Another reason US citizens should worry about their government

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

At least they're being candid... I suppose.... I had to read this a couple of times to see that they're actually saying what they're saying. Insert visible shudder here.

Air Force chief: Test weapons on testy U.S. mobs

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before being used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.

The object is basically public relations. Domestic use would make it easier to avoid questions from others about possible safety considerations, said Secretary Michael Wynne.

"If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation," said Wynne. "(Because) if I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press."

The Air Force has paid for research into nonlethal weapons, but he said the service is unlikely to spend more money on development until injury problems are reviewed by medical experts and resolved.

Nonlethal weapons generally can weaken people if they are hit with the beam. Some of the weapons can emit short, intense energy pulses that also can be effective in disabling some electronic devices.

On another subject, Wynne said he expects to choose a new contractor for the next generation aerial refueling tankers by next summer. He said a draft request for bids will be put out next month, and there are two qualified bidders: the Boeing Co. and a team of Northrop Grumman Corp. and European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., the majority owner of European jet maker Airbus SAS.

The contract is expected to be worth at least $20 billion (€15.75 billion).

Chicago, Illinois-based Boeing lost the tanker deal in 2004 amid revelations that it had hired a top Air Force acquisitions official who had given the company preferential treatment.

Wynne also said the Air Force, which is already chopping 40,000 active duty, civilian and reserves jobs, is now struggling to find new ways to slash about $1.8 billion (€1.4 billion) from its budget to cover costs from the latest round of base closings.

He said he can't cut more people, and it would not be wise to take funding from military programs that are needed to protect the country. But he said he also incurs resistance when he tries to save money on operations and maintenance by retiring aging aircraft.

"We're finding out that those are, unfortunately, prized possessions of some congressional districts," said Wynne, adding that the Air Force will have to "take some appetite suppressant pills." He said he has asked employees to look for efficiencies in their offices.

The base closings initially were expected to create savings by reducing Air Force infrastructure by 24 percent.

[scottieking]

"If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation," said Wynne.

So they expect to have a warlike situation with their citizens sometime soon???

The Canadian Forces have responded by issuing their own warning. Giant Airzookas to be tested on the citizens.

[timouse]

jeebus.

they talked about doing this with sound waves in the LA Times...but also mentioned that directed sound waves had non-military applications.

aren't microwaves the things that pop my popcorn? i'm not sure aiming them at people is necessarily a good thing

Sound Weapon

Weapon Sends Message That's Loud and Clear. Directed sound device focuses sound in one place. It may have applications in weaponry, at theme parks or to reduce need for earphones.

By PETER PAE, Times Staff Writer

June 23, 2002

SAN DIEGO -- The shrill cry of a baby can be one of the most annoying sounds of daily life, but it is music to Pentagon strategists.

An electronics company, American Technology Corp., has turned the wail of a baby into a weapon that fires "sonic bullets," narrow beams of noise that exceed the human threshold of pain. It can incapacitate people or compel them to flee.

"It gives you the equivalent of an intense migraine headache," said Elwood G. Norris, the company's chairman and inventor of the device. "It's just totally disabling."

Norris uses 50 different sound tracks, or sonic bullets, in his new weapon. For instance, it plays backward the sound of a baby crying at 140 decibels, or 20 decibels above the threshold of pain. The noise- level is similar to that of a passenger jet taking off. Pentagon officials see many uses for Norris' invention, such as controlling unruly crowds, foiling hijackers and keeping potential suicide bombers at bay. A commercial variant also may have applications in movie theaters, vending machines and retail stores.

The sound technology is not the first time that Norris, has made waves. A prolific inventor, he developed and patented a Doppler system that is a key component of ultrasonic imaging technology. He also invented the first digital sound-recording device, as well as a microwave radar that can detect plastic land mines.

The acoustic weapon is categorized by the Pentagon as nonlethal, but it could damage hearing or cause psychological harm. It is one of the more innovative devices among the nonlethal weapons the military is developing, analysts said.

"They're very intrigued by these nonlethal weapons," said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute think tank in Arlington, Va. "Some acoustic weapons are so powerful that they can knock you out."

Acoustic Technology

Weapons makers have been developing a nonlethal arsenal for decades, but new advances in microwave and acoustic technology as well as post- Sept. 11 security concerns have raised interest in such weapons.

The signal emitted by the acoustic weapon can penetrate any opening and bounce off surfaces before reaching the intended targets. In Afghanistan, it could have been used to drive out enemy soldiers holed up in caves and buildings.

It could help an airline pilot fend off hijackers without harming the aircraft or bystanders. And it could help military ships protect their perimeters in port.

