Thread: Plan for border fence draws fire

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...ico-fence.html

Plans for U.S.-Mexico border fence draw fire


By Tim Gaynor
REUTERS

5:00 a.m. March 29, 2006

TIJUANA, Mexico, – Hurling himself over a steel fence into the no-man's-land between Mexico and California, an undocumented migrant sprints across a narrow strip lit by harsh arc lights and watched over by video cameras on tall posts.
Before he can shin up a second barrier of tall concrete pillars topped with seismic sensors and a layer of steel mesh more than an arm's-length wide, U.S. Border Patrol agents close in fast and arrest him .

That scene is repeated dozens of times each day along a 14-mile stretch of state-of-the-art fencing separating San Diego, California, from Tijuana, Mexico, that has become a model for no-nonsense policing of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Inspired by the San Diego fence, the U.S. House Representatives voted in December to build a similar barrier to stop illegal immigrants across one-third of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, seen as a weak spot in homeland security since the Sept. 11 attacks.

It is the most controversial proposal in a debate in the U.S. Congress over immigration reform that has split Republicans and sparked protests by Hispanic immigrants in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit.

Although the San Diego fence is seen as a success in cutting illegal immigration, the plan for the bigger barrier is struggling to win further support in Congress.

Critics compare it to the Berlin Wall and say it goes against the American spirit of openness, sending the wrong message to the rest of the world about the United States.

Calif. Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter, who authored the fence plan and estimates it would cost about $2 billion, points to a sharp drop in the number of immigrants nabbed h it would most likely be ineffective, while the Mexican government slammed it as a disgrace.

Despite the greater chances of either dying in the desert or being caught while pushing north through the San Diego sector, immigrants at a hostel in Tijuana said they would not be put off from their quest for a better life in the United States.

“Whatever they put there they'll just keep on going over, around or under it,” Hugo Uriel, an illegal immigrant from Mexico's Michoacan state said.

“Finding a better life for your family is a powerful incentive,” he said at a Tijuana hostel after being caught in the United States and sent back to Mexico.

The fence plan envisages a double barrier made from former U.S. military aircraft landing mats stood on their side on the south and a high-tech steel and concrete wall to the north.

It would run for 22 miles across California, and 361 miles over the sun-blasted Arizona desert, a strip crossed by half of the 1.18 million immigrants nabbed on the border last year.

A remaining 315 miles of fence is proposed to seal three strips between Columbus, New Mexico and Brownsville, Texas, two of them along stretches of the Rio Grande River that became notorious last year as routes for Central American and Brazilian immigrants.

Border police in San Diego warn the fence has also strengthened the resolve of some die-hard immigrants and traffickers who have become wilier and more confrontational.

Attacks by frustrated traffickers on agents are soaring, with 119 gun, knife and rock assaults reported between Oct. 1 and the end of February, more than double the number noted in the same period a year ago, the Border Patrol said.

In an attempt to break through the heavily policed line, traffickers also scooped out four tunnels under the stretch of border this year alone, most of them shallow “gopher holes” used to smuggle undocumented immigrants northward.

Customs and Border Protection sources said immigrant traffickers have also crammed clients into hidden vehicle compartments, including seat backs and even gas tanks, to try and sneak them through the local ports of entry in the sector.

Immigrant welfare groups are also critical of the proposal, and point to the fact that past policing crackdowns such as ”Operation Gatekeeper” in the San Diego sector in 1994 only succeeded in rerouting the flow of immigrants to more remote and dangerous areas of the border.

“Nothing has actually succeeded in slowing down the number of migrants crossing the U.S. border,” said Rev. Robin Hoover, president of Tucson-based welfare group Humane Borders.

“The fence is just another gimmick that will just expose migrants to greater danger,” he added.

They oppose the fence because it WORKS...I suggest we take it a few steps further.

1. A six foot width of coiled barb-wire on the Mexican side of the first and second fence.

2. Second fence should be electrified with 240 votes running through it 24/7.

3. On the American side of the second fence, another 12 foot width of coiled barb-wired.

These would be serious deterents.

I'd recommend land mines, but the human rights folks might get upset with that one, thinking it goes to far in deterring traffic of illegal aliens.

Pinto Bean

Right, PB..they don't want to put up anything that will WORK to help us get rid of these parasites.

The Berlin wall is not a good camparison since it divided a country...this wall would merely serve to keep predators and criminals out of a society that does not want them.

RR

Originally Posted by PintoBean

They oppose the fence because it WORKS...I suggest we take it a few steps further.

