An article entitled “Invisible Beam Tops List of Nonlethal Weapons” published June 1, 2004 in the Sacramento Bee, discuses one of the better known microwave (millimeter-wave) based invisible remote beam pain weapons, the Active Denial System.
However, the article makes an interesting observation regarding this new generation of “less-than-lethal” weapons: “Military officials are trying to alleviate fears that the device might be misused to harm civilians or converted into a torture machine that leaves no marks.” To that end, social science graduate students were provided grants to “spend the summer reviewing literature and assessing how Americans and other cultures might react to its use.”
These concerns reflect the most obvious use of this class of wall penetrating weapons—torture. Doug Johnson, Executive Director of the Minneapolis-based Center for Torture Victims is skeptical of the Pentagon’s claims that such devices, which are being tested for use by law enforcement and military, will not be used for torture. “Is it torture if it only creates a sensation of pain, but leaves no marks and no long-term damage? I would say yes. Torture is primarily a psychological device, and finding different ways to use the body against the mind has been the struggle of torture technologies for thousands of years.”