Content area
Full text
Developing the Hydrodyne, a pressure process that tenderizes meat and destroys pathogens, is genuine cloak and dagger stuff
You know it's going to be a tough day when your boss summons you to meet with the office brass and in come three agents from the FBI and three from Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). They immediately flash their badges and begin a no-nonsense interrogation about why you're trying to acquire explosives, and why none of your bosses know anything about it.
Never mind that you're a research scientist at USDA's 7,000-acre Agricultural Research Service (ARS) facility in Beltsville, MD, smack between Washington, DC and Baltimore.
Morse Solomon, research leader of the ARS meat science research laboratory, tried to explain to the agents that the explosives were for an experiment he was conducting at the request of the Secretary of Agriculture's office. They had requested his help designing an experiment to prove their Hydrodyne theory - that shock waves unleashed by an explosive set off in water would tenderize a piece of meat submerged in the same water.
"Who exactly called you from the Secretary's office?" asked the agents.
I wrote it down, but I don't remember off the top of my head," said Solomon.
"Did you even verify that it was the Secretary's office?" wondered the agents.
"I didn't really see a reason to," replied Solomon.
"And who are you designing the experiment for? Who is trying to deliver explosives to you?" demanded the agents.
"Some guy named John Long." "What's his background and how do we get hold of him?"
"I don't have any idea ..." said Solomon.
In hindsight it's easy to understand how it was that Solomon left this interrogation as much of a suspected terrorist as John Long. Keep in mind, this ARS complex houses all kinds of pesky bacteria, parasites and the like. Plus, to meet Solomon is to believe his creative thoughts must come at the same frenetic pace as his conversation. It's easy to imagine him chasing down the bottom line without worrying about where a cache of explosives was coming from.
"Things weren't going well," remembers Solomon, "Plus, John is a very persistent guy, so he was still trying to get me the explosives."
Solomon wasn't...