[Infowarrior] - The New Generation of "Non-Lethal" Weapons

[Richard Forno]

With Shot or Shell or Modular Crowd Control Munitions....
The New Generation of "Non-Lethal" Weapons

By MIKE FERNER

http://www.counterpunch.org/ferner12082008.html

     "Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent."

     -- Isaac Asimov

The Army Times reported on September 30 that a combat brigade, about  
4,000 troops, which could be called on for “civil unrest and crowd  
control,” had been assigned inside the United States for the first  
time since Reconstruction.

Civil libertarians reacted immediately, noting the Posse Comitatus  
Act  prohibits federal military personnel from acting in a law  
enforcement capacity within the United States.  Peace activists  
condemned the decision as well.  “It is a sad day for America when our  
government is preparing to protect itself by using the military on its  
own citizens,” Michael McPhearson, Director of Veterans For Peace,  
said in response to the news.

Now, in a December 1 story, the Washington Post reports that the  
Pentagon plans to have not just that 4,000, but 20,000 uniformed  
troops inside the U. S. by 2011.  Dedicating 20,000 troops to domestic  
response “would have been extraordinary to the point of unbelievable,”  
Paul McHale, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, said,  
but the realization that civilian authorities may be overwhelmed in a  
catastrophe prompted “a fundamental change in military culture.”
The report in the Post made no mention of “civil unrest and crowd  
control,” focusing instead on the troops’ ability to help state and  
local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other  
domestic catastrophe.
However, the Army Times report of September notes that the First  
Brigade Combat Team’s commander, Col. Roger Cloutier, said his  
soldiers will learn how to use the first ever package of so-called  
“nonlethal” weapons the Army has fielded, referring to crowd and  
traffic control equipment and weapons designed to subdue individuals  
without killing them.
“It’s a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities…they’ve been  
using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these  
modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of  
this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it,” Cloutier  
added.”
Where are these unruly American crowds and who are the dangerous  
individuals these “nonlethal” weapons will be used on?  Exactly what  
is in the Pentagon and local police department arsenals?
The answers are hidden in plain sight on the internet.  Go on down the  
rabbit hole and find out.  Here is a small sampling of what the Mad  
Hatter has in mind.

     *

       Raytheon Corp.'s Active Denial System, designed for crowd  
control in combat zones, uses an energy beam to induce an intolerable  
heating sensation, like a hot iron placed on the skin.  It is  
effective beyond the range of small arms, in excess of 400 meters.   
Company officials have been advised they could expand the market by  
selling a smaller, tripod-mounted version for police forces.

     *

       The FN 303, from FN Herstal Corp., fires a .68 caliber, plastic  
shell loaded with optional orange dye and Oleoresin Capsicum (red  
pepper) that has “inflammatory properties that force the eyes to shut,  
while causing an intense stinging sensation to the skin, throat, and  
nose. The result is total incapacitance (sic) lasting for up to 45  
minutes.” Range 50 meters.



     *

       M5 Modular Crowd Control Munition, with a range of 30 meters  
“is similar in operation to a claymore mine, but it delivers…a strong,  
nonpenetrating blow to the body with multiple sub-munitions (600  
rubber balls).”

     *

       Long Range Acoustic Device or “The Scream,” is a powerful  
megaphone the size of a satellite dish that can emit sound “50 times  
greater than the human threshold for pain” at close range, causing  
permanent hearing damage.  The L.A. Times wrote U.S. Marines in Iraq  
used it in 2004.  It can deliver recorded warnings in Arabic and, on  
command, emit a piercing tone…“[For] most people, even if they plug  
their ears, [the device] will produce the equivalent of an instant  
migraine,” says Woody Norris, chairman of American Technology Corp.,  
the San Diego firm that produces the weapon. “It will knock [some  
people] on their knees.”  CBS News reported in 2005 that the Israeli  
Army first used the device in the field to break up a protest against  
Israel’s separation wall.  “Protesters covered their ears and grabbed  
their heads, overcome by dizziness and nausea, after the vehicle- 
mounted device began sending out bursts of audible, but not loud,  
sound at intervals of about 10 seconds…A military official said the  
device emits a special frequency that targets the inner ear.”



     *

       In “Non-lethal Technologies: An Overview,” Lewer and Davison  
describe a lengthy catalog of new weaponry including the “Directed  
Stick Radiator,” a hand-held system based on the same technology as  
The Scream.  “It fires high intensity ‘sonic bullets’ or pulses of  
sound between 125–150db for a second or two.  Such a weapon could,  
when fully developed, have the capacity to knock people off their feet.”

