In the twentieth century a new technology has been developed that is startling in its power and implications This is focused electromagnetic broadcasting, one application of which is in weaponry. These weapons are part of the new "non-lethal" arsenal - a misnomer, since this weaponry might just as well be called a death ray - touted by the military as a humane way for conducting war in the years to come. It may also be a way of conducting "peace" - of the 1984 and Brave New World mind-controlled variety.

Certainly this possibility has not been overlooked, as evidenced by the following quote from Zbigniew Brzezinski, in his Between Two Ages: America's Role in the Technetronic Era: "It may be possible - and tempting - to exploit for strategic political purposed the fruits of research on the brain and on human behaviour. Gordon J.F. MacDonald, a geophysicist specialising in problems of warfare, has written that artificially excited electronic strokes 'could lead to a pattern of oscillations that produce relatively high power levels over certain regions of the earth…In this way, one could develop a system that would seriously impair the brain performance of very large populations in selected regions over an extended period.' No matter how deeply disturbing the thought of using the environment to manipulate behaviour for national advantages to some, the technology permitting such use will very probably develop within the next few decades." Early electromagnetic weapons experiments were conducted by the Japanese during World War II. Information on these "death rays" was revealed when Japanese scientists were interrogated. According to reports of the scientists the death ray was never used on humans, but was tested on animals.

In 1960 there were rumours of a fantastic new Soviet super weapon employing Nikola Tesla electromagnetic technology. With subsequent revelations about Soviet research in these areas, it seems that these rumours were true.

During the 1960s high levels of electromagnetic radiation were detected at the American embassy in Moscow. It was determined that the face of the embassy was being systematically swept with electromagnetic emissions by the Soviets. One guess was that a microwave beam was used to activate electronic equipment hidden within the building; another guess was more macabre: that the beam was being used to disrupt the nervous systems of American workers in the embassy. Giving weight to the latter supposition, many of the employees of the embassy became ill. Ambassador Walter Stoessel suffered a rare blood disease likened to leukaemia, and experienced headaches and bleeding from the eyes. At least two other employees contracted cancer. According to researcher Alex Constantine, rather than informing embassy personnel of what was going on, the CIA chose to study the effects of the radiation.

Dr. Milton Zaret, called in to investigate what was termed "the Moscow Signal," reported that the CIA wondered "whether I though the electromagnetic radiation beamed at the brain from a distance could affect the way a person might act," and, "could microwaves be used to facilitate brainwashing or to break down prisoners under investigation." Zaret's conclusion about the Moscow Signal was that, "Whatever other reasons the Russians may have had, they believed the beam would modify the behaviour of personnel." Author Len Bracken, who was present in Moscow at the time, has stated to the author in correspondence that the microwave radiation was beamed from a shack on a building across from the embassy. In 1977 the microwave shack caught fire and burned. Bracken says, "It was a Friday night and the Marine House Bar was playing 'Burn, Baby, Burn' [i.e. "Disco Inferno"]." Bracken also relates that "in '79 a strange box was installed in the wall in my room [in Moscow], supposedly relating to the heating system."

Irradiation of the American embassy reportedly prompted a response from the Americans: the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Project PANDORA, conducted at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research from 1965 to 1970. One aspect of the project involved bombarding chimpanzees with microwave radiation. Referencing a reported statement by the head of the project, "the potential for exerting a degree of control on human behaviour by low level microwave radiation seems to exist and he urged that the effects of microwaves be studied for possible weapons applications."

Within three years, Dr. Gordon J.F. McDonald, a scientific advisor to the president at the time, indicated that "Perturbation of the environment can produce changes in behavioural patterns." The perturbation that McDonald was alluding to was EM waves, and the changes in behaviour were altered brain wave patterns.

In 1965 the McFarlane Corporation in America came up with the Buck Rogers-sounding "modulated electron gun X-ray nuclear booster," a breakthrough in the "death ray" technology. Reports indicate that the device could also be used in communications, telemetry, and remote controlled guidance systems. McFarlane later claimed that the system was stolen from him by NASA, and that the principles of the acknowledged death ray were employed in MIROS, an orbital "communications system"; at least that is the way it was described by NASA.

