Timeline: Electromagnetic Weapons
by Judy Wall, Editor, Resonance Newsletter

Electromagnetic (EM) weapons are of recent invention. They utilize the various frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum to disable or kill the target.

Psychotronic weapons are those EM weapons that interact with the nervous system of the target. These weapons usually operate in the very low (100 to 1,000 Hz) or extremely low (greater than zero but less than 100 Hz) frequency ranges. [See note by Eleanor White at end of this document.]

Today a new type of weapon is being touted, the "non-lethal" weapon. The idea behind this is to spare human life without actually losing the war. These weapons are also earmarked for use in civil disorders in which the goal is simply crowd control rather than annihilation. Some EM weapons fall in this category. However, even though these weapons are labelled "non-lethal" does not mean that they are not harmful, or cannot be lethal under certain conditions.

Paul Bartch mentioned in his letter "Non-Hertzian Waves ...", written in 1992, that there was nothing mentioned in the report on non-lethal weapons about the Low Frequency EM weapons. Small wonder. The government has been keeping these weapons to itself in top secrecy classification. Only recently have they been brought into the public spotlight.

The following is an overview of the development of electromagnetic research as relevant to weapons, as best we are able to put together, considering the cloak of secrecy that surrounds these weapons.

ELECTROMAGNETIC WEAPONS TIMELINE

1934 -- "A method for Remote Control of Electrical Stimulation of the Nervous System", a monograph by Drs. E. L. Chaffee and R. U. Light

1934 -- Experiments in Distant Influence, book by Soviet Professor Leonid L. Vasiliev.  Vasiliev also wrote an article, "Critical Evaluation of the Hypogenic Method" concerning the work of Dr. I. F. Tomashevsky on experiments in remote control of the brain.

1945 -- After World War II, the Allies discovered the Japanese had been been developing a "death ray" utilizing very short radio waves focussed into a high power beam.  Tests were done on animals.  The Japanese denied ever testing it on humans.  (From the Strategic Bombing Survey, Imperial War Museum, London.  Cited with photocopies in "Japanese Death Ray", by Peter Lewis, Resonance #11, pp 5-9)

1950 -- The French conducted research on infrasonic weapons.  (From "The Road From Armageddon", by Peter Lewis, Resonance #13, pp 9-14)

1953 -- John C. Lilly, when asked by the director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to brief the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of  Investigation (FBI), National Security Agency (NSA), and the various military intelligence services on his work using electrodes to stimulate directly the pleasure and pain centers in the brain, refused.

He said, "Dr. Antione Redmond, using our techniques in Paris, has demonstrated that this method of stimulation on the brain can be applied to the human without help of the neurosurgeon ... This means that anybody with the proper apparatus can carry this out covertly, with no external signs that electrodes have been used in that person.  I feel that if this technique got into the hands of a secret agency, they would have total control over a human being and be able to change his beliefs extremely quickly, leaving little evidence of what they had done."  (From "Mind Control and the American Government", by Martin Cannon in Lobster #23, pp 2-10.  Cannon quites Lilly from his book, The Scientist, Berkeley, Ronin publishers, 1988, also Bantam Books 1981.  Research by Peter Lewis.)

After a statement like that of Dr. Lilly's, how long do you think it would take the agencies, FBI, CIA, NSA, etc. to contact Dr. Redmond in Paris?

1958, 1962  -- The U.S. conducts high-altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) bomb tests over the Pacific.  (From "The Road From Armageddon" by Peter Lewis.)

1960 -- Headlines read "Khrushchev Says Soviets Will Cut Forces a Third; Sees 'Fantastic Weapon' ".  (From article of same title, by Max Frankel, New York Times, Jan. 15, 1960, p 1 as cited in "Tesla's Electro-magnetics and Its Soviet Weaponization", paper by T. E. Bearden.)

1965 -- A "Death Ray" weapon was developed by McFarlane Corporation, described as a modulated electron gun X-ray nuclear booster, could be adapted to communications, remote control and guidance systems, EM radiation telemetry and death ray.  McFarlane claimed NASA stole the patent in 1965.  Reported hearings before the House Subcommittee on Department of Defense Appropriations, chaired by Rep. George Mahon (Dem. - Texas).  (From "Hearing Voices" by Alex Constantine, Hustler, Jan. 1994, pp 102-104, 113, 120, 134.  Research by Harlan Girard.)

1965 -- "A project in the U.S. called  Project Pandora ... was undertaken in which chimpanzees were exposed to microwave radiation.  The man who was in charge of this project said, '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' ".  (From "Electromagnetic Pollution: A Little Known Health Hazard. A new means of control?" by Kim Besley, Great Britain, p 14.  Research from Woody Blue.)

