The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has gotten approval from the Pentagon to test out a military heat-ray weapon along the US-Mexico border, according to a memo that was obtained by CNN.
The weapon, formally called the Active Denial System, is nonlethal and fires an unseen beam of electromagnetic energy with a range of just over half a mile.
When the beam hits a person’s skin, it produces an intense burning sensation, similar to when a person opens an oven. The military says this “tingling effect” fades after 10 to 15 minutes, but the weapon also triggers “an instinctive and irresistible urge to run from the effect.”
DHS has not said how the weapon will be used yet. However, current and former Customs and Border Protection officials say the agency has talked internally for years about using it to break up crowds at the southern border, per the report.
Under the memo, DHS gets a “temporary loan” of the single ADS unit for seven months starting in September. The memo says the system “shall not be operated by DoW (Department of War) personnel.”
The memo also places DHS fully in charge of “system employment, use and development of tactics, techniques and procedures.” A defense official told reporters that when the seven months are up, DHS may ask to keep using the system for border work if it can show that it is useful.
In a statement to CNN, a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said, “CBP is continually evaluating new technologies, especially those that enhance operational effectiveness and strengthen mission capabilities.”
