In the episode, Gary translates a document that shows the USDOT number of the taker truck with the fuel and bomb is 3679431.


The Alphas team stop and search the truck, but they find the tanker trailer is empty and there is no bomb aboard the truck. The USDOT number of the truck is shown. It does not match the message shown above. It is 3679432. The last digit is 2 instead of 1.


Next, the truck with the full fuel tanker trailer and bomb is shown continuing towards its target. The USDOT number shown is 3679431. It is the same as the message above.


When Gary translates another document, the year is shown to be 1011. This leads him to discover the woman helping him translate the documents, Anna, is the person who planned the attack. Since the year shown is 1011, this leads him to discover that the USDOT number should end in 2 rather than 1.


The dialogue clearly indicates that the decoy truck's USDOT number is 3679431, and the actual truck's USDOT number is 3679432. However, the USDOT number shown on screen are reversed and don't match the dialogue. In addition, the role of USDOT numbers is portrayed incorrectly. In the episode, the Alphas team are able to use the USDOT number to track the truck with GPS. In reality, USDOT numbers are issued to companies or organizations that operate a commercial vehicle fleet. The number alone would not allow someone to track a single truck. It would only lead them to the company that owns and operates the truck.

The USDOT numbers used in the episode are invalid. Currently (as of 8/8/2011), the highest USDOT number issued is 2180199. The online USDOT registration loookup can be found here: http://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/CompanySnapshot.aspx