NYC-WTC_000174805

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

10 AFIP Letter/Vol. 159, No. 5 / October 2001

appropriate manner. Operation Noble Eagle: For 2 weeks following the terrorist Air Force Special Agent reflects on his attack, AFIP’s team of forensic patholo­ gists, anthropologists, odontologists, role at Dover Port Mortuary scientists, and investigators coordinated all aspects of Operation Noble Eagle. Since arriving at AFIP 18 months ago, SA just a job. Its role in identifying victims Strasser has worked on a dozen cases following tragedies like September 11 is a involving fatalities. The terrorist attack on real service we provide for families and the Pentagon stands out most in his mind because of the number killed and the

mimr the United States as a whole, and just to have been involved in something of that national and international attention it magnitude was astounding,” he said. “It attracted. Last October, he worked on the made me realize how important the AFIP USS Cole terrorist attack in Yemen in mission is and how great it is to be an which 17 American servicemembers died. American.” AFIP’s forensic team identified the 17 Strasser worked at the Dover Air Force Cole victims in only 3 days. Base (Delaware) Port Mortuary for almost “We thought we had put in some pretty 3 weeks following the September 11 full days working on the Cole victims,” terrorist attacks. As victims of the attack Strasser said. “ However, there were a few I arrived at the morgue, SA Strasser was times in Dover when we processed 30 there to ensure a smooth movement casualties per day, but we had many more staff available to do so.” Strasser was

T Ihree weeks after the Pentagon through eight designated stations in the identification process. Those stations impressed by the teamwork he saw at disaster, most Department of Defense personnel returned to their were: arrival, scanning for explosive Dover. “It wa.s good to see all the entities ordnance, photography, anthropology, work together, ” he said. “Once we had a jobs, including Special Agent Russell fingerprinting, x-ray, dental, and autopsy. positive identification, we knew we could Strasser, chief of the Office of the Armed Strasser ensured that enlisted personnel bring closure to the victim’s family, and Forces Medical Examiner’s Criminal assigned to move the deceased through that was important.” Investigation Division, who returned with each station did so in a timely and - Michele Hammonds a new sense of patriotism. “AFIP isn’t

ogists to identify the presence of teeth, an excellent source of Operation Noble Eagle: DNA. “Sometimes teeth aren’t readily observable during the Radiologic Pathology provides physical inspection, and our findings were a great help to the forensic dental team,” Koeller said. Dover support The final whole-body x-ray report assisted others in the identification process, and encouraged professionals at other

R adiologists from AFIP’.s Department of Radiologic stations to compare their observations with the report and to seek Pathology played an important role in identifying casual- out the radiologist for consultation and discussion. It proved .tie.s in Operation Noble Eagle. “COL Ted Harcke, a beneficial to increasing the accuracy of the information found reservist who recently served as a visiting scientist from the and provided great confidence in the conclusions. American Roentgen Ray Society, staffed the mortuary for the first “What we brought to this mission is a unique and truly 2 weeks,” said CAPT (Sei) Kelly Koeller, MC, USN, department valuable asset, one that really couldn’t be found anywhere else,” chair. Dr. Koeller and MAJ Joseph Bifano, Chief of Radiology at Koeller said. Dover AFB Clinic, also staffed the radiology section at Dover - Christopher C. Kelly during the operation. The radiologists were responsible for reviewing whole-body radiographs in order to document injuries on the victims. “By looking at what types of injuries are present, we gain some insight into whether they were the result of blast effects, blunt trauma, or heat, and this helped us place victims in specific locations when the event occurred,” Koeller said. The whole-body radiograph also enabled the radiology contingent to identify personal effects, jewelry, age of the victim, and any other materials present as part of the identification process. “Because this was a crime scene investigation, we also searched for any objects, such as weapons or aircraft parts, that might be helpful in the investigation.” The radiologists also worked closely with forensic odontoT Col Ted Harcke briefs LtGen Paul Carltan, US.iP Surgeon General, on radiology operations at Dover.

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