http://www.princeton.edu/~globsec/publi ... ltmann.pdf

Acoustic Weapons - A
Prospective Assessment
Jürgen Altmann

Acoustic weapons are under research and development in a few countries. Advertised
as one type of non-lethal weapon, they are said to immediately incapacitate opponents
while avoiding permanent physical damage. Reliable information on specifications or
effects is scarce, however. The present article sets out to provide basic information in
several areas: effects of large-amplitude sound on humans, potential high-power
sources, and propagation of strong sound.
Concerning the first area, it turns out that infrasound - prominent in journalistic
articles - does not have the alleged drastic effects on humans. At audio frequencies,
annoyance, discomfort and pain are the consequence of increasing sound pressure levels.
Temporary worsening of hearing may turn into permanent hearing losses depending
on level, frequency, duration etc.; at very high sound levels, even one or a few short
exposures can render a person partially or fully deaf. Ear protection, however, can be
quite efficient in preventing these effects. Beyond hearing, some disturbance of the
equilibrium, and intolerable sensations mainly in the chest can occur. Blast waves
from explosions with their much higher overpressure at close range can damage other
organs, at first the lungs, with up to lethal consequences.
For strong sound sources, mainly sirens and whistles can be used. Powered, e.g., by
combustion engines, these can produce tens of kilowatts of acoustic power at low frequencies,
and kilowatts at high frequencies. Using explosions, up to megawatt power
would be possible. For directed use the size of the sources needs to be on the order of 1
meter, and the required power supplies etc. have similar sizes.
Propagating strong sound to some distance is difficult, however. At low frequencies,
diffraction provides spherical spreading of energy, preventing a directed beam. At
high frequencies, where a beam is possible, non-linear processes deform sound waves
to a shocked, saw-tooth form, with unusually high propagation losses if the sound pressure
is as high as required for marked effects on humans.

Originally Posted by RoadRunner

Right, PB..they don't want to put up anything that will WORK to help us get rid of these parasites.

The Berlin wall is not a good camparison since it divided a country...this wall would merely serve to keep predators and criminals out of a society that does not want them.

RR

http://www.notbored.org/UAV.html

Of particular interest are (1) the Global Hawk, made by Northrop Grumman, (2) the Predator, made by General Atomics, (3) the Cypher, made by Sikorsky, and (4) the Desert Hawk, made by Lockheed Martin.

(1) Each Global Hawk costs $15 million to manufacture. This UAV is over 40 feet long, and thus requires a very large run-way for take-offs and landings. Controlled by a human operator, not an on-board computer, the Global Hawk can stay in the air for as long as 40 hours. In that time, and without stopping once to re-fuel, it can travel 3,000 miles to its target; focus upon a huge area (as many as 3,000 square miles) from as high up as 65,000 feet; use electro-optical, infra-red and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) cameras to take pictures of the ground; use wireless technology or satellites to transmit those pictures in "real time"; and then return back to its homebase. The Global Hawk was first used by the Department of Defense to help NATO bombers spot potential targets in the 1998 war over Kosovo.

(2) The Predator is quite similar to the Global Hawk: it also requires a human operator and a long run-way for take-offs and landings. But, at $4.5 million each, the 27-foot-long Predator is cheaper and smaller. As a result, it is worth the risk of being sighted and shot-down to fly a Predator at relatively low altitudes (25,000 feet and below). Predators were first deployed for reconnaissance and surveillance operations ("RQ-1") by the US military during the 1995 civil war in Bosnia. Predators were used far more extensively in the USA's assault against and occupation of Afghanistan in October 2001.

Each Predator is equipped with a color nose camera (generally used by the aerial vehicle operator for flight control), a day variable aperture TV camera, a variable aperture infrared camera (for low light/night), and a synthetic aperture radar for looking through smoke, clouds or haze. The cameras produce full motion video and the SAR still frame radar images. According to Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Troy Beshears, a UAV platform manager in Washington, D.C., a Predator's cameras "can read a 3 to 6-inch letter from 10,000 feet."

Originally Posted by RoadRunner

Right, PB..they don't want to put up anything that will WORK to help us get rid of these parasites.

http://www.sunshine-project.org/incapacitants/jnlwdpdf/

US "Non Lethal" Chemical (and Biochemical) Weapons Research:
A Collection of Documents Detailing a Dangerous Program

This collection contains US government information on so-called "non-lethal" biochemical weapons. It includes some notable records released to the Sunshine Project under the Freedom of Information Act. A few are infamous and have been the subject of international media coverage, including Harassing, Annoying, and "Bad Guy" Identifying Chemicals, wherein the Air Force proposed creation of what is popularly known as the "gay bomb", and The Advantages and Limitations of Calmatives as a Non-Lethal Technique, a shocking report that sent shivers down the spine of every person interested in the prohibition of chemical and biological arms. In 2004, the US Marine Corps sought to remove documents on this page. After a widely-distributed wire report about the dispute, the Marines retreated, abandoning their censorship effort. For more information on that incident, click here.

The documents are listed in reverse chronological order. These documents were obtained by Sunshine Project in requests to the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, the Judge Advocate General of the US Navy, the National Nuclear Security Administration, US Department of Justice, and the National Academies of Science. Several are from public US government websites. Click here to visit the Sunshine Project home page.