"Sailors protecting Navy ships don't have anything between giving a verbal warning and shooting a potential threat," said Terry Conrad, American Technology's president. "Now you have something else you can use before taking lethal action."

Despite years of research on sound-harassment weapons, Pentagon officials say this is the first time soldiers will be able to direct the harassing sound at a particular individual or target.

A significant feature of the device is the fact that the person standing behind or next to the emitter can't hear the sound. It is heard only by the person who is in the sound emitter's line of fire.

In previous efforts to use sound as a weapon, soldiers could not shield themselves from the irritating noise they were directing at a target. When the Army tried to get Panama's former dictator, Manuel Noriega, to surrender by blaring harassing music and sounds outside his retreat, U.S. soldiers also complained.

American Technology's weapon is based on a beaming technology that Norris has been trying to perfect for more than seven years. Known as the hypersonic sound system, it also is creating a major buzz within the commercial acoustics industry.

Unlike a traditional speaker, which produces sound by vibrating the membranes of a woofer or a tweeter, small crystal wafers project a beam of sound across a room like a spotlight. The emitters are semiconductors used by Norris in a configuration that produces focused sound waves.

The device sends out two ultrasonic signals that produce sound only when they hit an object or a person.

An emitter pointed at a wall will produce a sound that seems to be coming from the wall, not the emitter. However, a person who is not in the line of the beam will not hear anything unless the beam has been bounced off the wall.

In a recent test of the device in the company's parking lot, a reporter stood about 100 feet from the emitter and could hear a radio broadcast as though it were coming from within the ear. Norris then pointed the emitter at a nearby window and it seemed as though the sound were coming from within the building.

Giant retailers are swarming to buy the product, Norris said. The company is negotiating with an unidentified beverage company for a one-year exclusive right to use the device in soda vending machines. The company envisions a potential soda buyer standing in front of a vending machine or a passerby hearing the sound of a can opening and the soda fizzing as it is poured into a glass. The sound wouldn't be heard by anyone else.

After seven years of research and development, American Technology recently received Food and Drug Administration approval to begin marketing the product. The FDA determined that the new sound technology does not have adverse health effects, Norris said.

The weapons version, which does not require FDA approval, uses high- intensity emitters specially designed for the Pentagon.

The Navy has been testing the technology on the U.S. missile destroyer Winston Churchill as a way to communicate on board as well as ship to ship during bad weather and when security concerns preclude radio use. A typical Navy ship's sound system has about 3,000 speakers, many of them producing sounds that are muffled or drowned out by other noise.

Civilian Application

Stereo-equipment manufacturers also are looking at the technology. The system would allow individuals in a car to listen to different music without using headphones, and movie theater operators would be able to project the system off the screens, giving the audience the illusion that the sound is coming from the actors' mouths.

Norris said revenue from previous inventions is funding his new research. American Technology is acquiring an electronics manufacturer with 108,000 square feet of space that could produce 10,000 devices a month by October, he said.

A simple version of the commercial system will sell for $200 to $300.

The sound technology "is the future for us," Norris said.

[ollie]

"If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation," said Wynne. "(Because) if I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press."

When has this stopped them before?

[StoneMtn]

You can even just start by reading the last paragraph, if you like...

MOTHER JONES MAGAZINE

Environmental Accountability Falls with EPA Budget

WASHINGTON DISPATCH: In a move seen as poorly-guised attempt to restrict access to information, the EPA is quietly closing down its libraries.

By Jennifer Wedekind

September 8, 2006

The Bush administration has persistently chipped away at environmental legislation and enforcement for the last six years, leaving both the system and the environment distressed and damaged. President Bush’s proposed 2007 budget continues this trend, requiring the closure of the majority of the Environmental Protection Agency’s research libraries and sending nearly 100,000 original documents into warehouse storage. Although Congress has yet to pass the budget, the EPA has already started shutting down libraries, with regional branches in Chicago, Dallas, and Kansas City preparing to close their doors for good by September 30. These measures have prompted an outcry from EPA scientists and researchers who point out the obvious: without the valuable resources the libraries provide, they will be severely restricted in their mission to protect and enforce environmental law.

The libraries are an essential part of the EPA’s regulation, enforcement, and prosecution process, making available to scientists a plethora of original documents, studies, and technical information. “Cutting $2 million in library services in an EPA budget totaling nearly $8 billion is the epitome of a penny wise-pound foolish economy,†said Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility Executive Director Jeff Ruch in a statement. “From research to regulation to enforcement, EPA is an information-dependent operation which needs libraries and librarians to function properly.â€

Along with the physical closure of most of the EPA’s 28 libraries, the proposed budget plan will also discontinue the Online Library Service (OLS), making the EPA’s online databases and information inaccessible to the general public, watchdog organizations, and even many of the EPA’s own employees. “They are trying to marginalize their own scientists and prevent them from reporting inconvenient findings,†Ruch told Mother Jones. Of the libraries that remain open, hours and services are expected to be gradually reduced and public access to the libraries will be terminated.