     *

       The Institute for Non-Lethal Defense Technologies at Penn State  
University is testing a “Distributed Sound and Light Array  
Debilitator” a.k.a. the “puke ray.”  The colors and rhythm of light  
are absorbed by the retina and disorient the brain, blinding the  
victim for several seconds.  In conjunction with disturbing sounds it  
can make the person stumble or feel nauseated.  Foreign Policy in  
Focus reports that the Department of Homeland Security, with $1  
million invested for testing the device, hopes to see it “in the hands  
of thousands of policemen, border agents and National Guardsmen" by  
2010.

     *

       New Scientist reports that the (I’m not making this up)  
Inertial Capacitive Incapacitator (ICI), developed by the Physical  
Optics Corporation of Torrance, California, uses a thin-film storage  
device charged during manufacture that only discharges when it strikes  
the target. It can be incorporated into a ring-shaped aerofoil and  
fired from a standard grenade launcher at low velocity, while still  
maintaining a flat trajectory for maximum accuracy.

     *

       Aiming beyond Tasers, the Homeland Security Advanced Research  
Projects Agency, (FY 2009 budget: $1B) the domestic equivalent of the  
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), plans to develop  
wireless weapons effective over greater distances, such as in an  
auditorium or sports stadium, or on a city street.  One such device,  
the Piezer, uses piezoelectric crystals that produce voltage when they  
are compressed.  A 12-gauge shotgun fires the crystals, stunning the  
target with an electric shock on impact.  Lynntech of College Station,  
Texas, is developing a projectile Taser that can be fired from a  
shotgun or 40-mm grenade launcher to increase greatly the weapon’s  
current range of seven meters.

     *

       “Off the Rocker and On the Floor: Continued Development of  
Biochemical Incapacitating Weapons,” a report by the Bradford  
Disarmament Research Centre revealed that in 1992, the National  
Institute of Justice contracted with Lawrence Livermore National Lab  
to review clinical anaesthetics for use by special ops military forces  
and police.  LLNL concluded the best option was an opioid, like  
fentanyl, effective at very low doses compared to morphine.  Combined  
with a patch soaked in DMSO (dimethylsufoxide, a solvent) and fired  
from an air rifle, fentanyl could be delivered to the skin even  
through light clothing.  Another recommended application for the drug  
was mixed with fine powder and dispersed as smoke.

     *

       After upgrades, the infamous “Puff the Magic Dragon” gunship  
from the Vietnam War is now the AC-130.  “Non-Lethal Weaponry:  
Applications to AC-130 Gunships,” observes that “With the increasing  
involvement of US military in operations other than war…” the AC-130   
“would provide commanders a full range of non-lethal weaponry from an  
airborne platform which was not previously available to them.”  The  
paper concludes in part that “As the use of non-lethal weapons  
increases and it becomes valid and acceptable, more options will  
become available.”

     *

       Prozac and Zoloft are two of over 100 pharmaceuticals  
identified by the Penn State College of Medicine and the university’s  
Applied Research Lab for further study as “non-lethal calmatives.”   
These Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), noted the Penn  
State study, “…are found to be highly effective for numerous  
behavioral disturbances encountered in situations where a deployment  
of a non-lethal technique must be considered.  This class of  
pharmaceutical agents also continues to be under intense development  
by the pharmaceutical industry…New compounds under development (WO  
09500194) are being designed with a faster onset of action.  Drug  
development is continuing at a rapid rate in this area due to the  
large market for the treatment of depression (15 million individuals  
in North America)…It is likely that an SSRI agent can be identified in  
the near future that will feature a rapid rate of onset.”

Not surprisingly, the Air University, Maxwell AFB publishes an  
extensive bibliography on these weapons, but since 2001 it’s been  
civilian academia’s turn to belly up to Uncle Sam’s rapidly growing  
trough.  In addition to Penn State’s Applied Research Lab, run as part  
of its Homeland Security Initiative, the University of New Hampshire  
established the so-called Non-lethal Technology Innovation Center with  
a grant from the so-called Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directory, and  
John Hopkins University and MIT are just two of many other colleges  
chasing federal grants for this work.

All of which seems to prove the old saw that, even if you’ve got 120  
kinds of hammers, “When all you’ve got is a hammer, every problem  
looks like a nail.”  With shot and shell or “The Scream” and “Puke  
Ray,” we must bend to Empire’s will or suffer the consequences.

Mike Ferner is author of “Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran For Peace  
Reports from Iraq.”