Just when you thought things couldn't get any weirder, here's something I ran across today that adds to the mountain of gadgets and gizmos intended to smoke out insurgents hiding in plain sight.
FORT JACKSON, S.C. - The Pentagon will issue hand-held lie detectors this month to U.S. Army soldiers in Afghanistan, pushing to the battlefront a century-old debate over the accuracy of the polygraph.
The Defense Department says the portable device isn't perfect, but is accurate enough to save American lives by screening local police officers, interpreters and allied forces for access to U.S. military bases, and by helping narrow the list of suspects after a roadside bombing. The device has already been tried in Iraq and is expected to be deployed there as well. “We're not promising perfection — we've been very careful in that,” said Donald Krapohl, special assistant to the director at the Defense Academy for Credibility Assessment, the midwife for the new device. “What we are promising is that, if it's properly used, it will improve over what they are currently doing.”
The new device, known by the acronym PCASS, for Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System, uses a commercial TDS Ranger hand-held personal digital assistant with three wires connected to sensors attached to the hand. An interpreter will ask a series of 20 or so questions in Persian, Arabic or Pashto: "Do you intend to answer my questions truthfully?" "Are the lights on in this room" "Are you a member of the Taliban?" The operator will punch in each answer and, after a delay of a minute or so for processing, the screen will display the results: "Green," if it thinks the person has told the truth, "Red" for deception, and "Yellow" if it can't decide.
The PCASS cannot be used on U.S. personnel, according to a memo authorizing its use, signed in October by the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr.
Now, I've been polygraphed before and I gotta tell you, it sucks. I don't like the whole idea of this hand-held lie detector, but I guess I'll hold off final judgment until I see how it works. The Army's bought 94 of the systems and intends to deploy them to Iraq and Afghanistan.
My problem is the device seems to use the same rationale for detecting deception as the full-sized box -- sensing stress reactions in the hands, etc. But if you're an Afghan villager being questioned by American soldiers wearing body armor and carrying rifles -- and oh by the way, speaking to you in a language you don't comprehend -- how are you NOT going to sweat?
It seems like one of those good ideas on paper, but it uses flawed logic to get to the answer.
But still, it's an interesting report...
-- Christian
Dragon Skin Theft...Or Not...?
Here's an item that's actually a pretty interestinjg mystery. I was tipped off by Pinnacle Armor president Murray Neal, who sent me a link to the Soldiers for the Truth site (a huge backer of Neal's Dragon Skin armor) where they're looking into a hullabaloo that's erupted over some wayward DS vests.
It seems that a couple of the 30 Level IV Dragon Skin vests Neal sent to PEO Soldier back in 2006 for that series of first article tests the Army claimed (and we agreed) failed miserably have wound up on eBay. Soldiers for the Truth reports the vests showed up in February with a list price of $3,500.
The plot thickens with a local TV station in Fresno, Calif., taking Neal's bait and doing an in-depth report on the mysterious armor sale. They contacted none other than the Army's "Mr. Body Armor," Karl Masters, who says his office is being investigated over the eBay armor.
I contacted sources in PEO Soldier who clammed up, saying: "The Army, in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, is currently investigating the alleged theft of U.S. Government property and it would be inappropriate to comment on the progress of the investigation at this time."
That's a convenient way of saying "no comment" but I can understand, with their backs against the wall, why the Army would take a pass on throwing fuel on the fire.
I have no idea how this would have happened, but it sure is weird. The government is obligated to hold onto those items forever -- and certainly it is unethical, and maybe illegal, to sell them over an online auction site. The idea that Karl Masters, who I know pretty well from years of covering this, would sell these items on eBay is pretty far fetched in my mind. I know he is the root of all evil to DS backers, but in my experience, he's an intellect to be reckoned with, but no crook.
Could someone down the line in the Army testing chain have done something stupid like this? Surely.
I'd welcome any inside scoop our readers have on this. I'll keep kicking over some rocks to see if I can drum up more.
My understanding is that early attempts at this "light bending" technique required bulky power sources and crazy optics. But from this Washington Post piece, it looks as if materials science is beginning to catch up.
Seems to me at least in the early stages, vehicles and aircraft could use the technology since they can carry more weight and generate a lot of power.
And heck, I could sure use some of this stuff on my hunting forays...those damned deer keep spotting me...
From the Post...
Their Deepest Darkest Discovery
Black is getting blacker.
Researchers in New York reported this month that they have created a paper-thin material that absorbs 99.955 percent of the light that hits it, making it by far the darkest substance ever made -- about 30 times as dark as the government's current standard for blackest black.
The material, made of hollow fibers, is a Roach Motel for photons -- light checks in, but it never checks out. By voraciously sucking up all surrounding illumination, it can give those who gaze on it a dizzying sensation of nothingness.
"It's very deep, like in a forest on the darkest night," said Shawn-Yu Lin, a scientist who helped create the material at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. "Nothing comes back to you. It's very, very, very dark."
But scientists are not satisfied. Using other new materials, some are trying to manufacture rudimentary Harry Potter-like cloaks that make objects inside of them literally invisible under the right conditions -- the pinnacle of stealthy technology.
Both advances reflect researchers' growing ability to manipulate light, the fleetest and most evanescent of nature's offerings. The nascent invisibility cloak now being tested, for example, is made of a material that bends light rays "backward," a weird phenomenon thought to be impossible just a few years ago.
Known as transformation optics, the phenomenon compels some wavelengths of light to flow around an object like water around a stone. As a result, things behind the object become visible while the object itself disappears from view.
"Cloaking is just the tip of the iceberg," said Vladimir Shalaev, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University and an expert in the fledgling field. "With transformation optics you can do many other tricks," perhaps including making things appear to be located where they are not and focusing massive amounts of energy on microscopic spots.