Click on "Donate Now" to contribute to the Sunshine Project's Freedom of Information Fund



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Non-Lethal Artillery Structural Firing (FY04) Purchase Order Contract In Support of the FY04 155MM Non-Lethal Artillery Projectile Program (PDF)
US Army Picatinny Arsenal (Solicitation W15QKN-04-M-032
September 2004

Comment:This contract is for General Dynamics to provide support for US Army development of a 155mm "non-lethal" chemical anti-personnel round with a range of 15 to 20 kilometers. The round, called the XM1063, is a modification of the M864 "cargo munition", which is presently in the US arsenal and which usually carries grenade clusters. General Dynamics has also been a major contrator in the US "non-lethal" mortar program. The fiscal 2005 and 2006 work includes (comment in brackets, emphasis added):

"Conduct target human effects risk characterization, complete prototype design & fabrication, conduct component and sub system tests, develop liquid payload dissemination system [i.e. aerosol generation technology] , conduct a non-lethal simulant payload delivery feasibility flight test demonstration using the 155mm M864 common projectile cargo round at a range of at least 15km (TRL= 5)... Conduct target effects verification for selected payload material in lab environment with initial dissemination technique assessment (TRL= 4).... Compile data for legal and compliance review, conduct a NL personnel suppression payload delivery full up demonstration using the final projectile design with impact energy mitigated submunitions at 20 km (TRL= 6). Complete NL personnel suppression M&S with AMSAA and USAFAS. Complete vehicle area denial nano particle payload analysis, conduct component and dissemination tests. Conduct preliminary target effects determination."

Also see:
Liquid Payload Dispensing Concept Studies Techniques for the 81mm Non-Lethal Mortar Cartridge (2001)



NEW
Multi-Functional Grenade Modeling and Simulation (PDF)
US National Institute of Justice (DOJ Contract 2004-IJ-CX-K051)
July 2004

Comment: This contract with California-based Scientific Applications and Research Associates Inc. (SARA) is for a computer simulation of SARA's real-world product, the multi-sensory grenade (MSG). The MSG is also known as the Clear-a-Space Device. The development of the MSG has been funded by the US Marine Corps. Other public sources about the MSG, including SARA's website, suggest that it will have a malodorant payload (along with flash-bang). This contract is unique, however, because it indicates that planning is underway for the MSG to have a "knock-out gas" payload. A caption on page one of the contract states: "Here, we see a gas-masked soldier in position near a building's air supply intake. With additions to the program, we can have the soldier's weapons-usage abilities allow for the application of knock-out gas..." In simple terms, this contract calls for the creation of a computer simulation for US police (or military) forces to experiment with the use of chemical weapons. The computer simulation is based upon a computer game called Quake or Half-Life. The US National Institute of Justice coordinates its "non-lethal" weapons research with JNLWD.

This document is heavily redacted. The Sunshine Project believes that the vast majority of the redactions are not legal under the Freedom of Information Act. On 5 January 2005, we filed an appeal with the US Department of Justice to have an unredacted copy of this contract released.



Airburst Non-Lethal Munition (ANLM) Design Improvements (PDF)
US Army Picatinny Arsenal (Solicitation W15QKN-04-Q-0416)
July 2004

Comment:This contract is for improvements to a "non-lethal" round for chemical payloads, most likely in 40mm and/or 20mm variants. The contract is lengthy. Information about the work occurs beginning on page 56. This project appears to build upon that described by Picatinny in August 2001 (see below).

Also see:
Independent Technology Assessment: The Objective Individual Combat Weapon Non-Lethal Munition
Non-Lethal Airburst Munition(s)for Objective Individual Combat Weapon (2001)


Rapid Development of an LTL System Based on a Multishot RAP Launcher and Advanced Segmented Projectiles (PDF)
US Department of Justice / Vanek Prototype Company
May 2004

Comment:This contract is to "Continue development of RAP [Ring Airfoil Projectile] as agent carrier" (sic). Specifically, the contract includes production of a modified launcher and a test quantity of 200 "agent-carrier" rounds, called "ASRAPs" (Advanced Segmented Ring Airfoil Projectiles). The ASRAP is designed to be more accurate over longer ranges than its predecessors. The contract is silent on the chemical payload, however, a 2002 RAP development contract between Vanek and DOJ states "Payloads of incapacitants, irritants, malodorants, and marking agents would be of first interest".

The chemical ASRAP is being tested by the Institute for Non-Lethal Defense Technologies at Pennsylvania State University under DOJ contract 2004-IJ-CX-K013. This is the same Penn State team that is headed by the former commander of JNLWD, which prepared the Advantages and Limitations of Calmatives as a Non-Lethal Technique report, and which has extensive other contracts with the US Marine Corps.

Also see:
Multi-Shot Launcher with Advanced Less-Than-Lethal Ring Airfoil Projectiles (2002)



Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program: Non-Lethal Mortar Cartridge (NLMC) (PDF)
US Army Picatinny Arsenal
October 2003

Comment: Presentation by Robert Hegarty at National Defense Industry Association 2003 Picatinny Chapter/PEO Mortars Conference. [More comment to follow]

Also see:
A Technical Assessment of the 81mm Non-Lethal Mortar Munition (81NLMM)
Liquid Payload Dispensing Concept Studies Techniques for the 81mm Non-Lethal Mortar Cartridge
81mm Frangible Case Cartridge
Fabrication of Composite Mortar Components and Investigation of mortar Cartridge
Overhead Liquid Dispersal System (OLDS) Non-Lethal Demonstration Program (Final Report)


Front End Analysis for Non-Lethal Chemicals (PDF - JPG version here)
Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate
Early 2003

Comment: Despite JNLWD's oft-reiterated denials that it is developing incapacitating chemical weapons, this brief item appeared on JNLWD's website in early 2003 (and was quickly removed). It describes the Directorate's program to categorize and assess drug weapons, in part by "identifying advances in the pharmaceutical industry." This work is conducted with the US Army's Soldier Biological Chemical Command (SBCCOM, now called RDECOM), at Aberdeen/Edgewood, Maryland.

