Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) -- a method shown to be very useful in detecting and identifying compounds in complex mixtures -- has been used to identify the explosive components in several military explosives. The method consists of recording the chemical ionization (C) spectrum of the mixture and the MS/MS collision induced dissociation (CID) spectra of typical ions from the CI spectrum. These CI spectra are then compared with the CID spectra of parallel ions in standard explosives. Identical CID spectra positively confirmed the identity of the explosive components in the analyzed explosives' mixtures. (Publisher abstract)