In 1972 the army admitted extensive research into the effects of irradiation on life forms, and the technology of electro-magnetic weaponry. One of the by products of this research led to the invention of a powerful "electronic flame thrower." This may have been the weapon described in a study of the U.S. Army Mobility Equipment Research and Development Center, "Analysis of Microwaves for Barrier Warfare," describing the use of electromagnetic energy for an anti-personnel and vehicle weapon. The weapon discussed in this study was stated to be capable of producing third-degree burns on human skin.

Dr. Dietrich Beischer, a German scientist employed by the American government, irradiated 7,000 naval crewmen with potentially harmful levels of microwave energy at the naval Aerospace Research Laboratory in Pensacola, Florida, and talked about it at a symposium in 1973. Dr. Beischer disappeared soon after the experiment. According to PANDORA alumnus Robert O. Becker, he was to spend some time with Beischer but, "Just before the meeting, I got a call from him. With no preamble or explanation, he blurted out: 'I'm at a pay phone. I can't talk long. They are watching me. I can't come to the meeting or ever communicate with you again. I'm sorry. You've been a good friend. Goodby.' Soon afterward I called his office at Pensacola and was told, 'I'm sorry, there is no one here by that name.' Just as in the movies. A guy who had done important research there for decades just disappeared."

According to Eldon Byrd, of the Naval Surface Weapons Center in Silver Springs, Maryland, "Between 1981 and September 1982, the Navy commissioned me to investigate the potential of developing electromagnetic devices that could be used as non-lethal weapons by the Marine Corps for the purpose of 'riot control,' hostage removal, embassy and ship security, clandestine operations, and so on." Byrd wrote of experiments in irradiating animals with low level electromagnetic fields, mentioning changes in brain function, and stating that the animals "exhibited a drastic degradation of intelligence later in life… couldn't learn easy tasks… indicating a very definite and irreversible damage to the central nervous system of the fetus." The experiments went farther. Byrd wrote that, "At a certain frequency and power intensity, they could make the animal purr, lay down and roll over."

By the early 1970s, according to Robert C. Beck, "Anecdotal data amassed suggesting that a pocket-sized transmitter at power levels of under 100 milliwatts could drastically alter the moods of unsuspecting persons, and that vast geographical areas could be surreptitiously mood manipulated by invisible and remote transmissions of EM [electromagnetic] energy."

In the late 1970s Russian negotiators at the Strategic Arms Limitation talks (SALT II), proposed banning "a new generation of weapons of mass destruction" employing electromagnetic pulses. It has been suggested that the Russians, in proposing the ban, were attempting to feel out the Americans as to the current state of their electromagnetic weapons research. The Americans did not seem to have a clue as to what the Russians were talking about, and the proposal was tabled.

In fact, some Americans knew exactly what the Russians were talking about, although the Reds had a significant head start on several fronts. In 1959 Russian scientists Gaponov, Schneider, and Pantell had conceived of what was called a cyclotron resonance maser, essentially an industrial strength tunable ray gun. Beginning about 1966, the Russians launched into a heavily funded crash project to develop the gyrotron, another form of electromagnetic "gun," and in 1971 they were engaged in their first field tests with the gyrotron.

In 1975, physicists M.S. Rabinovich and A.A. Rukhadze and others active in Russian strategic defense at the Lebedev Physics Institute in Moscow announced that using a cyclotron resonance maser, they had produced microwave bursts that far outstripped anything the Americans were even theoretically proposing and that, according to the analysis of the American military, were powerful enough to be used in weapons applications.

A report from the American Rand Corporation at the time concluded that the Russian experiments were part of a larger Russian program designed for the production of electromagnetic weaponry, centered at the Institute of Applied Physics in Gor'kiy, Lebedev Physics Institute in Moscow, and another group of research institutes in Tomsk. By the 1980s, it was reported, Russian gyrotron weapons had been reduced in size so that they would fit into a regular military truck, and had the capability of wiping out large military implacements or, at lower frequencies, irradiating whole towns.

In 1982 the Air Force released a review of the use of electromagnetics on life forms, saying "Currently available data allow the projection that specially generated radio frequency radiation (RFR) fields may pose powerful and revolutionary antipersonnel military threats. Electroshock therapy indicates the ability of induced electric current to completely interrupt mental functioning for short periods of time, to obtain cognition for longer periods and to restructure emotional response over prolonged intervals.