Also see:
The US Department of Defense Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program: Program Overview
The Advantages and Limitations of Calmatives for Use as a Non-Lethal Technique (Penn State's 'bid' for work on this contract.)


NEW
Independent Technology Assessment: The Objective Individual Combat Weapon Non-Lethal Munition (PDF)
Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Lab (USMC Contract M67004-99-D-0037-0050)
October 2002

Comment: This report by Penn State for the US Marine Corps reviews the development of the OICW Non-Lethal Munition, also called the Airburst Non-Lethal Munition, as of 2002. The record contains many small redactions, almost all of which are pointless as any reasonably attentive observer of JNLWD can quickly fill in the blanks. The record extensively discusses anti-personel chemical payload issues. The munition, which comes in 20mm and 40mm varieties (and possibly more), is designed to explode over the head of an entrenched enemy, a use not dissimilar to a way in which US forces have reportedly used white phosphorus (WP) in Iraq. The report also draws attention to the small payload size of the 20mm shell, specifically questioning if CS (tear gas) would incapacitate in such small quantities. The Sunshine Project suggested this some time ago, and noted its concern that an "effective" chemical payload for this shell would lead the Pentagon into further trouble with the Chemical Weapons Convention. That concern is bolstered by the suggestions in the report by panel members Murray and Kenny that a variety of alternative chemical payloads are available. Both Murray and Kenny are co-authors of the infamous Advantages and Limitations of Calmatives report (available below).

Also see:
Airburst Non-Lethal Munition (ANLM) Design Improvements
Non-Lethal Airburst Munition(s)for Objective Individual Combat Weapon
The Advantages and Limitations of Calmatives for Use as a Non-Lethal Technique


Multi-Shot Launcher with Advanced Less-Than-Lethal Ring Airfoil Projectiles
Proposal by Vanek Prototype Co. (2002-90-CA-IZ) to the US Department of Justice
March 2002

Comment: The ring airfoil projectile (RAP) is a "non-lethal" weapon with both kinetic and chemical variants in its original design. It is an aerodynamic, circular-shaped munition that can "sting" with blunt force, or discharge a chemical on impact - or both. The original RAP was produced by the US Army in response to domestic unrest in the 1970s, as an alternative to bullets, following the shootings at Kent State University in May, 1970. The original Army RAP, of which 500,000 were produced, was attached to the end of an M-16 barrel and fired much like a rifle grenade. The original RAP was probably never used and rapidly became obsolete due modifications to the M-16 barrel design.

Under this 2002 contract with the US Department of Justice, Vanek will manufacture protoypes of a new RAP launcher and projectile, concentrating on improvement of chemical delivery and manufacturing a launcher (gun) that can rapidly discharge up to 8 chemical rounds. According to the proposal, these will accurately deliver chemicals up to 50 meters, and the work will "concentrate on the delivery of a chemical payload on and about the target. Payloads of incapacitants, irritants, malodorants, and marking agents would be of first interest..." The proposal was approved in the amount of $339,000.

Also see:
Assessment Report: US/UK Non-Lethal Weapons (NLW)/Urban Operations Executive Seminar (on relationship between DOJ and JNLWD)


A Technical Assessment of the 81mm Non-Lethal Mortar Munition (81NLMM)
US Marine Corps contract M67004-99-D-0037, purchase request number M9545002RCR2BC6
January 2002

Comment: This document is a contract between the Marine Corps Research University (MCRU, at the Applied Research Laboratory of Pennsylvania State University) and the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD).

See other documents below about MCRU work:
The Advantages and Limitations of Calmatives for Use as a Non-Lethal Technique
Non-Lethal Weapons: Acquisitions, Capabilities, Doctrine, & Strategy: A Course of Instruction.



To The Future: Non-Lethal Capabilities Technologies in the 21st Century (excerpts)
JNLWD
November 2001

Comment: This document consists of slides extracted from a presentation by the JNLWD commander to the University of New Hampshire's Non-lethal Technology and Academic Research III symposium in November 2001. The slides discuss JNLWD's work on calmatives, microencapsulation and long range delivery devices in their combined context, providing details that are specific to JNLWD's 'non-lethal' mortar program. A slide notes the Chemical Weapons Convention as a "challenge" to the work. The final slide indicates that "non-lethal counter-personnel capabilities will attack a target's senses or cognitive/motor abilities" (also note sidebar) and reiterates the desire for long-range delivery capabilities.

Slide 2 exhibits two disturbing themes common in many JNLWD presentations: a) a desire for indiscriminate weapons and b) a tendency to closely relate peaceful political dissent with acts of terrorism. An equation is evidently drawn between peaceful protest (a photo of Serbian children protesting NATO air strikes) to] and violent terrorism (bombing of the USS Cole). The slide reads that non-lethal weapons provide "assistance in target discrimination"; but this should not be misunderstood to mean that calmatives would be used discriminately. Much the opposite. JNLWD uses "discrimination" here to mean sorting out the (unconscious... or worse) people it wants from those that it doesn't want, and not in the way that "discriminate" is used with respect to legality of weapons. In JNLWD's conception, calmatives would be used on large numbers of people, combatants and non-combatants, and then US forces would sort through a multitude incapacitated by gas to identify the "bad guys". In JNLWD's wargaming (see below), it was noted that soldiers would probably have to be trained to refrain from killing persons already incapacitated with chemical weapons.




