Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Report: Nonlethal Weapons Target Brain, Mimic Schizophrenia

Also see: "THE MILITARY USE OF ELECTROMAGNETIC MICROWAVE AND MIND CONTROL TECHNOLOGY"

Wired: " ... Of all the crazy, bizarre less-lethal weapons that have been proposed, the use of microwaves to target the human mind remains the most disturbing. ... "

Re: These "weapons that have been proposed ... " - These weapons have been perfected and turned on untold hapless victims, but Wired claims they've only been "proposed" in a Pentagon report. Wired still can't find the Black Budget and thinks it's "bizarre." Willful denial is bizarre to me, and so is turning a back to the victims, who've been crying out in pain for decades. Wired is therefore bizarre to me and always has been, because it suffocates with a vacuum of glib, programmed assumptions that never fail to trump reality.

"This concept is still very theoretical" is false. The report could only have been declassified to give the wrong impression about the advanced state of classified EM weapons technology.

A comment attached to the Wired story shows more insight into these "theoretical" weapons than the article itself: "I spoke with a couple of IEEE's who are very familiar with the projected sound technology at American Technologies, Inc in San Diego. It's one which projects sound (voice, whatever) into one's mind bypassing the ear and is only heard by the person receiving the signal. That is the one Woody Norris invented many years ago. Woody Norris has brought it to IEEE meetings to demonstrate the newer upgrades (such as great reduction in size to something that looks like a grey 9x11 sheet of paper. If you want to have first hand experience to know that it exists and put an end to your doubting journalism position once and for all, putting an end to speculation of it's existence vs myth or 'imaginary weapon,' just give American Technologies Inc a call and set up a demonstration. ... Please go ahead and make that call. I'd love to read about it on Wired.com the Danger Room. - Beth"

- AC

Categories: Bizarro, Lasers And Ray Guns, Less-Lethal
By Sharon Weinberger
Wired
February 18, 2008

Of all the crazy, bizarre less-lethal weapons that have been proposed, the use of microwaves to target the human mind remains the most disturbing.

The question has always been: is this anything more than urban myth? We may not have the final answer to this question, but a newly declassified Pentagon report, Bioeffects of Selected Non-Lethal Weapons, obtained by a private citizen under the Freedom of Information Act, provides some fascinating tidbits on a variety of exotic weapons ideas.

Among those discussed are weapons that could disrupt the brain, as well as my longtime obsession, the "Voice of God" device, which creates voices in people's heads. As the report notes, "Application of the microwave hearing technology could facilitate a private message transmission. It may be useful to provide a disruptive condition to a person not aware of the technology.

Not only might it be disruptive to the sense of hearing, it could be psychologically devastating if one suddenly heard 'voices within one's head.'"
Voices in your head disturbing? Heck, yeah, considering it's something most people associate with schizophrenia. The age-old question is whether such a weapon is possible. According to the report, it's not only possible, it's already been demonstrated in crude form:

Because the frequency of the sound heard is dependent on the pulse characteristics of the RF energy, it seems possible that this technology could be developed to the point where words could be transmitted to be heard like the spoken word, except hat it could only be heard within a person's head.

In one experiment, communication of the words from one to ten using "speech modulated" microwave energy was successfully demonstrated. Microphones next to the person experiencing the voice could not pick up the sound. Additional development of this would open up a wide range of possibilities.
....
This technology requires no extrapolation to estimate its usefulness. Microwave energy can be applied at a distance, and the appropriate technology can be adapted from existing radar units. Aiming devices likewise are available but for special circumstances which require extreme specificity, there may be a need for additional development. Extreme directional specificity would be required to transmit a message to a single hostage surrounded by his captors. Signals can be transmitted long distances (hundreds of meters) using current technology. Longer distances and more sophisticated signal types will require more bulky equipment, but it seems possible to transmit some of the signals at closer ranges using man-portable equipment.

If voices in your head aren't disturbing enough, the report also goes on to theorize about a microwave weapon that could use electromagnetic pulses to disrupt the brain's functioning. It would work through "a rhythmic-activity synchronization of brain neurons that disrupts normal cortical control of the corticospinal and corticobulbar pathways that disrupts normal functioning of the spinal motor neurons which control muscle and body movements."

This concept is still very theoretical, the report notes:

Application of electromagnetic pulses is also a conceptual nonlethal technology that uses electromagnetic energy to induce neural synchrony and disruption of voluntary muscle control. The effectiveness of this concept has not been demonstrated. However, from past work in evaluating the potential for electromagnetic pulse generator to affect humans, it is estimated that sufficiently strong internal fields can be generated within the brain to trigger neurons.

Sadly, there's little context for the report, which is dated 1998, and no specific references to current programs or research, if any, about such weapons.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/report-nonletha.html