Body armor designed for men could be deadly on women because of a design flaw that can send bullets ricocheting off women’s chests and up into their throats.

Congress is now scrambling to try to fix the issue, with legislation ordering Homeland Security to buy vests designed for the contours of women’s bodies.

Body armor is meant to absorb bullets, dispersing their energy and deforming the round, stopping it from penetrating. Vests are specifically designed to minimize ricochet.

But a secret FBI study several years back found that because of how traditional body armor sits on women’s upper torsos, rounds fired at a certain angle can ricochet up, catching the wearers in the head.

The news rippled through the law enforcement community, but Sens Katie Britt, Alabama Republican, and Gary Peters, Michigan Democrat, figured Homeland Security needed some prodding.

Their legislation has already cleared the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Mr. Peters.

“Our brave Department of Homeland Security law enforcement officers put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe. They deserve the best possible equipment to protect themselves when on the job,” he said.

The Washington Times reached out to the Department of Homeland Security.

As of 2020 there were 137,000 federal law enforcement officers authorized to make arrests and carry a gun. Some 15% of them, or about 20,500, were women, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

About 8,000 of them are at Homeland Security with most of those working for Customs and Border Protection.

The U.S. Capitol Police two years ago issued an alert to its force, including more than 300 women officers, about the dangers of body armor worn by women.

Capitol Police said the FBI discovered the issue and alerted other law enforcement branches. Capitol Police tested their armor and found they had the same problem, according to a report by JustTheNews.com.

“The testing revealed that when a projectile strikes the female body armor at an extreme angle on the upper chest area, the projectile does not penetrate the body armor, but rather, skips or deflects off the surface of the armor into the neck region,” the advisory explained. “Because of the angle at which female body armor lays when worn, projectiles may skip off the top center of the female armor and travel to the area of the jugular notch.”

Chest body armor is a fabric carrier that holds ballistic-resistant panels made of woven fibers. On men, the panels sit flat, but women need them to fit around the bust line, in what the industry refers to as “nonplanar” designs.

The Senate bill orders Homeland Security to work to accommodate “individuals whose body shapes are most closely associated with female agents and officers.”

The measure cleared the committee in a unanimous vote on May 15, during National Police Week.

“Just as they safeguard our homeland, they deserve equipment that will keep them safe in the line of duty,” Ms. Britt said after the bill advanced.

It’s only really been in this century that body armor manufacturers have focused on the female market in law enforcement, responding to the climbing number of women joining police forces.

Early on, they discovered that vests that fit poorly around a woman’s bust left the side of her chest exposed.

Homeland Security’s Science and Technology division has been studying body armor and women in law enforcement for years.

In a 2020 report, the division reported on focus groups of women who use body armor. Things didn’t go well.

“The focus group participants noted that in their experience, these designs do not conform well to their body contours,” the report concluded.

The National Institute of Justice, which sets standards for body armor used in law enforcement, updated its test methods last year to improve the testing on armor designed for women. That included a new set of shot placements.

Branches of the military have been studying women and body armor for several years, prodded in part by legislation championed by Sen. Joni Ernst, Iowa Republican.

The Army’s Modular Scalable Vest includes what the Army Times called “female features,” such as better protection for women “with a larger bust size” and a notch cut in the collar to accommodate longer hair.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.