Presentation for the Airline Pilot Association
JNLWD
October 2001

Comment: This is JNLWD's "Narco Airways" presentation, made by then-Commander Col. George Fenton to the Airline Pilots Association shortly after September 11, 2001. The presentation begins with several slides that are standard JNLWD promotional material, including photos from the "non-lethal" mortar and Objective Individual Combat Weapon rounds programs, both of which involve chemical payloads. Starting with Slide 11, the presentation moves to discussing the use of incapacitating agents on commercial airliners. Initially, a number of technologies are initially mentioned, then a slide then focuses on so-called "calmatives". Two slides include diagrams of JNLWD's concepts, including placement of incapacitant (aerosol) generators onboard, as well as an "injectable pharmaceuticals" unit outside the cockpit door. The aerosol generator would disperse a drug throughout the passenger cabin. A slide identifies a "benefit" of incapacitants as that they can be "tailored" to adjust for duration and effects including paralysis and sleep. The same slide asserts that pharmaceutical industry data and JNLWD's "Front End Analysis" program provide supporting data for these applications of drugs. Under risks, the slide lists "permanent injury/death to the infirm".

The Marine Corps FOIA office took 15 months to release this document.

Also see Front End Analysis for Non-Lethal Chemicals (above).



Less-Than-Lethal Program
Office of Science and Technology, National Institute of Justice
US Department of Justice
January 2002

Comment: This office of the US Justice Department (DOJ) participates in JNLWD. Slide 14 of this document describes the National Institute of Justice's contract to the Marine Corps Research University (aka Pennsylvania State University's Applied Research Lab, see above and below) to assess a mixture of pepper gas (OC) and unidentified 'calmative' chemical agents. The slide indicates that the chemical weapons mixture was reviewed by a US Department of Justice liability panel. Under FOIA, however, DOJ contradictorily asserts that no such review took place.

This document is particularly interesting when read together with Assessment Report: US/UK Non-Lethal Weapons (NLW)/Urban Operations Executive Seminar (see below), in which JNLWD officials are said to admit that development of "calmative" chemical weapons would violate US Department of Defense regulations; but indicate that they will nonetheless seek to develop such weapons through relationships with the US Departments of Justice and Energy.

This presentation was made at the University of New Hampshire's Non-lethal Technology and Academic Research III symposium in November 2001. There is a discrepancy in the date on the document, which was presented on 18 Jan 2002.

See Delivery of Chemicals by Microcapsules (below) for more from the University of New Hampshire's work with JNLWD.



Non-Lethal Weapons: Acquisitions, Capabilities, Doctrine, & Strategy: A Course of Instruction
US Marine Corps contract M67004-99-D-0037, purchase request number M9545002RCR2BA7
December 2001

Comment: This late 2001 contract between JNLWD and the Marine Corps Research University (MCRU, at Pennsylvania State Univ.) is for preparation of a training course on non-lethal weapons. Page 3 of this report indicates "classified: SECRET" briefings by JNLWD officers on 'non-lethal' anti-personnel chemical weapons. The course was given to officers at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College sometime after March 2002.



Liquid Payload Dispensing Concept Studies Techniques for the 81mm Non-Lethal Mortar Cartridge
US Army contract DAAE-30-01-M-1444
September 2001

Comment: This is a JNLWD-funded contract between General Dynamics Aerospace Solid Propellant Systems Group (Redmond, WA, formerly named Primex Aerospace) and the US Army's Picatinny Arsenal (NJ). This contract is for work on the aerosol-generating cannister for 'non-lethal' crowd control, which was developed for JNLWD by Primex in 1999-2000. (See final report of that project below, Overhead Liquid Dispersal System (OLDS) Non-Lethal Demonstration Program).

This more recent contract calls for General Dynamics to to use the knowledge gained in the OLDS program to help develop a "gas dispersion generator" (aerosolizing payload cannister) for an 81mm mortar round, and to "research and identify analytical tools that can be used in follow-on design/performance modeling of droplet formation and dynamics." and to perform "Preliminary parametric estimates of ground area coverage versus payload volume and height of burst."



Non-Lethal Airburst Munition(s) for Objective Individual Combat Weapon (PDF)
US Army Picatinny Arsenal
August 2001

Also see: Airburst Non-Lethal Munition (ANLM) Design Improvements (July 2004, above)


81mm Frangible Case Cartridge
US Army Contract DAAE-30-01-C-1077
June 2001

Comment: This document is a JNLWD-funded contract between M2 Technologies (West Hyannisport, MA) and the US Army's Picatinny Arsenal (NJ). This contract is for M2 to provide engineering and assembly services for a 'non-lethal' chemical mortar round, culminating in a 2.5 km range live fire demonstration with a "generic payload for visual effect".


Fabrication of Composite Mortar Components and Investigation of mortar Cartridge
Kinetic Energy Mitigation Technique for the 81mm Non-Lethal Mortar Cartridge
US Army Contract DAAE-30-01-M-1289
June 2001

Comment: This document is a JNLWD-funded contract between United Defense LP (UDLP, Minneapolis, MN) and the US Army's Picatinny Arsenal (NJ). This contract is a follow-on of JNLWD-UDLP contract M67854-99-C1031, which called for the company to demonstrate a "non-lethal" 81mm mortar round with 1.5km range. This newer contract is for UDLP to re-engineer and manufacture new components for a 2.5km range round. The work was scheduled to be completed in April 2002.