U.S. military and intelligence agencies have funded the cloaking research "for obvious reasons," said David Schurig, a physicist and electrical engineer at North Carolina State University who recently designed and helped test a cloaking device. In that experiment, a shielded object a little smaller than a hockey puck was made invisible to a detector that uses microwaves to "see."
The first working cloaks will be limited that way, he said -- able to steer just a limited part of the light spectrum around objects -- and it could be years before scientists make cloaks that work for all wavelengths, including the visible spectrum used by the human eye.
But even cloaks that work on just a few key wavelengths could offer huge benefits, making objects invisible to laser beams used for weapons targeting, for example, or rendering an enemy's night goggles useless because objects would be invisible to the infrared rays those devices use.
The Defense Department did not fund development of the new blacker-than-black material, created by Lin and his colleagues. But military officials were among the first to call after a description of the work appeared in this month's issue of the journal Nano Letters, Lin said in an interview.
Substances that absorb every smidgeon of incoming visible light could complement existing stealth coatings that absorb radar waves, Lin said. He and others emphasized, however, that there are also peaceful and more immediate applications for the blackest stuff on Earth.
Solar panels coated with it would be much more efficient than those coated with conventional black paint, which reflects 5 percent or more of incoming light. Telescopes lined with it would sop up random flecks of incidental light, providing a blacker background to detect faint stars.
And a wide array of heat detectors and energy-measuring devices, including climate-tracking equipment on satellites, would become far more accurate than they are today if they were coated with energy-grabbing superblack.
That helps explain why Lin has been fielding queries from solar-energy companies such as SolFocus of Mountain View, Calif., and the European Space Agency.
"The more black the material the better," said Gerald Fraser, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the federal agency that specializes in fine measurements and industrial standards.
That agency offers scientists a chemical mix it calls "standard black," which for years has been the defining measure of blackness. Photographers and printers use it to calibrate their gray scales. Industrial radiologists use it to calibrate X-ray imaging systems that detect radiation or hidden defects in building materials.
That black reflects about 1.4 percent of incoming visible light, and in recent years it has become somewhat outmoded. In 2003, scientists developed a substance made of nickel and phosphorus that reflected just 0.17 percent of visible light, winning it a Guinness World Records listing and kudos in Time magazine as one of that year's 300 "coolest inventions."
The newest black -- which when held next to something conventionally black, such as a tuxedo jacket, is noticeably blacker -- reflects just 0.045 percent of visible light.
It is made of carbon nanotubes: microscopic, hollow fibers whose walls are just one atom thick. Importantly, the fibers are widely spaced, providing plenty of space to allow light in and almost no surfaces to bounce it back out.
"There are a lot of materials that are very absorbing of light so that once the light gets in, very little is reflected. That is not the big issue," said John Pendry, a physics professor at Imperial College London. "The big issue is persuading the light to go in there in the first place" -- something the New York team accomplished by spacing the nanotubes so widely...
While Lin and his colleagues, including Pulickel Ajayan, now at Rice University, pursue applications for their superblack, Pendry and others are hoping to go further by perfecting complete invisibility. The big difference is that a superblack object, even if invisible to the eye, still casts a shadow behind it, while an object shielded by an invisibility cloak does not.
Pendry pioneered much of modern thinking about how to attain full invisibility using "metamaterials" -- substances engineered to manhandle light. Ordinary matter, such as glass or water, slows and bends light as it passes through. Metamaterials contain bits of metal or other substances embedded in precise patterns to make the light bend in an opposite direction from normal paths.
"In a sense you have some negative space," Pendry said. "The light appears to go backward in space."
The first generation, metamaterial "cloaks" are not thin and flexible like Harry Potter's imagined version but are inches thick and solid, resembling canisters, making them able to hide a stationary object but not a moving person. But the science is progressing quickly, physicist Schurig said.
To make a thin, flexible metamaterial cloak, Schurig said, "is technically challenging but not fundamentally impossible." And although no cloak can yet make objects fully invisible to the human eye, he added, it may not be long before scientists can bend the visible spectrum enough to make an object hard to see...
As if titanium tubing and exotic-alloy farings weren't enough, now the Air Force is getting all Gucci on us and fashioning airplane parts out of jewelry...sort of.
From Aviation Week:
Researchers at the University of Dayton in Ohio are preparing an Air Force report showing the corrosion-protection potential that results from prodding oysters to produce pearl-like coatings on metals. Senior research scientist Doug Hansen says his team has manipulated oyster blood cells, prompting them to deposit nacre, a natural calcium carbonate ceramic, onto aluminum, titanium and stainless-steel alloys. The deposits are “fracture resistant” and, as coatings, “they can last a lifetime,” he says. The work is funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
I guess if this happens, Air Force maintenance managers are going to have to regularly case the local pawn shops for the flashy pearl-coated parts.
(Gouge: NC)
-- Christian
Air Force Ignores UFO Threat
And they laughed at Dennis Kucinich, didn't they?
This hot off the AP presses:
Several dozen people — including a pilot, county constable and business owners — insist they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.
"People wonder what in the world it is because this is the Bible Belt, and everyone is afraid it's the end of times," said Steve Allen, a freight company owner and pilot who said the object he saw last week was a mile long and half a mile wide. "It was positively, absolutely nothing from these parts."
While federal officials insist there's a logical explanation, locals swear that it was larger, quieter, faster and lower to the ground than an airplane. They also said the object's lights changed configuration, unlike those of a plane. People in several towns who reported seeing it over several weeks have offered similar descriptions of the object.
Machinist Ricky Sorrells said friends made fun of him when he told them he saw a flat, metallic object hovering about 300 feet over a pasture behind his Dublin home. But he decided to come forward after reading similar accounts in the Stephenville Empire-Tribune.
"You hear about big bass or big buck in the area, but this is a different deal," Sorrells said. "It feels good to hear that other people saw something, because that means I'm not crazy."
