It reminds me of something said to me when I was a VERY junior engineer and the ink on my degree was still wet. "Always check that a circuit is not live before you start working on it, then check again. Cooking in your own juices is a bad way to die".
I wonder if the ballistics gel got the information that they wanted? I would be tempted to mix various items in with the gel in an effort to improve conductivity but then there might be problems with it setting.