Overview of Legal Issues Affecting Non-Lethal Weapons
International and Operational Law Branch, Headquarters, US Marine Corps
April 2001

Comment: This document stems from a 2001 attempt by the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD) to obtain endorsement from the US National Academies of Science (NAS) for development of chemical weapons including incapacitants, malodorants, and possibly convulsants. The most important aspects of this presentation - the Marine Corps discussion of the Chemical Weapons Convention - can be found in pages 16 through 25. The document format (overhead slides) can be difficult to interpret. It is best to read this item in conjunction with the US Navy Judge Advocate General's Legal Review of Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) Pepper Spray (see below), which clarifies the Pentagon lawyers' meaning when using phrases such as "not for toxic effect".



The US Department of Defense Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program: Program Overview (exerpts)
JNLWD (VA)
April 2001

Comment: This document consists of extracts from a longer presentation. Of particular note is the bottom slide on page 3 (page 8 of the original presentation), which details the technologies in which JNLWD is investing.

The FY 99/00 program on microencapsulation of chemical weapons included work by the Advanced Polymer Laboratory of the University of New Hampshire (see below, Delivery of chemicals by microcapsules.)

The FY 01/02 program on "Front End Analysis of RCAs" is particularly worrisome and follows on the microencapsulation work of 1999 and 2000. Information about this program has been difficult to obtain. JNLWD officials have described it as secret. Public documents, however, indicate that a major contractor in this program is the US Army Soldier Biological Chemical Command (SBCCOM) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. (See: Front End Analysis for Non-Lethal Chemicals above.)

In addition to the "Front End Analysis of RCAs" program, SBCCOM is helping JNLWD develop the "non-lethal" 81mm mortar round (see below, Design and Development of an 81mm Non-Lethal Mortar Cartridge).

Little has been made public about the FY 00/01 program on a "NL Loitering Submunition", which centered around the notion of an unmanned aerial vehicle equiped with a crowd control payload, including chemical weapons in some conceptions. Much of the work on this program was conducted on US military bases in Maryland, Virginia, and possibly Texas. (See below, Liquid/Aerosol Dispersant Module for Short Range UAV Platform.)


US Marine Corps Non-Lethal Weapons Requirements
Marine Corps Combat Development Command (VA)
c. late 2000 or early 2001

Comment: Two items are particularly notable in this report. The first is the indication of a change in the reasons why the Marines are intersted in non-lethal weapons. Initial interest was in weapons for specific situations such as riot control and "military operations other than war" ("MOOTW"), i.e. fallout from the Pentagon's Mogadishu experience. In this document, a shift is signaled toward broader interest in NLW as weapons "effective in the full spectrum of warfare", in other words, use of non-lethal weapons as a 'force multipier', a dangerous strategy that has historically contributed to escalation and geater use of lethal weapons, including weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Examples include the Vietnam War (police tear gas -> urban warfare & other uses) and World War I (obscurants -> mustard gas). Second, this report includes a very strong emphasis on USMC acquisition of incapacitating weapons.



Assessment Report: US/UK Non-Lethal Weapons (NLW)/Urban Operations Executive Seminar
(Report apparently authored by JNLWD)
November 2000

Comment: The most interesting aspects of this report relate to a) United Kingdom's position that the "calmative" chemical weapons (see last page, and passages through the text) of interest to JNLWD violate the Chemical Weapons Convention and b) JNLWD's claim that it can do an end-around of treaty controls by contracting work out to the US Departments of Justice and Energy. Circumstances suggest JNLWD is proceding with the plan articulated here: The National Institute of Justice, a unit of the US Department of Justice, is currently funding calmatives research (a mix of OC and drug agents) by the Marine Corps Research University at Pennsylvania State University (see Justice document above). (Also see The Advantages and Limitations of Calmatives for Use as a Non-Lethal Technique, below, a report which predates current DOJ-funded calmatives development.)


81mm Non-Lethal Mortar: Joint RDT&E Pre-Milestone 0 & Concept Exploration Program
US Army Picatinny Arsenal (NJ)
Report to JNLWD (VA)
20 November 2000

Warning: This document is large (2.2 mb).



The Advantages and Limitations of Calmatives for Use as a Non-Lethal Technique

Available in Two Formats:
1) Original Document as Released to the Sunshine Project from the National Academies of Science
2) Penn State's PDF Version of this report (omits chemical diagram of fentanyl on the cover.)

Marine Corps Research University (Applied Research Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University)
October 2000

Comment: The biochemical weapons proposed in this shocking report are of major concern. They violate the federal Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, and the Chemical Weapons Convention. The lead author of this report recently left Penn State to become a Dean at the University of Pittsburgh. The other authors, including a medical doctor, remain at Penn State and continue to work in the development of "non-lethal" weapons, for example, in the October 2002 report (above) on the OICW non-lethal airburst munition.