Sorrells said he has seen the object several times. He said he watched it through his rifle's telescopic lens and described it as very large and without seams, nuts or bolts.
Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth, said no F-16s or other aircraft from his base were in the area the night of Jan. 8, when most people reported the sighting.
Lewis said the object may have been an illusion caused by two commercial airplanes. Lights from the aircraft would seem unusually bright and may appear orange from the setting sun.
"I'm 90 percent sure this was an airliner," Lewis said. "With the sun's angle, it can play tricks on you."
Officials at the region's two Air Force bases — Dyess in Abilene and Sheppard in Wichita Falls — also said none of their aircraft were in the area last week. The Air Force no longer investigates UFOs.
The Air Force no longer investigates UFOs? Then what the heck do we need the F-22 for?
-- Ward
The Freaky F-35 Lid
I mean, is this the craziest helmet ever? It looks like bogies could die of fright before being shot down.
Gazette and Herald (Wiltshire, UK)
Fighter pilots get a clear vision
By Gazette Reporter
Futuristic new helmets will enable fighter jet pilots to see through their own aircraft, the Ministry of Defence said today.
The head gear being developed for the hi-tech F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is being tested by MoD scientists at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire.
An MoD spokesman said: "Unlike other jet aircraft the JSF, which is planned to replace the Harrier, does not have a traditional head-up display
Instead the computerised symbology will be displayed directly on to the pilot's visors, providing the pilot with cues for flying, navigating and fighting the aircraft.
"It even will superimpose infra-red imagery on to the visor to allow the pilot to look through the cockpit floor at night and see the world below - like something out of Terminator.
"This is absolutely the cutting edge of technology. No other helmet will be able to do this."
The head gear, currently at prototype stage, is being developed by Vision Systems International and Helmet Integrated Systems Limited.
(Gouge: NC)
-- Christian
San Fran Again
First USS Iowa. Then high school ROTC. Then the Blue Angels. Now the US Marine Corp. How much more dis'in can the US Military take from the city and 'burbs by the bay?
A new advertising campaign by the Marine Corp has a their Silent Drill Team (an absolutely amazing display of precision and discipline) being filmed at various places around the US. You can see the products here.
When they wanted to film, on September 11 no less, on California Street in downtown San Francisco, the group was denied a permit to film. While initial inquiries by the press to Stefanie Coyote, the executive director of the San Francisco Film Commission, received the "unavailable to comment" response, Coyote later said to KGO-TV that "traffic control was the issue."
"Traffic control".
So what did the Marines do? They went to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area for the final segment of its "America's Marines" TV commercial then proceeded to New York City and filmed at Times Square where, apparently, traffic is less of an issue that in San Fran.
Yet another slap in the face of the US Military by a shrill anti-military area or a prudent exercising of civil traffic control by sage city elders?
When you absolutely, positively must crash that party you weren’t invited to, here’s your ride.
It’s sophisticated, yet rugged.
The white color scheme and United Nations logo stenciled on the side says “I’m willing to be reasonable about this. Someone must have forgotten to put me on the guest list.” But the smooth-bore 120 jutting from the turret says: “Though, if you’re not going to let me in, we’re gonna have a problem.”
Comfortable Corinthian leather bench seats that can accommodate all your scantily-clad groupies - and thick glass portals to keep the paparazzi at bay.
Oh, and did we forget the beverage cooler and milspec champagne bottle rack?
So when the pansies in Hollywood try to block your entrance to their post-production party in the Hills with their girlie-man Prius hybrids, just put this chick magnet in gear and drive right the hell over them.
A perfect distraction from a Friday that just keeps dragging on.
Best line: "We're not doing that anymore..."
Gay Bomb Recycled
The internet's been abuzz in the last few days with news about how the Pentagon's been working on a "gay bomb." We at DT can only say, "Tell us something we didn't know two-and-a-half years ago."
Here's what then-editor Noah Shachtman reported on January 6, 2005:
Instead of using guns and bombs, let's attack the enemies of freedom with bugs, rats, and horny gay men.
That seems to be the sentiment behind a 1994 Air Force proposal, unearthed by bioweapons-watchers at the Sunshine Project.
The document -- entitled "Harrassing, Annoying, and 'Bad Guy' Identifying Chemicals" -- strings together a couple of ideas for non-lethal agents that could mark an opponent, temporarily change his behavior, or "attract annoying creatures to an enemy position."
Were any of these proposals ever approved? I doubt it. But, boy, do I love the idea of Pentagon program managers dreaming up ways to use "sex attractant chemicals for bugs" as weapons. Or employing a "'sting/attack me' chemical that causes bees to attack." Such an agent "would especially effective for infiltration routes," the paper observes.
"Rodents and larger animals would [also] be candidates to be drawn to enemy positions," according to the proposal. So would other "stinging and biting bugs."
But as irritating as a swarm of bees or rats might be, it's nothing compared to the distraction generated by a man in heat. No wonder, then, that the Air Force document calls for "chemicals that affect human behavior so that discipline and morale in enemy units is adversely effected. One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior."
If, for some reason, military scientists couldn't come up with an effective, sprayable Spanish Fly, well, there are still other possibilities to be explored. For instance: "a low toxicity compound" that creates "severe and lasting halitosis."
Bad breath, in other words.
THERE'S MORE: As if sprays to induce homosexual dalliances and rat attacks weren't problematic enough. In 1997, the Army let loose a proposal, calling for the "preparation of an 'odor index' to match known disagreeable odors to a specific culture, political/religious group or geographical region."
The work looks loving back on a 1944 project, "Who Me," that gave French resistance fighters lead foil tubes, packed with chemicals that produced a "fecal odor." But the plan backfired, this document notes, "when it was found that people in many areas of the world do not find 'fecal odor' to be offensive."
It's one of a number of Pentagon brainstorms, to try to target certain ethnic or geographic groups with non-lethal chemical weapons.
