Public Comment
Microwave Blaster Weapon of Raytheon is Cruel and Unusual Punishment
EDITOR’S NOTE: This morning’s New York Times had an opinion piece by Serge Schmemann on its front page rehashing the ongoing speculation about what’s being called the “Havana Syndrome”, a mysterious collection of unpleasant symptoms which has afflicted U.S. diplomatic staff in embassies around the world, starting first in Havana in 2016. As it happens, the Planet’s longstanding “On Mental Health” columnist had just forwarded to me a piece he wrote which appeared in Street Spirit in July of 2007. Let’s say it’s at least a surprising coincidence—but have the muckety-mucks in Washington who are supposed to be investigating the Havana Syndrome ever heard of this?
Since I am a great watcher yet not admirer of television news, I couldn’t help but catch a piece about a “crowd control device” that works by sending out microwaves, similarly to the action of a leaky microwave oven. Clearly there is much to object to and to be skeptical about concerning such a weapon. According to the manufacturer, it is supposed to penetrate the skin only to 1/64th of an inch, so it won’t cook people’s organs, in theory. (This shallower penetration theoretically is because the radio waves are at a shorter wavelength/higher frequency compared to an oven.) The weapon is supposed to work by boiling the “water” beneath your skin (actually it’s blood and lymph and tissue) in order to give a burning sensation (actually you are being burned) and motivate people to run away (that is assuming they can run, if they are not overweight, old, a child, pregnant, or disabled). Theoretically the person should know which direction they should run. How they would know this is unknown. If someone is carrying any metal on them, such as a metal plate in their head from brain surgery, the microwaves will heat this up to an extreme temperature. The same goes for paperclips, coins glasses, etc. If someone has a pacemaker, God help him or her.
The manufacturer can’t deny that the device is easily convertible into an implement of torture. And I think it is doubtful as to whether it doesn’t penetrate into the bodily organs. If the device did penetrate into the body, either by normal operation or by malfunction, it would be an extreme threat to unborn children. This is aside from being a maiming device for adult people.
Raytheon is planning to sell a version of this to law enforcement and security agencies for use here in the United States in a similar manner as the Stun Gun. The other version is vehicle mounted and is intended for use in Iraq.