“It is important to note that there is no need to be closing these libraries right now,†said Alex Fidis, a staff attorney at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. “[The EPA is] acting, number one, as if the new funding is law and, number two, as if the libraries are superfluous.†Fidis sees the library closures as one more example of the Bush administration catering to large corporations and restricting the “public’s right to know.†“If you don’t have any information about what a company is doing in terms of pollution, there is no need to take action,†he said. “It’s not as much a funding move as it is a political one.â€

While EPA bureaucrats sit idly as the proverbial trees of knowledge are bulldozed, EPA employees have started speaking out. A mass protest letter signed by 10,000 EPA scientists and researchers — more than half of the agency’s workforce — accuses the library plan of being designed to “suppress information on environmental and public health-related topics.†An internal memo penned by the EPA’s enforcement branch and leaked to PEER also reflects deep concern.

The memo by the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance questions the basic tenets of the EPA’s new library plan, including the cost of digitizing all of the current paper documents and how the agency, which claims it is strapped for cash, plans on funding this enormous endeavor. The memo stresses the importance of the hundreds of journals currently available in electronic and paper form and states, “Without the substantiating scientific information available in current literature, OECA’s mission, including supporting criminal litigations and the development of regulations, will be compromised.†Regarding the dispersal of the collections from the condemned libraries, OECA states, “[We are] seriously concerned that these documents may be distributed without adequate documentation and cataloging and may become virtually lost within the system.†The memo concludes, “In order to continue to support OECA’s mission, our employees need information which is current, timely, correct, and accessible. While we are fully aware of the budget cuts impacting the Agency, OECA needs to ensure that its employees continue to have access to the information that is critical for them to do their jobs and fulfill the Agency mission and protect the American people.â€

However, the EPA seems less and less concerned with fulfilling its mission. According to an analysis by PEER, referrals for new environmental criminal prosecutions fell 33 percent between 2000 and 2005. Referrals for civil prosecutions dropped 44 percent during the same period.

Meanwhile, the EPA is planning to implement the “first-ever roll-back†of the 20-year-old Toxic Release Inventory program, which reports annually on the amounts of toxic pollutants released and disposed of, said Fidis. The information collected was traditionally categorized by geographic location and was accessible to researchers and the general public alike. Under the revised plan, companies would be allowed to release 10 times the amount of toxins before being obligated to submit detailed reports; companies would be allowed to withhold data on small disposals of some of the most dangerous chemicals, such as lead and mercury; and toxic pollution would be tracked and reported only every other year.

In yet another attempt to erode environmental accountability, on September 4, the Bush administration revoked all whistleblower protections for those reporting water pollution enforcement breakdowns, manipulations of science, or cleanup failures. The EPA took this measure one step further, declaring that absolutely no environmental laws protect its employees from government or agency retaliation.

[YearsAlongTheSea]

A bunch of Lab-Rats in West-Virginia are sitting back, smoking cigarettes and thinking: "It's your turn bitches."

[jonyak]

microwaves are constantly hitting all of us all of the time. The reason they do not cook you is that they are at very low amplitudes. The term microwave refers to the actual wavelength of the transmitted electromagnetic signal. In this case they are waves that are of such a high frequency, generaly at 2.4 Ghz and above (also the frequency that wireless phones transmit at), that there wavelength can be measured in micro meters.

there is your daily dose of science.

[timouse]

microwaves are constantly hitting all of us all of the time. The reason they do not cook you is that they are at very low amplitudes. The term microwave refers to the actual wavelength of the transmitted electromagnetic signal. In this case they are waves that are of such a high frequency, generaly at 2.4 Ghz and above (also the frequency that wireless phones transmit at), that there wavelength can be measured in micro meters.

there is your daily dose of science.

as opposed to your daily dose of microwaves.

[zero]

That daily science lesson and news from Montreal and this whole non-lethal weapons trip are great reasons I love this community (and hate it of course - which is I understand mutual).

Sort of scary that the company that makes your aluminum canoe for Northern Ontario paddling also is bidding on this. Really scary to think how many of these weapons are already being used in the covert intelligence and military communities. SCARY AS FUCK to think what the future of warfare will look like.

[CyberHippie]

What for government generated public riots in a town near you!

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Funny that the government there has set up these "protest zones" that protesters are only allowed to go to when, say, GWB passes by. Let's see, ya got yer corral, ya got yer high-tech cattle-prods....