Against my better judgment, I want to add some legs to the story we posted today on the imminent release of Jack (Keith) Idema - the notorious mercenary/self-proclaimed “Super-Patriot” – from an Afghan prison where he was held on criminal charges for running his own little interrogation center/torture chamber.
I have been following this story for several years now, ever since Idema popped up early on in the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan as both a “humanitarian worker” who helped save National Geographic reporter Gary Scurka’s life and a covert special operative for the CIA (or some other super-secret, unknown, three-letter ‘OGA’) that helped single-handedly secure victory over the Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists for U.S. and Northern Alliance forces.
The embarrassing book “written” by Robin Moore in 2003 titled “The Hunt for bin Laden: Task Force Dagger” unmasked Idema as the primary source for the pitiful account and sent the blogosphere swirling. (That’s Idema on the cover)
By the way, Moore is famous for his first-person account of Army SF indoc - the only journalist ever to undergo the famous "Q" course - in the book titled "The Green Berets."
One of the most brilliant investigations of Idema’s various cons can be found at the Flogging the Simian blog. For years, the blog has tracked Idema’s self-promotion and questionable connections. Is he a former Army Special Forces operator? Was he hired by the CIA/State/US government to help insert spec ops personnel into Afghanistan, track bin Laden with his own mercenary group of has-beens and wannabes, deliver humanitarian aid to war refugees in northern Afghanistan, etc?
You be the judge. But I’ll tell you, this is one of the most entertaining and intriguing stories popping up during a long war that has since had very few of them. And with Idema’s release, we’re sure to hear much, much more about the U.S. government’s secret deals with said Super-Patriot to find the world’s most wanted men and single-handedly save America from the evil doers…
-- Christian
iPod Armor Update
DT just received an update on the iPod armor story. I can't vouch for the authenticity of the post, but thought I'd pass it along anyway since many of you have asked about Apple's follow-up, etc.
The iPod was how Kevin Garrad found out he was shot. This is the real story.
Kevin said he got into the fight with the insurgent and afterwards he did not know he was even shot. He said he returned to his bunk after the patrol, put on his earbuds and began to clean his weapon.
He said: “you get into a ritual out there.”
No music came on. He dug around in the pockets where he kept the iPod and pulled out the twisted hunk of metal that is in the pictures. He said that was how he found out that he had been shot during the fight. He was happy that his armor worked.
He said the upgraded armor he was wearing could stop the AK-47 round. It was not the newest armor that is in Iraq now, but it was an upgrade. This was his second iPod that he had brought to Iraq. The first had been damaged earlier and the store would not replace it, even with the additional warranty he purchased.
The pictures are what happens when an AK-47 bullet hits an iPod.
(Gouge:CM)
-- Christian
iPod Armor
Alright, how many gigs does it take to stop a 7.62 round?
I’m not sure, but if you look at this photo, it takes at least 20G to slow one down.
The pic may have already made the rounds on the net, but it’s worth a second look.
How about a little Good Friday contest?
Question: How many more tactical uses are out there for the ever-popular iPod?
(I’ll post the winning comments as they come in)
DT reader "mrnitropb" writes:
Use the chrome side as a tac mirror for looking around corners.
Use it to listen to Arabic/Farsi language tapes. English track listings for Arabic phrases, choose an aproppriate phrase and share the earbud with person.
Hook up a speaker for that "Ride of the Valkrie" effect before hitting a zone.
I have heard of use #3, though the tune was far more head-banging than Wagner...
...and "RJB1012" passes along his (tongue-in-cheek?) ideas:
turn it on and use it as a tactical light when entering a room
turning the ipod on and off so the light can be used for signalling
something to keep the POWs entertained....
take the old ipods, as an all out last resort, and just throw it at 'em
You gotta love this one. While coalition forces in Afghanistan gear up for a major assault against Taliban insurgents and al Qaeda holdouts, there was one small victory that took the edge off the seriousness of the impending Operation Achilles (which, by the way, is a much better name for such an operation, don’t you think? A lot better than “Together Forward” or something foofy like that).
NATO reports that key Taliban commander and suicide bomb-maker Mullah Mahmood was captured in southeast Kandahar province by vigilant Afghan National Army troops. But here’s the best part. Mahmood was dressed in drag.
NATO reports that the insurgent leader was trying to slip through a checkpoint wearing a burka when ANA soldiers noticed something wasn’t quite right about the ruse.
Maybe that traditional Muslim dress reveals a lot more than one might think?
-- Christian
Chewbacca Arrested in Hollywood!
Los Angeles Police arrested a man dressed as Chewbacca on Thursday. His crime: Head-butting a tour guide on the Hollywood Walk of Fame "who told the character he shouldn't be asking a tourist for money," reports KABC-TV.
A collection of oddball types roam the Walk of Fame, dressed like Tinseltown characters. They pose for pictures with out-of-towners -- usually, in exchange for a few coins. On Thursday, "Chewbacca was putting his arm around a tourist, and the tourist didn't want him there," explained a gaunt, dye-jobbed "Superman" to the Jimmy Kimmel Show. A Starline Tour employee told Chewie to back off. And as everyone knows, it's not wise to upset a wookie. "He head-butted him," Supes added. "The cops were called, and they came down, basically to arrest Chewbacca."
"I'd see him get upset at people, like for not tipping. Like they'd walk off. And he'd get really pissed. Right there and then, take the mask off and start chewing them out, cussing," said a nasal-voiced man wearing a Scream mask. "Even in front of kids."
"Now we want to make clear that this is not the actor who played Chewbacca in the movie, this is just the guy who plays him on the Hollywood Boulevard," a hapless KABC correspondent duly noted.
"I'm sure Han will come and shoot him out of jail and rescue him," Kimmel quipped.