"…impressed electromagnetic fields can be disruptive to purposeful behaviour and may be capable of directing and/or interrogating such behaviour. Further, the passage of approximately 100 milliamperes through the myocardium can lead to cardiac standstill and death, again pointing to a speed-of-light weapons effect. A rapidly scanning RFR system could provide an effective stun or kill capability over a large area."

In 1984 the program researching the creation of pulsed microwaves was stepped up at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories.

According to the Oregon Journal, in March, 1978, in a story titled "Mysterious Radio Signals Causing Concern," the city of Eugene was irradiated by microwaves possibly beamed from a Navy transmitter, located several hundred miles away in California. According to an FCC report, "microwaves were the likely cause of several sudden illnesses among faculty researchers at Oregon State University." Numerous residents also complained of headaches, insomnia, fatigue, skin redness, and hearing clicks and buzzes in the head.

A study conducted by the Pacific Northwest Center for Non-Ionizing Radiation attributed the radiation instead to the Soviets, stating that it was "psychoactive" and "very strongly suggesting of achieving the objective of brain control."

In September 1985, members of the Greenham Commons Women's Peace Camp in Great Britain, a global militarization protest camp located outside the U.S. Air Force Base at Greenham Commons, began experiencing a wide range of unpleasant physical symptoms including headache, depression, disorientation, memory loss, vertigo, and changes in their menstrual cycles. According to Dr. Rosalie Bertell and others who researched what was going on, the symptoms were of the type associated with exposure to radiation, and they began shortly after security at the base was switched from human guards to primarily electronic surveillance - this would have been a perfect opportunity to install electromagnetic broadcasting units disguised as surveillance equipment.

Dr. Bertell, former radar engineer Kim Besly, and others took readings of electromagnetic levels in the area, and found that they were as much as 100 times as strong as other nearby areas.

That the electromagnetic arsenal is being used against citizenry in the new Russia is quite apparent from a statement published at the end of 1991 by SovData Dialine:

"Psychological warfare is still being used by state security agents against people in Russia, even after the abortive August coup," said Emilia Chirkova, a Deputy of the Zelenograd Soviet and member of the Human Rights Commission. She recalls the scandal surrounding the alleged bugging equipment installed close to Boris Yeltsin's office. KGB agents admitted then that the directional aerial in the equipment was designed for transmission, not for reception. She believes it was part of an attempt to affect the health of the Russian president using high frequency electromagnetic radiation. "The Human Rights Committee," Chirkova said, "had warned Yeltsin about such a possibility."

Substantiation for Chirkova's allegations is provided by Victor Sedleckij, design engineer-in-chief for the centre Forma and vice president of the League of Independent Soviet Scientists. Aedleckij stated, "As an expert… I declare, in Kiev was launched a mass production of psychotronic biogenerators and their tests. I cannot assert that during the [Moscow] coup d'etat those used were the Kiev generators… All the same, that [psychotronic generators] were used is evident to me. What are the psychotronic generators? They are electronic equipment which produces the effect of guided control in human organisms. It affects especially the left and right hemisphere of the cortex. This is also the technology of the U.S. Project Zombie 5… I draw on my personal experience since I am myself the designer of such a generator."

Emilia Chirkova cited several instances of the use of similar devices. Microwave equipment had been used in 1989 and 1990 in Vladivostok and Moscow prisons, in a mental hospital in Oryol, and in the Serbsky Institute in Moscow [also a mental hospital], she said. During his exile in Gorky, Andrei Sakharov noticed the presence of a high-tension electromagnetic field in his flat. It was reported recently in the press that Ruslan Khasbulatov, Speaker of the Russian Parliament, had to move from his flat to another district of Moscow. High-level electromagnetic radiation has been included among the possible causes of the discomfort he felt in his flat.

Purported victims of psychological warfare have written to the Russian paper. From Voronezh: "They controlled my laughter, my thoughts, and caused pain in various parts of my body… It all started in October 1985, after I had openly criticised the first secretary of the City Committee of the Communist Party."

