In The Desert Southwest....

September 11th or not, when it comes to high explosives, some things never change:

In the post-Sept. 11, 2001, era, one might assume bomb-making materials would be under the tightest possible security.

In fact, they sit unattended in the New Mexico desert, guarded by little more than lock and key.

Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White says he doesn't understand it.

"You have to question the logic behind federal regulations that prohibited you from carrying nail clippers onto an airplane, but allow you to store high-grade explosives in a poorly protected site in the middle of nowhere," White said.

On Sunday afternoon, 400 pounds of military-grade plastic explosives, 20,000 feet of explosive detonation cord and 2,500 blasting caps - enough material to flatten a large building, experts say - were found to be missing from a storage facility about nine miles southwest of Albuquerque, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced Monday.

The private storage facility ... was in compliance with ATF regulations, said Wayne Dixie, special agent in charge of the agency's Albuquerque office.

The facility was also in compliance in December 2003 when, under a different owner, 350 pounds of explosive ammonium nitrate pellets were stolen from the site. That material ... was later recovered abandoned on a deserted roadside.

...Dixie said the missing material is not explosive until attached to a detonator, adding that he hopes the person who stole it doesn't have that knowledge. But the thief knew enough to travel deserted roads to reach the storage lot, get over or through its padlocked gate and break into two metal trailers.