by http://SportToday.org/
Report: Nonlethal Weapons Could Target Brain, Mimic Schizophrenia
By Sharon Weinberger February 18, 2008 | 9:14:00 AMCategories: Bizarro,
Lasers and Ray Guns, Less-lethal
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 *** 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.
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