200 Years of "Mind Control"
My Popular Mechanics piece on ‘bioelectromagnetic’ weapon reseach is now online, and as Sharon Weinberger’s intriguing Washington Post article last week made clear, there has been a great deal of military research into the area of "mind control" (though they would prefer to use the term "behavior modification.")
Many people believe they are being targeted by such weapons. Certainly it's a growing phenomenon in the U.S.:
''In the United States, you don't see nearly as many mentally ill people anymore who have delusions and hallucinations with regard to God and the saints as you did 20 or 30 years ago, when I first doing this work. In our secular society, it's more a matter of, well, the President or the C.I.A. is affecting my behavior by radio waves or microwave receivers in my teeth.''
But the problem goes way back. One case from London was James Matthews, who said he was being influenced by an implant in his head by a gang using a weird electromagnetic device. This group, one of many, he called the Air Loom Gang, and among the tortures they inlicted on him were implanting thoughts ('kiteing'), stopping him from speaking ('fluid locking’), cutting his circulation ('sudden death squeezing’) and ‘brain lengthening’ which would 'cause good sense to appear as insanity, and convert truth to libel'.
So far so typical, except that the case was described in 1810 by John Haslam, the apothecary at the notorious ‘Bedlam’ – correctly the Bethlehem Hospital , the original lunatic asylum. This was the first ever full length clinical description of a single patient, one apparently suffering from delusions of control.
So was Matthews simply a lunatic? Bedlam staff said so, but two doctors declared him completely sane. It seems that Matthews was not incarcerated on medical grounds but on the orders of Lord Liverpool, the Home Office minister, who Matthews had accused of being part of a nefarious plot.
Matthews claimed he had been negotiating a peace settlement with France and had been betrayed. Oddly enough, some of Matthews’s story appears to be true; when his mission to Paris failed the French threw him into prison. He behaved quite sanely; in Bedlam Matthews learned architectural drawing, and drew up plans a new hospital building. The Governors gave him £30 for his work and some of the features of his design were incorporated into the new Bedlam. His family maintained he was eccentric but sane.
Haslam’s account of Matthews – “Illustrations of Madness: Exhibiting a Singular Case of Insanity…” was intended to prove that Matthews really was mad. But Matthews kept his own notes on his treatment, notes which found their way to a committee investigating Bedlam some time after his death. These undoubtedly influenced the committee's decision to dismiss Haslam and order that patients should be treated more humanely in future.
If Matthews was the victim of a plot, what about the infernal engine which afflicted him, the mind-control machine he called the Air Loom? According to Matthews, it sent out ‘invisible magnetic rays’ which influenced a magnet implanted in his head and produced many diagrams of it . We may fairly assume that this was a reflection of the fashionable interest in mesmerism and ‘animal magnetism’ of this period. The alternative is that he was trying to describe advanced technology in an age before the discovery electromagnetic radiation or the electrical nature of the nervous system - and that way surely lies madness.
The case has many parallels with the modern descriptions of 'gang stalking' recounted in Sharon's article and suggests that the situation is a complex one. And if bioelectromagnetic weapons ever actually reach the stage of being fielded, then simply labeling people who claim they are being targeted as 'crazy' will no longer be an option.
UPDATE 3:20 PM: These days lots of people are also worried about the effects of electromagnetic smog. Until scientists like the bioelectromagnetics researchers get to grips with this it will reamin with the fringe, like the makers of this anti-EM spray.
And for an musical last word, it's hard to beat this.
Just to update you all: last Sunday’s Washington Post Magazine published a cover story I’d been working on for the past number of months about an extremely large group of people who believe the government is targeting them as part of a "mind control" campaign.
I wrote a brief item here last weekend, and Noah suggested that I check back in a few days and post an update with the response to the article. Well, let’s just say life is an adventure, and the article has elicited strong reactions.
What response? Well, first there are the 75 or so blog entries related to the story, the online discussion and the nine full pages of comments appended to the Washington Post Magazine article, most from people who say they are victims of mind control. There are also some notable reactions here at Defense Tech; and my e-mail inbox (by the way folks, Gmail was wrong about "never deleting another e-mail" -- my account has hit its limit).
Reactions came at two extremes: There were a number of "TIs" (short for Targeted Individuals) who graciously thanked me for writing their story, and then there were skeptics who attacked the article for not concluding the TIs are all schizophrenics in need of medical help. My favorite comment from the Post's site was simply: “Good grief, Sharon, what have you done?!”
I’ve often asked myself that same question.
There were a few people, however, who seemed to agree that whether the TIs' claims are true or false, there's something to be said about trying to understand why so many people believe the things they believe.
But for anyone who thinks that all TIs are mentally ill people in need of forced medication, I suggest you check out some of the extremely sane tactics they employ. For example, their organized response to the article would make some political campaigns jealous. As one mind control blog advises:
We must write the Washington Post in high numbers to show that this story merits a follow up. We must get our side of the story out, before the perps start inundating them with letters that we are crazy. Please take part in this to give the accurate side of what is really happening and remember to forward any supporting evidence.
There's also a few researchers raising a fascinating question in the medical literature:
One of the defining features of a delusion is that it should not be a belief "ordinarily accepted by other members of the person's culture or subculture". Nevertheless, some researchers have noted that there is no clear measure of what is 'ordinarily accepted'.
It is also possible that cultures or subcultures could be based around beliefs that would otherwise be diagnosed as delusional. Until now, however, there have been no obvious examples of such subcultures identified.
In the Psychopathology paper, ten websites reporting psychosis-like 'mind control' experiences were identified. The reports were anonymised and independently blind-rated by three psychiatrists who confirmed that they reflect experiences stemming from psychosis.
One final thought: Some of the documents I dug up through a Freedom of Information Act request indeed confirmed that the Air Force Research Laboratory patented a device to send sounds and voices into someone's head as a "psychological warfare tool."
So, I guess that begs the obvious question: even if you dismiss everyone who claims they are a victim of mind-invading technology, what do you think Pentagon plans to do with such a device?
