Trade Show Offers Peek at Secret Spy Tech World

TAMPA, Fla. (June 17) -- From the front, it's just a ramshackle Middle-Eastern corner store selling apple-scented tobacco and water pipes. But walk through a curtain to the back and you've entered another world: a fully functioning lab capable of producing mustard gas.

It's an exact replica of a clandestine chemical weapons lab encountered by U.S. forces abroad, says Robert Whitehurst, a lead device engineer for the O'Gara Group, which created the mock facility. The level of detail covers the facility's technical design, like a working exhaust tube for gas, and decor, such as a militant recruiting poster hanging on the back wall.

And that's precisely the point for the company, which sells replicas of everything from improvised explosive devices to suicide vests meant to be used as training devices for U.S. special operations personnel.

More than just another trade show, this year's Special Operations Forces Industry Conference reflects the type of enemy the U.S. military's "secret warriors" are now battling. Guns, knives and armored cars are all standard fare, but added to the mix are fake roadside bombs, dummies dressed in keffiyahs and, of course, the O'Gara Group's mock chemical weapons lab, which according to the company brochure sells for upwards of $28,000.

With its unique mix of spy technology and military gear, the trade show, sponsored by the National Defense Industrial Association, provides at least a small glimpse into the so-called "secret war" being fought by special operations forces around the world.

Since 9/11, that world has grown: Special operations forces have increased in size as well as budget, which is now around $10 billion. Under the Obama administration, special operations has reportedly taken on a larger role beyond Afghanistan, expanding its work in intelligence gathering and counterterrorism operations in places like Yemen and Somalia.

And those increasing operations appear to be driving an increasing need for advanced -- and diverse -- technology, much of it linked to special operations forces' need to work clandestinely.

True to special operations' reputation for secrecy, rules for the SOFIC were stricter than at most trade shows. For the first time this year, conference organizers allowed the media to take pictures in the exhibit hall, but only with explicit permission from the company being photographed.

There were also restrictions on taking pictures of people. Special operations personnel below the rank of major or master sergeant are allowed to be photographed only from the side ("to avoid both eyes and bridge of the nose") and cannot be identified by name.

Some of those companies -- like their customers -- prefer their work to remain below the radar; their websites provide few public details and are password protected. The booth of one surveillance company, Black Tree, featured listening devices embedded in what looked like nothing more than a tree branch (its website says only that it offers "a host of discrete and specialized services for our customers and partners.")

Another company, Geonautics International, advertises its "covert technical surveillance" products, which include a camera mounted inside a Garfield stuffed animal and a "nano camera" that comes hidden inside a Pepsi can. A company representative manning the booth declined to speak about the product line.

Dillon Works, a fabrication firm that created the "Tooner Field," an entertainment area at Atlanta's Turner Field, was at the show advertising its capabilities in concealing surveillance technology.

A brochure for the company shows flawlessly realistic utility boxes, gas canisters and HVAC ducting --- all fake re-creations designed to conceal cameras or microphones. "We can't provide information regarding our other concealment projects," the company's brochure reads.

A company representative at the booth also declined to speak to the press.

Some products are less about spying than secrecy. For instance, iFortress builds modular Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities, essentially room-sized safes that are used for working with classified documents. "It's green," boasts CEO Jerry Lyons of the fortress-like rooms, which use biodegradable materials.

Unmanned aerial vehicles of all shapes and sizes also dominated the show, a change from previous years, according to exhibitors, when such offerings were sparse. Some drones were designed for spying, while others were intended to hunt down and destroy targets.

At its booth, Northrop Grumman featured the BAT unmanned aircraft, a drone the company acquired from a race car maker and is now hoping to sell to Special Operations Command, among other potential customers. "We're starting to get into weaponization," says Mark Gamache, a company official.

Some unmanned aircraft are more futuristic, including a drone created by the Air Force Research Laboratory, which is shaped and painted to resemble a real bird. Though not ready for deployment, the bird drone, which may someday recharge itself by perching on utility lines like a real bird, has flown for 30 minutes.

While the show is dominated by defense megaliths like Lockheed Martin and Boeing, there is also a handful of smaller companies advertising unique products, Gary Rittenhouse, of Reality Encounter Operations, whose career has focused on movie special effects, is now marketing a mock suicide vest he created to simulate a real explosion.

Rittenhouse says the detonation creates 3,000-degree heat for a millisecond, but with the right precautions, it is safe for the wearer. So far, only Rittenhouse has worn the device, which in videos creates a frighteningly real explosion.

Rittenhouse says he started working on his device in May 2008, hoping to sell it as a training tool for U.S. forces. He submitted a proposal to the Pentagon's Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, which is tasked with helping battle the roadside bombs that are now the leading killer of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

But the answer Rittenhouse got back from the office, and from other places he pitched the idea to, was simply that there was "no specific request" for such a device.

At the SOFIC, he's gotten lots of interest, but no buyers yet. "It's hard for a little guy," he says.