"Sometimes voices can be heard in the head from the effect of microwave pulse radiation which causes acoustic oscillations in the brain", explained Gennady Shchelkunov, a radio electronics researcher from the Istok Association. In June 1991, a group of Zelenograd deputies sent an appeal signed by 150 people to President Yeltsin, demanding an investigation into the use of bio-electronic weapons.

An experiment conducted on Cable News Network in the mid-1980s demonstrated the reality of electronic devices that can project images into the mind from a distance. Physicist Dr. Elizabeth Rausher and electrical engineer Bill VanBise built a radio frequency "mind interference machine" using information in the open Soviet scientific literature. According to CNN, "The machine was inexpensive and easy to construct using parts from a consumer electronics store. It emits a weak magnetic field pulsed at extremely low frequency."

The network commentator, a Mr. DeCaro, said, "As the subject of the test I was blindfolded and my ears were blocked to prevent inadvertent clues as to what was happening. A magnetic probe was placed about 18 inches from my head. As the experiment began, two signal generators produced waveform patterns that were transmitted by the magnetic probe at about one one-thousandth of the earth's magnetic field."

Here is a partial transcript of the exchange between VanBise, Rausher, and DeCaro during the experiment:

VanBise: Describe anything that you see. DeCaro: I could see waveforms changing shape in my mind… A parabola just went by… VanBise: Oh, yeah, I did. I just flipped the switch. Parabola? Rausher: Uh-huh. VanBise: All right, let's see. Check this out. That's what happened, I flipped the switch. Rausher: Yeah! DeCaro: OK, a spike right there! Rausher: A spike right there. DeCaro A tight spike. VanBise: I dramatically changed the generator. I stepped it by ten right here, and the intermix from the two generators was right where you said that you saw a spike.

After the experiment, DeCaro interviewed VanBise, who said that the technology could "induce basically what would be considered hallucinations in people; direct them to do things against their so-called better judgement."

DeCaro wondered, "How easy would it be to assemble a weapon from existing off-the-shelf parts?" "Three weeks," VanBise responded. "I could put together a weapon that would take care of a whole town."

Portable electronic mind control weapons, small enough to be transported by truck, are now reported to be used routinely in offensive actions by the American military, and were employed in Granada, Panama, and in the Gulf War. Although officially denied, it is reported that electromagnetic mind control weapons were used in Waco, Texas, in 1993, during the 51-day siege on David Koresh and his followers. Video footage taken during the siege by the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) shows the deployment of several advanced weapons systems, including a Soviet psychotronic weapon designed by Dr. Igor Smirnov of the Moscow Medical Academy.

Although it is denied that such weapons were used in the Waco massacre, the government does admit that Federal officials "considered" using Smirnov's acoustic psycho-correction projector on the Branch Davidians. It is also admitted that a series of closed meetings regarding the Branch Davidians took place beginning March 17, in northern Virginia between Smirnov and officials of the FBI, CIA, DIA, and DARPA.

According to one participant in the talks, "There was a strong interest among the intelligence agencies because they had been tracking Smirnov for years, and because we know there is evidence the Soviet Army's Special Forces used the technology during the conflict in Afghanistan."

An account of the meetings was issued in a memorandum of Psychotechnologies Corp of Richmond, Virginia. In the memo it was noted that unspecified attendees of the meeting wondered whether "psycho-correction detection, decoding and counter measures programs should be undertaken by the U.S."

A recent news release provides information on a new program by the National Institute of Justice, to develop "friendly force" electromagnetic weapons for use in the U.S. According to Microwave News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory is looking into the possibility of "thermal guns" that would disable an individual by causing his body to overheat, "seizure guns" that would induce epileptic fits, and "magnetosphere guns" that would cause a person to "see stars".

In recent years, the heavy cost of research into electronic weaponry has been subsumed into the Strategic Defense Initiative, also known - to the chagrin of George Lucas - as the Star Wars program. In 1993, Aldric Saucier, a scientist with the Army's program of ballistic defense, spoke up to the House Government Operations Committee about Star Wars funds being channelled off into undocumented black operations. Saucier said that as much as half of the budget intended for SDI research, literally hundreds of millions of dollars, was unaccounted for.

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