For many years, national security experts, prominent scientists, and probably Dennis Kucinich, have received hundreds of e-mails that begin something like this: “I am surveilled, harassed and gangstalked everywhere I go 24/7/365.”
I’ve certainly received them, and Defense Tech has gotten its fair share, too.
The letters typically state that the person is a victim of an organized mind control plot that involves weapons that beam voices into their head; shoot powerful pain rays at them; and often includes around-the-clock harassment and monitoring. One of the common claims is that the people are targeted by microwave weapons.
What do most people do with these letters? Defense writer William Arkinsays he hits the “delete” button when he gets those e-mails. Jon Ronson, author of the wonderfully wacky Men Who Stare at Goats has stated that mind control is an area that he doesn’t “want to get into.” (This from a gifted writer who interviewed a man who believes the world’s leaders are extraterrestrial lizards in disguise.)
What do I do with these letters? I read them, and this Sunday’s Washington Post Magazine has a cover story based on my nearly year-long investigation into their claims.
I try to raise what I think are some fascinating questions about the Pentagon’s involvement in microwave weapons and the auditory effect (which could be used to send sounds or voices into people’s heads).
As for whether there's any evidence that hundreds, if not thousands of people, are being targeted by microwave weapons, well, read for yourself.
America, it turns out, is suffering from a science and engineering shortage. Students are bypassing the sciences for sexier and more lucrative jobs...
This creates something of a national security problem... According to Dr. Barker, who works in the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, those who manage the national labs and others who conduct sensitive research have been saying for years "how hard it is to find qualified graduate students who are US citizens..."
Barker notes that 50 percent of America's scientific-and-engineering workforce will be eligible to retire in the next five years. Who's going to replace them?...
Hollywood... [may] be part of the solution. By writing and producing movies that have more scientific themes - and more authentic and appealing science protagonists - boosters think the US could encourage more young people to pursue careers in plasma physics, molecular biology, and other fields...
So what they've done for the past three years is convene a three-to-five-day screenwriting class at the venerated American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Called the Catalyst Workshop, it's a lot like other screenwriting classes that have become a cottage industry across the nation. But here's the twist - all participants in this one are actually scientists. Hardcore, PhD-laden, lab-certified scientists.
The military is paying closer attention to business... because the world of geopolitics has discovered itself to be on the same road that business has been on for some time. That road is flatter, more networked and more decentralized than ever.
Large companies are groping for strategies to fend off disruptive competitors, including YouTube, Kazaa, Skype and Wikipedia, companies that are giving away video, music, long-distance and information while eroding the revenue stream of companies that charge for it. YouTube is a website where users swap millions of free videos. With fewer than 100 employees, it has created anxiety throughout the giant industries of film and TV...
How large, traditional companies fare in this fight may prove invaluable in developing a strategy against al-Qaeda. That's why the military is going to school. A book making the rounds at the Pentagon is The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations. It was written for a business audience, but military strategists are saying, "This is the best thing I've read that applies to counterterrorism," says Lt. Col. Rudolph Atallah, a Defense Department director in international affairs.
The premise of The Starfish and the Spider is that centralized organizations are like spiders and can be destroyed with an attack to the head. Decentralized organizations transfer decision-making to leaders in the field. They are like starfish. No single blow will kill them, and parts that are destroyed will grow back.
When Starfish co-author Rod Beckstrom arrived at USA TODAY's suburban Washington, D.C., headquarters for an interview in November, he said he had just come from meetings with representatives at the Pentagon and elsewhere in the "intelligence community." He said he was contacted "out of the blue" in September by one of the highest-ranking officers in special operations, and more recently by a high-ranking special operations officer at Fort Bragg, N.C.
We Get Letters: French Sub-Makers, UFO-Spotters
While we silly Americans were busy clinging to our neo-pagan rituals -- decorated trees! oil lamps! dropping balls! bowl games! -- the intrepid scientific truth-tellers of France were hard at work, spreading the word about their world-shaking discoveries. Two of these researchers graced me with their communiques in recent days. And I now share these remarkable messages with you:
=====================
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
=====================
Contact: XXXXXXXXX
UFOs Explained at Last
Anti-gravitation, propulsion of UFOs, crop circles, abductions have scientific proof
Since October 2003, over 6400 sightings of unidentified flying objects throughout the world have been reported, and, according to multiple surveys over the last several decades and from different countries, 5-7% of people report having seen a UFO - equivalent to 15-20 million Americans. But is there proof of such a thing? And what about other paranormal occurrences like crop circles, poltergeists, and even time travel? Author Eric Julien says there is science behind the paranormal and presents it in his breakthrough work, _The Science of Extraterrestrials: UFOs Explained at Last._ After more than 50 years of investigation, Julien posits that the fractal nature of time and its three dimensions led to the emergence of a revolutionary global theory: Absolute Relativity. Written for the layman but presented in a solidly scientific way,
_The Science of Extraterrestrials_ highlights the mistakes of science and will furthermore offer insight into extraterrestrial technology. In his book, Julien methodically covers the following:
Anti-gravitation
Propulsion of UFOs
Alien abductions
Formation of crop circles
Strange luminous phenomena
Poltergeists
Ghosts
Post mortem survival
Time travel
Praised by the international scientific community, _The Science of Extraterrestrials_ is "probably one of the best books of ufology from a scientific point of view," said Pascal di Scala, a French professor of mathematics.
About the Author: Eric Julien is a former fighter pilot trainee, a military air traffic controller, twin jet pilot in commercial aviation, station manager for an international airline company and airport manager in the great Parisian airports... He has had contact with extraterrestrials and shares in this body of work his understanding of the universe.
FWIW, I see that the French space agency will be "publish[ing] its archive of UFO sightings and other phenomena online." Maybe this monsieur's close encounters will be included.
