield, author of the new book Whiff! The Revolution of Scent Communication in the Information Age, warns that human scent identification technologies could prove ominous for the future privacy of U.S. citizens.

“President-elect Barack Obama has assured voters that he will address certain privacy and human rights issues, such as the closing of Gitmo and prohibiting future torture,” Brumfield explained. “However, I am very concerned that there are many other little-known, high-tech government initiatives that are destined to become major privacy invasion issues for U.S. citizens in the near future.”

Brumfield’s findings, published in his newly released book, describe a new technology, capable of recording a person’s “scent ID,” and envisions that the government could actually collect the unique scents of its citizens, and store them for use in identification and tracking.

Brumfield discovered that one such program, spearheaded by the CIA over 40-years ago, was ignited by a white paper submitted by CIA agent Spencer Tebrich entitled “Human Scent and its Detection.” An excerpt from the declassified document reads, “Our mechanical dog, when he is born, should be much more unobtrusive than his ancestor, he should be able to tell us just whom he has smelled, and should maintain a reliable permanent record of his visitors.”

The average human sheds at least 40,000 dead skins cells per minute, leaving an invisible trail of miniature “breadcrumbs” for the future scent-sensing robotic hounds. These dead skin cells contain a signature profile that is unique to every human, which explains why live, body-sniffing hounds can so easily pick up the faintest scent long after their quarry has vacated an area.

This CIA initiative coincided with major advances in technology that culminated in a well-funded research project called the “Unique Signature Detection Project” presently being conducted by the Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA). As reported in “Whiff!,” according to DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker, the program can be used “to identify and distinguish specific ‘high-level-of-interest individuals’ within groups of enemy troops or combatants.” The program was funded to the tune of 15 million dollars in 2007, and its staff is getting closer to perfecting the technology, making military scent detection an imminent probability.

As these types of technologies become a reality, the implications could paint an Orwellian picture. With the growing marvel of aroma-sensor technology, like bomb and drug detection equipment, we will eventually be able to authenticate and certify the scent identity of a person by merely passing a wand near the body.

This technology has no bounds in what can only be a dramatic shift in forensic science and eventually, identity recognition. Brumfield warns his readers that unscrupulous government officials may start with a program to collect the scent of prison inmates, then advance the program to include children in the name of safety. Eventually, he asserts, Americans could become accustomed to Scent ID programs, and ultimately realize that they have completely given up their rights to privacy.

The question is whether the incoming Obama Administration will quash these types of programs, or move to limit them through legislation. Americans have learned to be wary of these “Patriot Act” types of initiatives during the eight long years of President Bush’s policies.