An interview with Prof. Yosef Almog, head of the forensic chemistry research group at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ephraim Askolai
A small room, whose shelves cover the walls and are filled almost to the ceiling with books, folders, chemicals and memorabilia from the varied and fascinating periods of his life. This is the office of Professor Yosef Almog, who heads the forensic chemistry research group at the Kazali Institute for Applied Chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Professor Almog has been engaged for most of his life in one of the fields of interest to the public, even those who lack knowledge in the field. Apart from his main occupation as a researcher and teacher at the university, Professor Almog is an extremely busy person, in activities for the public, in consulting for entities in Israel and abroad, and more.
The first question I asked Professor Almog was, naturally, "What is forensics?" He answered in one word: legal. And by extension, forensic chemistry is the scientific field that uses chemical methods to decipher crimes, and to create objective evidence for the court. Forensic science as a whole is an extensive, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary field, popularly called the science of forensic identification and in English, in its narrow instruction, Crime Scene Investigation or CSI. Indeed, there is no person in Israel today who is more knowledgeable and more qualified to be interviewed on the subject of forensics than Almog, a retired sub-chief, who for 16 years was the head of the Department of Forensic Investigation (IDD) in the Israel Police and transferred ten years ago to the Hebrew University.
The next question, probably asked naturally, was Professor Almog's opinion on the TV series CSI and similar ones that deal with forensics. The somewhat surprising answer was that in most cases the scientific and technical facts in these programs are accurate. However, there are two things that hinder him: only a few laboratories in the world are equipped with all the means that can be seen in one program and therefore in practice there is a need for many collaborations between different laboratories, whether in the same country or abroad. The second thing concerns the actual world of investigations: usually the MZP will identify a single reliable physical component of the crime, such as a fingerprint, for example. In rare cases, two separate reliable objective components will be found in the same investigation. Professor Almog hardly encountered cases where three separate characteristics were identified in the same crime investigation. Whereas in the broadcast series, the investigators sometimes arrive at six different components, in one investigation, which undermines the credibility of the film. Because of the popularity of the CSI series, Almog says, a new scientific field was born: the study of the impact of CSI programs on the American way of life. Quite a few universities in the USA have begun to investigate this phenomenon.
As an example of an investigation that brought up two separate objective findings, Almog brought up the investigation into the murder of the late Minister Rehabam Ze'evi. Due to the proximity of the national headquarters of the police to the scene of the murder, the MZP squad arrived at the incident very quickly and found a cigarette butt billowing smoke next to the body of the murdered man. From information received from hotel employees, room 548 was suspected to be the place where the killers stayed before the murder. A DNA test found a match between the DNA on the cigarette butt and the DNA that was on half of the differences found in the ashtray in the same hotel room. The second separate component identified were chemically developed fingerprints on newspaper in the same room. These led to the suspect in the murder. Then the DNA from the cigarettes is also associated with it. The subject of detecting "hidden" fingerprints on "problematic" surfaces is one of the areas of research in Almog's unit, and the achievements in this field have led to global publicity and the adoption of these and other methods as assets of the iron sheep of laboratories all over the world.
Another topic in his work is the discovery of explosives and identifications, either in their raw form or in the remains left after the explosion. One of these substances is urea nitrate, which is easily produced from urea, which is used as a common and cheap chemical fertilizer, and nitric acid. This explosive material was "loved" by terrorists, and was used, among other things, in the first Al-Qaeda attack on the Twin Towers, in 1993, and in the explosive belts of suicide terrorists in Israel. The detection method developed by Almog and his team uses a simple and cheap material that detects tiny amounts, down to micrograms, of the explosive.
Another issue that currently preoccupies the research community and the public as a whole is the forensic use of DNA. This issue is at the center of about half of the studies published in the forensic press in the world. The methods of discovering and deciphering DNA findings have undergone an important transformation since the beginning of work on the subject, and today it is possible to work in a laboratory with a tiny sample of animal material and extract DNA from it in quantities that can be analyzed and from which all the required forensic information can be obtained. Most interesting are the uses that are not related to legal issues, but for the study of populations, archaeological findings, and more. Out of the needs, a new scientific sub-field of forensic statistics developed. This field deals, among other things, with the probabilities of associating an example with a certain person, since sometimes it is important to determine how unambiguous the association is. If the probability of error is very low, beyond the size of the population at issue and characterized by genetic characterization or beyond the global population, the court will be ready to accept the finding as solid evidence.