As indicated in the report, the Penn State team prepared a database on calmative agents which it submitted to JNLWD in electonic format (a zip disk). Under FOIA, JNLWD initially claimed that this database is exempt from release because it constitutes part of a commercial offer to the government. After more intense questioning, JNLWD then decided that the database is not exempt from disclosure; but now claims that the database cannot be located and, therefore, cannot be released.

Why two versions? Months after the Sunshine Project scanned and placed this document on its website, the authors released an altered version of the report. This version deletes the chemical diagram of fentanyl (the agent reportedly used by Russian Special Forces in October 2002 in the Moscow Theater) found on the original report's cover. The text of the Penn State version is searchable within Adobe Acrobat.

See Sunshine Project publication(s):
The MCRU Calmatives Study and JNLWD: A Summary of (Public) Facts
Pentagon Program Pushes Psychopharmacological Warfare


Double Steal: The use of the Non-Lethal Bio-Weapons in Offensive Operations
World Wide Chemical Conference, US Army Chemical School, Ft. Leonard Wood, MO
June 2000

Comment: This bizarre presentation by the (now deceased) historian of the US Army Chemical School describes the author's fictional scenario in which China and North Korea team up to overrun Taiwan and South Korea by using "non-lethal" anti-personnel and anti-material weapons. The presentation begins with discussion of the Plague in Europe and the 1918 Spanish Flu. Using a metaphor from US baseball, the presentation then describes how Chinese and North Korean use of 'non-lethal' weapons might create a situation where, for the United States, "surrender is our only option." The author argues that "these new types of weapons can reduce America's military from the best technological force in the world, to using bows and arrows."

While it would be tempting to relegate such perspectives to an irrelevant lunatic fringe, in fact, others with similarly bizarre perspectives on science and politics have played a major role in shaping the US 'non-lethal' weapons program. Another US military 'non-lethal' weapons thinker, Col. John Alexander, is an active investigator of unidentified flying objects and promotes gathering military intelligence by employing psychics who use 'remote visioning'. Alexander's National Institute of Discovery Science in Las Vegas, Nevada, describes itself as "a privately funded science institute engaged in research of aerial phenomena, animal mutilations, and other related anomalous phenomena". Among its unusual interests, the Institute investigates and publishes papers on cases of livestock deaths that are purportedly attributable to activity by extraterrestrials. Alexander's other responsibilities have included directing a 'non-lethal' weapons research team at New Mexico's Los Alamos National Lab, representing the US at NATO, and serving on the National Academies of Science Panel on Non-Lethal Weapons.

This document is in Microsoft Powerpoint format.


Overhead Liquid Dispersal System (OLDS) Non-Lethal Demonstration Program (Final Report)
Primex Aerospace Company (WA), a subsidiary of General Dynamics (FL)
Now doing business as General Dynamics Aerospace Solid Propellant Systems Group
April 2000

Comment: This document is the final report of the company's initial effort to develop an aerosol device for crowd control weapons. The report notes that the "OLDS" system can be adapted for a mortar round and that initial experiments to do this were conducted. This report includes photographs of field tests. In 2001, JNLWD asked General Dynamics to continue this work, by developing a "gas dispersion generator" for use in the longer-range 81mm "non-lethal" mortar round (see above, Liquid Payload Dispensing Concept Studies Techniques for the 81mm Non-Lethal Mortar Cartridge).


Design and Development of an 81mm Non-Lethal Mortar Cartridge
United Defense LP (MN)
US Army Soldier Biological Chemical Command (SBCCOM, MD)
US Army Research Laboratory (ARL, MD)
March 2000

Comment: This document details the JNLWD-funded development and testing of the 81mm "mom-lethal" mortar round by a collaboration involving United Defense, a Minneapolis-based private company and US Army weapons developers based at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.


Mobile Non-Lethal Disseminator (redacted)
US Army Aberdeen Proving Ground
June 1998

Comment: This proposal calls for formulating "non-lethal" chemicals so that they can be released by a battlefield smoke generator. This document was redacted prior to release by the Marine Corps. Click here for more information on the M-56 smoke generator .


Less-than-Lethal Systems: Situational Control by Olfactory Stimuli
Science Applications International Corporation (CA)
June 1998

See Sunshine Project publications:
Non-Lethal Weapons Research in the US: Calmatives & Malodorants
US Tests Ethnically-Targeted Crowd Control Weapons


Commercial Backpack Blower / Sprayer System
US Army CBDCOM (MD)
June 1998



Legal Review of Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) Pepper Spray
US Navy Judge Advocate General (VA)
May 1998


Contract DAAD13-98-M-0064: "Establish Odor Response Profiles"
US Army CBDCOM (MD) / Monell Chemical Senses Center (PA)
April 1998

See Sunshine Project publications:
Non-Lethal Weapons Research in the US: Calmatives & Malodorants
US Tests Ethnically-Targeted Crowd Control Weapons


Delivery of chemicals by microcapsules
Advanced Polymer Laboratory, University of New Hampshire
1998

Comment: UNH is also a participant in JNLWD's mortar development efforts.


Enhanced Degradation of Military Material
Naval Research Laboratory (DC)
1998

Comment: The biological weapons development described in this proposal violates the federal Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.