1968 -- Dr. Gordon J. F. MacDonald, science advisor to President Lyndon Johnson, wrote, "Perturbation of the environment can produce changes in behavioural patterns."  He was referring to low frequency EM waves in the ionosphere affecting human brain wave patterns.  (From his book, Unless Peace Comes, a Scientific Forecast of New Weapons, cited in "New World Order ELF Psychotronic Tyranny", a paper by C. B. Baker.)

1970 -- Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter's National Security Directo, said in his book, Between Two Ages, weather control was a new weapon that would be the key element of strategy.  "Technology will make available to leaders of major nations a variety of techniques for conducting secret warfare..."  He also wrote "Accurately timed, artificially excited electronic strokes could lead to a pattern of oscillations that produce relatively high power levels over certain regions of the Earth ... one could develop a system that would seriously impair the brain performance of a very large population in selected regions over an extended period."
(Cited in Baker's "ELF Psychotronic Tyranny" paper.)

1972 -- The Taser, first electrical shock device developed for use by law enforcement, delivers barbed, dart shaped electrodes to a subject's body, and 50,000 volt pulses at two millionths of an amp ove 12-14 seconds time. (From "Report onthe Attorney General's Conference on Less Than Lethal Weapons", by Sherry Sweetman, 1987, p 4, which cites "Non-Lethal Weapons for Law Enforcement:  Research Needs and Priorities.  A Report to the National Science Foundation by the Security Planning Corporation, 1972. Research by Harlan Girard.)

1972 -- "A U.S. Department of Defense document said that the Army has tested a microwave weapon.  It was an extremely powerful 'electronic flamethrower'. " (From "Electromagnetic Pollution")

1972 -- "A study published by the U.S. Army Mobility Equipment Research and Development Center, titled 'Analysis of Microwaves for Barrier Warfare' examines the plausibility of using radio frequency energy in barrier counter-barrier warfare ... The report concludes that (a) it is possible to field a truck-portable microwave barrier system that will completely immobilize personnel in the open with present day technology, (b) there is a strong potential for a microwave system that would be capable of delaying or immobilizing personnel in vehicles, (c) with present technology, no method could be identified for a microwave system to destroy the type of armoured material common to tanks."  (From "Electromagnetic Pollution" by Kim Besly, p 15, quoting The Zapping of America by Paul Brodeur.)

The report further documents the ability to create third-degree burns on human skin using 3 Gigahertz at 20 watts/square centimeter in two seconds.

1972 -- Dr. Gordon J. F. MacDonald testified before the House Subcommittee on Oceans and International Environment, concerning low frequency research:  "The basic notion there was to create between the electrically charged ionosphere in the higher part of the atmosphere and conducting layers of the surface of the Earth this neutral cavity, to create waves, electrical waves that would be tuned to the brainwaves ... about ten cycles per second ... you can produce changes in behavioural patterns or in responses."  (From Baker's "ELF Psychotronic Tyranny" paper.)

1973 -- Sharp and Grove transmit audible words via microwaves [EW: That is, voice to SKULL] (See "Synthetic Telepathy" in this issue of Resonance

[EW: On my web site, the relevant paragraphs of Judy's source article are transcribed in:  v2succes.htm ]

1975 - 1977 -- "Unpublished analyses of microwave bioeffects literature were disseminated to the U.S. Congress and to other officials arguing the case for remote control of human behavior by radar."  (From the Journal of Microwave Power, 12(4), 1977, p320.  Research by Harlan Girard.)

1978 -- Hungarians presented a state-of-the-art paper on infrasonic weapons to the United Nations, "Working Paper on Infrasound Weapons", United Nations CD/575, 14 Aug 1978.  (From "The Road From Armageddon" by Peter Lewis.)

1981 - 1982 -- "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 Corp for the purpose of 'riot control', hostage removal, clandestine operations, and so on."  Eldon Byrd, Naval Surface Weapons Center, Silver Spring  MD.  (From "Electromagnetic Pollution" by Kim Besly, p 12.)

1982 -- Electromagnetic weapons for law enforcement use in Great Britain:

A 10-30 Hz strobe light which can produce seizures, giddiness, nausea, and fainting was developed by Charles Bovill of the now defunct British firm, Allen International.  Addition of sound pulses in the 4.0 - 7.5 Hz range increases effectiveness, as utilized in the Valkyrie, a "frequency" weapon advertised in British Defense Equipment Catalogue until 1983.

The squawk box or sound curdler uses two loudspeakers of 350 watt output to emit two slightly different frequencies which combine in the ear to produce a shrill shrieking noise.  The U.S. National Science Foundation report says there is "severe risk of permanent impairment of hearing."

(From "Electropollution" by Kim Besley, citing the Manchester City Council Police Monitoring Unit document.)