---
from: XXXXXXXX
to: defense@defensetech.org
date: Jan 2, 2007 7:50 AM
subject: Sub sea innovative project for civil and Defense strategies.
We do register, as new start up French company, three patents for a very new system of absolute autonomous submarine drone, but more than that, an unlimited sized autonomous submarine *structure* available for all kinds of sea tasks, itself available as completed machine with embedded equipments for many different tasks.
French Marine Headquarter is seriously interested in, but financial conditions are not allowed to start this project. We would like to be known in many countries and by many possible partners in the world.
Meaddle East interlocutors are seriously interested by one version for drinkable water detection and captation for unlimited quantities, without pumping nor pipes at any depth (our technology), but we need strong partners to start and build a proptotype (around two millions Euros). Many options are already designed for Defense original solutions, as submarine rescue, heavy recovery, carrier ships protection, mine hunter or sleeping fire bases as coast undetectable patrolling units.
Would you tell us if you can help us to find contacts for business ?
This is truly the mother of all scoops. After months of clandestine meetings, Freedom of Information Act requests, and classified military computer hacks, Murdoc has finally discovered the wonder weapon that is guaranteed to turn the tide in Iraq. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... the Urban Combat Patrol Tricycle!
We Get Letters: 'Sats Attacking My Brain'
It's actually been a while since I've been sent an e-mail this nutty. Can the Air Force's satellite hackers help out here?
Dear Sir,
Satellite Technology could be used on terrorist. If a terrorist is caught the "lasered" with Satellite technology then let go. That individual can be monitored 24/7/365 with out ever knowing that it is being done to him. Follow the rat back to the nest. If the "laser" that can shock the nervous system is also applied then that individual can be controlled to a certain extent. Sleep deprivation can be used and the shocking of the nervous system takes allot out of the individual. I know it is being used on me.
I am sending you this because I do not know who else to turn to. Satellite technology is being used on me. The only proof I have is other people hearing these people. My dentist, people at a coffee shop, barber, suppermarket, everywhere I go ect... I hoped that I was just mentally ill but when other people can hear them then it's not me. Me I am having sleep deprivation, shocking to my nervous system and other disruptive things being done to me utilizing this technology.
Video: Shark Spies Steered by "Squid Juice"
I'm sure you'll all remember that happy day last March, when word broke that a Darpa-funded scientist was looking for ways to turn sharks into "stealth spies." Now, thanks to the sharp-eyed SC, we can all check out a video of the shark training in action.
Back in the spring, I figured this research was in its earliest, most basic stages -- getting a sense of what makes a shark tick. Not so. Boston University professor Jelle Atema can actually "steer a shark" -- either through "electrical stimulation of the brain" or by delivering "little odor pulses" of "squid juice" to the predator's nose.
Atema's Darpa funding is done. So Atema is looking for more cash to better train his sharky posse. Maybe to "track ocean temperature changes," or the "spread of pollution," he says.
Meanwhile, "the military has... made the research classified, and it is now run out of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center," says a Boston University alumni newsletter. No word, yet, on whether the little buggers have frickin' lasers attached to their heads. But, surely, it can't be that far off.
The Sound of Rummy
We've all suspected for some time that our outgoing Defense Secretary is a very, very odd man. And that Fox News blowhard Cal Thomas is completely freakin' bonkers. There's further proof, after the jump, in this straight-outta-Wonderland exchange between the two. Julie Andrews, beware.
SEC. RUMSFELD: It's good to see you.
MR. THOMAS: When you get things, you know, straightened out, come down and see a movie with us. I promise it won't be a war movie.
SEC. RUMSFELD: What kind of a movie?
MR. THOMAS: We got a movie theater we kind of like in our house.
SEC. RUMSFELD: Oh, do you really?
MR. THOMAS: Yeah, we decided we're not leaving anything to the kids, so we're spending it on ourselves since I earned it.
SEC. RUMSFELD: Yeah, damn right. That's my answer. (Laughter.)
MR. THOMAS: (Laughs.) There you go. And so we have this nice movie theater with surround sound --
SEC. RUMSFELD: I've heard these home theaters -- you have chairs that --
MR. THOMAS: Oh, they're fun. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah do that. You can sleep, you can do anything. It's very cool.
SEC. RUMSFELD: My wife --
MR. THOMAS: Juke box, all kinds of stuff.
SEC. RUMSFELD: My wife loves movies.
MR. THOMAS: Oh, good. Well --
SEC. RUMSFELD: She goes all the time with a group of women, and I have not been in six years to the movies.
MR. THOMAS: It'll be fun. I got one for you that'd you'd really love. You got it this Christmas. Get for her and watch it together. It's called "Akeelah and the Bee." Starbucks is involved in it. It's about a little African-American girl, 11-years-old, growing up in Crenshaw in LA... And they discover that she has this great gift of spelling. Laurence Fishburne is in it, Angela Basset. She goes out and redeems everybody... I'm sitting there I'm balling away. I'm cheering for the kid...
I guarantee you I'll give you your money back if you don't love this movie. You will absolutely love this. It's got everything. There's not a white guy -- the only white guy in it is the principal of the school. Everybody else is minority, everybody else gets along.
SEC. RUMSFELD: Did you like the "Sound of Music?"
MR. THOMAS: Of course I liked the "Sound of Music."
SEC. RUMSFELD: Well, so did I... People laugh at that.
MR. THOMAS: Well, I want to you something. I stalked Julie Andrews for 40 years before I finally got her.
SEC. RUMSFELD: Is that right.
MR. THOMAS: On our shelf, a picture of us having tea together in New York.
SEC. RUMSFELD: How long ago?
MR. THOMAS: Two years. But I --
SEC. RUMSFELD: She's showing her years.
MR. THOMAS: Yeah, well -- no, she looks great.
SEC. RUMSFELD: (Laughs.)