A painful issue that is largely unique to Israel is the identification of martyrs, and first and foremost IDF martyrs and victims of terrorism. Out of concern for this, immediately after the Yom Kippur war, they established the IDF fingerprint database. With the progress in DNA research, they decided to establish a biological identification database that will be used for the purpose of identifying cavities and for this purpose only. What is scientifically interesting here is that the same DNA segment used to identify a person comes from the DNA regions known as "junk DNA" that are not suitable for use in research on genetic diseases, personality traits, and the like. Keeping the information from these areas only may help to reduce the sensitivity of the delivery and storage of the information in the DNA bank in the IDF. The "biometric database" law passed by the Knesset in the first reading in October 2008 provoked a fierce controversy in the public. According to Professor Almog, the public should not be afraid of this law, because it is meant to protect the public, and is nothing more than an addition to that wide reservoir already in the hands of the government. It should be noted that this law does not include the issue of DNA and taking these samples is only permitted by law in cases of criminal investigation or with the permission of the person giving the sample.
In Israel, it is difficult to conduct comprehensive studies on the subject of forensic DNA due to the paucity of human resources, researchers, and the paucity of technical means available to those researchers dealing with the subject. The main topics that occupy researchers here largely concern Dumas matters such as the detection of explosives and the identification and diagnosis of shootings. Due to a paucity of resources, the criminal identification system in Israel is not even equipped with laboratory equipment to the required extent, and a significant part of the occupations of the forensic scientists is in the development of simple, cheap and immediate methods to assist the activities of the law enforcement officers. The Forensic Chemistry group at the Hebrew University is the only one in Israel that deals with the subject as a major field of activity, although research work on forensic subjects also takes place in other places, since as mentioned it is a multidisciplinary subject. However, recently there have been talks to increase the relationship between the MZP and the Hebrew University, something that will encourage and increase forensic research in Israel. This is not so simple since the burden placed on the MZP is among the highest, if not the highest, in the world.
An important feature of the work of the MZP is maintaining the rights of the interrogated or accused of criminal offenses. Her defense attorneys are given full authority to conduct their own tests, and to present expert testimony and independent test results. There is only one private company in Israel whose main occupation is forensic analysis, therefore the defense attorneys sometimes need opinions from laboratories outside of Israel. Also, there are cases in which both the MZP and the defense apply to the Academy with requests for opinions, especially when the MZP does not have the knowledge and expertise required in these cases.
Thanks to Prof. Almog's extensive knowledge and expertise, he was appointed to head the Committee for Defense Technologies against Terrorism, next to the Headquarters (formerly the National Security Council). This committee is supposed to propose and lead research works, the main of which is the use of scientific methods for protection against terrorism in all fields. The uniqueness of the committee that was established by the head of the council at the time, Colonel (Ret.) Giora Eiland, is in its role to provide an answer to special needs in the field of combating terrorism. There are cases where there is no clear "father" for a specific issue, and coordination and joint activity between different bodies must be brought about in order to achieve the common goal. This committee is the leading body in these cases.
After the official end of the interview, Professor Almog told me that he was convinced that it would be very difficult for him to engage in basic research whose applications for the common good are not visible and obvious. There is no doubt that in the history of his activity Professor Almog was able to demonstrate extraordinary success in fulfilling his desires.
Professor Yosef Almog moved from the police forensics department to the academic arena. His scientific work received worldwide recognition when he was awarded the Lucas Medal, the most important honor of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, awarded once every three years by the Academy "for outstanding achievements in forensic science".
* Dr. Ephraim Ascholai is a member of the editorial board of Scientific American Israel.
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The few labs that are equipped with the technology of the series are the labs that were set up to film the series.