1982 -- Air Force review of biotechnology:

"Currently available data allow the projection that specially generated radiofrequency 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 behavior and may be capable of directing and/or interrogating such behavior.  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."

(From Final Report on Biotechnology Research Requirements for Aeronautical Systems Through the Year 2000.  AFOSR-TR-82-0643, vol 1, and vol 2, 30 July 1982.  See below.)

1986 -- "The Electromagnetic Spectrum in Low-Intensity Conflict" by Captain Paul Tyler, MC, USN quotes the above passage and further elaborates on the theme.  (Published in Low Intensity Conflict and Modern Technology Lt. Col. David J. Dean, USAF, ed., Air University Press, Maxwell AFB, AL. Research by Harlan Girard.)

1983 -- Nikolai Khokhlov, a Soviet KGB agent who defected to the West in 1976, interviews recently arrived scientists and reports:  "The Soviet mind-control program is run by the KGB with unlimited funds."  (From The Spectator, Feb 5, 1983, reported in "New World Order Psychotronic Tyranny" by C. B. Baker.)

1984 -- "USSR:  New Beam Energy Possible?", possibly associated with early Soviet weather engineering efforts over the U.S. (From "Tesla's Electromagnetics and Its Soviet Weaponization" by T. E. Bearden.)

1985 -- Women in the peace camps at Greenham Common began showing various medical symptoms believed to be caused by EM surveillance weapons beamed at them.  (See "Zapping:  The New Weapon of the Patriarchy", Resonance #13, pp 22-24.  Research by Woody Blue.)

1986 -- Attorney General's Conference on Less Than Lethal Weapons.  Reviews current weapons available, most date back to 1972:  the Taser, the Nova XR-5000 Stun Gun (can interrupt a pacemaker); the Talon, a glove with an electrical pulse generator; the Source, a flashlight with electrodes at the base.  These devices are useful only at close range, except for the Taser, and are generally restricted to correctional institutions.

Photic driving strobe lights tested by one conference delegate on 100 subjects, produced discomfort.  Closed eyelids to not block the effect.  Evidence that ELF produces nausea and disorientation.  Suggestion to develop fast acting electrosleep inducing EM weapon.

Discusses problem of testing weapons on animals and human "volunteers".  (From "Report on the Attorney General's Conference on Less Than Lethal Weapons", by Sherry Sweetman, March 1987, prepared for the National Institute of Justice.  Research by Harlan Girard.)

How many of you will volunteer to get zapped by 50,000 volts from this little Taser gun we're testing?

1988 -- The Pentagon is ordered by courts to cease EMP tests at several locations due to a lawsuit filed by an environmental group.  (From The Washington Post, May 15, 1988, see "US and Soviets Develop Death Ray", Resonance 11, p 10.  Research by Remy Chevalier.)

1992 -- December.  "The U.S. Army's Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center is conducting a one-year study of ACOUSTIC BEAM TECHNOLOGY ... the command awarded the one year study to Scientific Applications and Research Associates of Huntington Beach CA.  Related research is conducted at the Moscow based Andreev Institute."   (From "U.S. Explores Russian Mind Control Technology", by Barbara Opal, Defense News, Jan 11-17, 1993.  Research by Harlan Girard and others.)

1993 -- The Russian government is offering to share with the United States in a bilateral Center for Psychotechnologies the Soviet mind-control technology developed during the 1970s.  The work was funded by the Department of Psycho-Correction at the Moscow Medical Academy.

"Acoustic psycho-correction involves the transmission of specific commands via static or white noise bands into the human subconscious ...".  The Russian experts, among them former KGB General George Kotov, present in a paper a list of software and hardware available for $80,000.  (From Opal article, "U.S. Explores Russian Mind Control Technology".)

[EW Comment:  Circa 1996, I came across an advertisement by way of a Yahoo search on mind control for "A genuine mind control device, $80,000, FOB Singapore, from Gunderson International."  Ring any bells?  Could not get the ad to display again.]

1993 -- February 28, beginning of 51 day siege on the Branch Davidians at Waco Texas, which ended in the death of more than 80 people.

Until this incident, the electromagnetic weapons had kept a very low profile.  But in the documentary video, "Waco: The Big Lie Continues", footage from the British Broadcasting (BBC) shows at least three EM weapons used by U.S. government agents.  First, the noise generators used against the Davidians.  Second, a powerful strobe light, shown during a nighttime sequence.  And the third was the Russian psychoacoustic weapon, considered, but agents deny use of this weapon against the Waco people.  FBI agents met with Dr. Igor Smirnov in Arlington VA to discuss the possiblility of using the weapon against the Davidians.  (From "A Subliminal Dr. Strangelove", by Dorinda Elliot and John Barry, Newsweek, Aug 22, 1994)