MR. THOMAS: I waited for her outside the Majestic Theater in 1962 in the rain. That's when it started... And that's how I opened the letter to her, you know. So anyway, you got more important things to do.
SEC. RUMSFELD: Good to see you.
MR. THOMAS: Good to you see you, and let's stay in touch.
SEC. RUMSFELD: Terrific.
MR. THOMAS: And come and see a movie. You will love that one, I guarantee it. Merry Christmas.
This teeny-tiny piece had more than its fair share of hilarious research moments. The best of 'em had to be when I stumbled across this zany Japanese promotional video for the wine-ager. Behold, as a cuter-than-cute cartooon grandpa gets his drink on, while a little girl blinks her giant eyes, and gets all golly-gee. Complete with an overdub that would make Godzilla proud.
Like the old man in the video says, "Mmmm. Well, let's start the consumption."
A few other interesting tidbits in the ish. Defense Tech pal Clive Thompson takes a look at the Boomerang 'Bot -- and eats a little DT dust in the process (which is fine, considering I wrote up one of his ideas last year). Jonathan Shainin takes note of the CIA's "Ziggurat of Zealotry," and the infamously-fictional "Rods from God" space weapon concept.
Mind Control, Prisoner Experiment Okays
Heads up, Navy scientists! If you want to perform "severe or unusual intrusions, either physical or psychological, on human subjects," you're going to need approval from the Under Secretary of the Navy.
According to a memo unearthed by Secrecy News, that goes for "consciousness-altering drugs or mind-control techniques," as well. Ditto for experiments on "prisoners" -- even though the document says earlier that "research involving any person captured, detained, held, or otherwise under the control of DoD personnel (military and civilian, or contractor employee) is prohibited." The UNDERSECNAV's thumbs-up is also required for human trials involving "potentially or inherently controversial topics (such as those likely to attract significant media coverage or that might invite challenge by interest groups)."
On the other hand, the Director of Defense Research and Engineering makes the call on "all proposed research involving exposure of human subjects to the effects of nuclear, biological or chemical warfare agents or weapons."
So keep that in mind.
Fighting Shadows: Military Holograms
In science fiction, holograms are realistic, moving three-dimensional images. (Remember Arnie being spooked by his mirror self in Total Recall, and the priceless line “Watch out, he’s got a hologram!”). In the movies, if they flicker a bit ("Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi..."), it’s just so the audience realises it’s a hologram and doesn’t get confused. Real life holograms are a lot more limited, so I was interested to see this study carried by Dr David Watt on Holograms As Nonlethal Weapons for NTIC, the Nonlethal Technology Innovations Center in New Hampshire.
This is a serious look at the technical possibilities for holograms. It’s a far cry from blue sky fantasies like the Air Force 2025 Airborne Holographic Projector which ”displays a three-dimensional visual image in a desired location, removed from the display generator” or the even more wildly optimistic “Hologram, Death: Hologram used to scare a target individual to death.”
Real holograms will not fool people at short range and they do not move, nor can they be ‘projected’ into a remote location. But they might still have their uses.
One of Watt's suggested applications is 'deception in an urban environment'. Take a shop window and replace it with a hologram of a window display, and you have an apparently innocuous space where troops can be stationed without any hint of their presence. A vehicle (a car or bus) could use similar trompe l’oeil effect.
There is the possibility of using holograms to create ‘virtual forces’ or ‘virtual obstacles’, but the problems are all too apparent. The situation is much better indoors where the optical environment can be controlled. Dr Watt suggests installations could have virtual doors, walls and windows as ways of confusing or misleading intruders.
A more unusual approach is using a speckle hologram as ‘virtual smoke’. This type of hologram produces an image that appears to be in front of its real surface, and this could ‘project’ a confusing image of three-dimensional spots before their eyes, making it impossible for viewers to judge what is in front of them and how far away it is.
The human eye is difficult to fool, notes Dr Watt, but infra-red sensors are much less sophisticated – there is no need for the same level of colour fidelity. An infra-red hologram of a vehicle could make a very convincing decoy. Automated systems (such as missile guidance) with no humans to spot the flaws should be particularly easy to fool. However, as Watt points out the technology does not yet exist to create infra-red holograms.
It is the third dimension that makes holograms uniquely different to other means of camouflage and potentially valuable. During WWII, circles of black cloth were used to give the impression of bomb craters on runways after air raids, but these would not stand up to close inspection. Holograms would allow you to put realistic-looking ‘holes’ or craters on any surface and confuse any possible damage assessment.
Watt’s conclusion is “Fascinating, but…” –- there are just too many limitations at present. Size limits and material restrictions are a real problem, and
“Most NLT [non lethal technology] applications rely on psychological predisposition of belligerents.”
In other words it will take a certain amount showmanship to set the illusion up in the first place; this may be feasible in Las Vegas, but not on the battlefield.
But perhaps the biggest stumbling block at present is the cost of holograms large enough for practical applications. Watt quotes $10,000 for a one metre by two hologram, or a hefty $200k for one metre by six metres, which is a lot of money – especially if the bad guys decide to test whether one is real by putting a bullet through it.
First USS Iowa. Then high school ROTC. Then the Blue Angels. Now the US Marine Corp. How much more dis'in can the US Military take from the city and 'burbs by the bay?
Los Angeles Police 
So far so typical, except that the case was described in 1810 by John Haslam, the apothecary at the notorious ‘Bedlam’ – correctly the 
I wrote a 
I’ve certainly received them, and Defense Tech has gotten its 
The Air Force is 
It's actually been a while since I've been sent an e-mail this nutty. Can the Air Force's 
I'm sure you'll all remember that happy day last March, when word broke that a Darpa-funded scientist was looking for ways to turn sharks into "
We've all 
Heads up, Navy scientists! If you want to perform "severe or unusual intrusions, either physical or psychological, on human subjects," you're going to need approval from the Under Secretary of the Navy.