See Sunshine Project publication(s):
US Armed Forces Press for Offensive Bioweapons
Pentagon BW Proposals at US Attorney's Office
Non-Lethal Weapons Research in the US: Genetically Engineered Anti-Material Weapons

Anti-Material Biocatalysts and Sensors
Armstrong Laboratory, Brooks Air Force Base (TX)
1998

Comment: The biological weapons development described in this proposal violates the federal Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.

See Sunshine Project publication(s):
US Armed Forces Press for Offensive Bioweapons
Pentagon BW Proposals at US Attorney's Office
Non-Lethal Weapons Research in the US: Genetically Engineered Anti-Material Weapons


Odorous Substances (redacted)
US Army Edgewood Research, Development, and Engineering Center
July 1997

Comment: This important document provides further information on the US Army's attempts to develop "non-lethal" chemical weapons that target particular cultures. The proposal calls for development of "An 'odor index' relating specific types of odors to specific population groups around the world. This index would also detail the chemicals required to duplicate those odors..." This document was redacted prior to release by the Marine Corps.

See also: Contract DAAD13-98-M-0064: "Establish Odor Response Profiles"

See Sunshine Project publications:
Non-Lethal Weapons Research in the US: Calmatives & Malodorants
US Tests Ethnically-Targeted Crowd Control Weapons


Dose Safety Margin Enhancement for Chemical Incapacitation and Less-Than-Lethal Targeting
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (CA)
January 1997

Comment: This is the final report of a contract with the US Department of Justice. This report discusses testing of small arms ammunition delivering an opiate/DMSO mixture and the researchers' discussions with a pharmaceutical company concerning design of a further combination with naloxone (narcan). The report's Executive Summary mentions that the LLNL research team has conducted similar research for "special military operations and low intensity conflict". The report calls for further testing on animals, human skin, and human subjects.

Page 21 of this document contains a notable passage concerning use of a fentanyl-based agent: "The dry powder could be dispersed as a smoke during a hostage situation. Terrorists would be incapacitated by breathing anesthetic smoke injected into an air duct or office building air conditioning system." The idea bears a striking resemblance the disastrous events of 2002 in the Moscow theater, where more than 100 innocent hostages died.

This document is all the more notable when read alongside of Assessment Report: US/UK Non-Lethal Weapons (NLW)/Urban Operations Executive Seminar (see above), in which JNLWD officials admit that development of "calmative" chemical weapons violates US Department of Defense regulations; but indicate that they will nonetheless develop such weapons through their relationships with the US Departments of Justice and Energy.



Non-Lethal Weapon Payload Demonstration with Hunter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (video)
TRW
1997

Comment: Click to view the video in .avi format.

Preliminary Legal Review of Proposed Chemical-Based Non-Lethal Weapons
US Navy Judge Advocate General
1997

Nonlethal Delivery System for Nonlethal Mortar Payload
US Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground (MD)
1997


NEW
Harassing, Annoying, and "Bad Guy" Identifying Chemicals (redacted)
US Air Force Wright Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB (OH)
June 1994

Comment: This "non-lethal" chemical weapons proposal from the US Air Force proposes development of a variety of chemical weapons, such as: "One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behaviour". Other chemicals proposed includes ones that "made personnel very sensitive to sunlight", and that "attract stinging and biting bugs, rodents, and larger animals" to enemy positions. This document was redacted prior to release by the Marine Corps.

Depolymerization (Proposed Nonlethal Weapon Project)
Los Alamos National Laboratory (NM)
May 1994

A White Paper for Catalytic Depolymerization of Rubber
Department of Defense Programs, Los Alamos National Laboratory (NM)
April 1994

Antipersonnel Chemical Immobilizers: Synthetic Opiods

US Army Edgewood Research, Development & Engineering Center (MD)
April 1994

Antipersonnel Calmative Agents

US Army Edgewood Research, Development & Engineering Center (MD)
April 1994

Demonstration of Chemical Immobilizers

US Army Edgewood Research, Development & Engineering Center (MD)
April 1994

Antipersonnel Chemical Immobilizers: Sedatives
US Army Edgewood Research, Development & Engineering Center (MD)
April 1994

Role of Non-Lethal Chemical Irritants
Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, China Lake (CA)
April 1994

Biofouling and Biocorrosion
National Security Programs Office, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL)
1994

Comment: The biological weapons development described in this proposal violates the federal Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. Another INEL document from the same research program titled "Metabolic Engineering" was requested under FOIA over a year ago. It has not been released.

See Sunshine Project publication(s):
US Armed Forces Press for Offensive Bioweapons
Pentagon BW Proposals at US Attorney's Office
Non-Lethal Weapons Research in the US: Genetically Engineered Anti-Material Weapons


Physiologically Incapacitating Device for Counterterrorism and Hostage Rescue (redacted)
US Army Aberdeen Proving Ground
1994

Comment: This redacted document discusses the use of carbon dioxide, apparently introduced in the form of dry ice, as a means of incapacitating persons in a confined area.


Contaminant Aerosol Munitions
Defense Nuclear Agency (VA)
1994

Frontal Attack Anti-Vehicle Liquid or Aerosol Dispensing Mine
DCS Corporation (NJ)
1994

Liquid/Aerosol Dispersant Module for Short Range UAV Platform
DCS Corporation (NJ)
1994

Lubricant and Grease Additives for Immobilizing Machinery
Sandia National Laboratory (NM)
1994