Dozens of researchers from around the country are gathered in Portsmouth this week to discuss ?non-lethal technology.? Sponsored by the departments of defense and justice, the symposium is designed to further the development of weapons that can be used by police and military personnel in situations where they don?t want to use deadly force. N-H-P-R?S Doug MacPherson has more.
EVEN PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER HEARD OF ?NON LETHAL WEAPONS? ARE FAMILIAR WITH THEM. PEPPER SPRAY, RUBBER BULLETS, AND TEAR GAS ARE ALL EXAMPLES OF WEAPONS THAT CAN BE USED TO CONTROL A CROWD OR AN INDIVIDUAL WITHOUT CAUSING INJURY OR DEATH. FOR YEARS, THE U-S DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE HAVE BEEN INTERESTED IN ADVANCING A NEW GENERATION OF NON-LETHAL WEAPONS ? ESPECIALLY ONES THAT CAN BE USED TO CONTROL MORE PEOPLE FROM FURTHER AWAY. U-S MARINE COLONEL GEORGE FENTON HEADS THE FOUR-YEAR-OLD ?JOINT NON-LETHAL WEAPONS DIRECTORATE.? COLONEL FENTON DESCRIBES HIS MISSION THIS WAY:
TAPE COLONEL GEORGE FENTON,
266 find a way to leverage what?s going out there in academia. In industry. In the garages, in the labs. Anybody. Everybody who can make a contribution to this great nation of ours. Find a way to leverage that.
COLONEL FENTON IS FURTHERING HIS MISSION IN PORTSMOUTH THIS WEEK AT THE THIRD ANNUAL NON-LETHAL TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM, HOSTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. ALMOST ONE-HUNDRED RESEARCHERS FROM PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS AND A DOZEN UNIVERSITIES ARE MEETING TO EXCHANGE INFORMATION. THEY?RE TALKING ABOUT NEW POLYMERS AND PLASTICS THAT COULD BE USED TO STUN AN ENEMY INTO SUBMISSION OR TO DENY HIM ACCESS TO HIS OWN WEAPONS.
AND THEN THERE ARE SYSTEMS THAT ARE FAR ALONG IN DEVELOPMENT --- WHAT COLONEL FENTON CALLS, ?THE COOL STUFF.?
TAPE COLONEL FENTON 081 remember, what was the name of that? star trek. Captain kirk: ?Scotty, force shield up.? That technology is here today. /// I can influence you?re motivational behavior by putting up this field of energy if you will. Now the actual distance ? how far I can reach out and touch you ? is classified. And the size of the spot is classified. And the amount of time I need to illuminate you is classified. But I?ll tell you this: it?s greater than 750 meters, and we an do it in a matter of seconds.
FENTON IS TALKING ABOUT ?ACTIVE DENIAL TECHNOLOGY?, WHICH INVOLVES TRANSMITTING MICROWAVE ENERGY TO RAPIDLY HEAT WATER MOLECULES ON THE SURFACE OF HUMAN SKIN. IT CREATES A BURNING SENSATION SIMILAR TO THAT CAUSED BY TOUCHING A HOT LIGHT BULB. HOWEVER, THE SKIN IS NOT BURNED, AND THE SENSATION ENDS AS SOON AS THE TRANSMITTER IS TURNED OFF? OR THE RECIPIENT MOVES AWAY FROM THE BEAM. THE MILITARY HAS TESTED THE SYSTEM ON PEOPLE, BUT IT IS YET TO BE DEPLOYED.
THE TECHNOLOGY BEING DEVELOPED AT U-N-H IS MORE STRAIGHTFORWARD AND LESS EXCITING.
U-N-H?S ?NON-LETHAL TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION CENTER? WAS FOUNDED LAST YEAR WITH A DEFENSE DEPARTMENT GRANT SECURED BY U-S SENATOR BOB SMITH. GLENN SHWAERY DIRECTS THE CENTER, BETTER KNOWN AS IN-TECH.
TAPE SHWAERY 136 our charge is really to go out and identify /// academic researchers that are able to tackle some of the tasks that the joint non lethal weapons directorate needs to have tackled. They have a priority list of desired capabilities that they present to us every year. And they basically invite proposals from researchers. But it?s really our job to go out and try to identify and market to the academic institutions and academic researchers the fact that these proposals are available.
RIGHT NOW, RESEARCHERS AT IN-TECH ARE DEVELOPING A NON-LETHAL MORTAR SHELL THAT COULD BE USED TO DELIVER A MAL ODORANT ? SOMETHING THAT SMELLS SO FOUL IT COULD DISPERSE A LARGE CROWD. OTHER RESEARCHERS ARE SEARCHING FOR A TRIGGER DEVISE FOR SUCH A MORTAR. STILL OTHERS ARE DEVELOPING FOAMS THAT COULD EXPAND AND HARDEN WITHIN MINUTES. THESE COULD BE USED TO SEAL OFF BUILDINGS OR VEHICLES. SHWAERY SAYS MOST PEOPLE RESPOND POSITIVELY TO THE NEW CENTER?S WORK.
TAPE SHWAERY 198 most of them, to tell you the truth, are fascinated by it. and they really do appreciate the fact that both the military and the dept of justice are trying to develop more non lethal technologies, something above the old rubber bullets and tear gas. B/c those haven?t been all that effective. And in some ways they actually /// they exacerbate the problem. You know if you throw tear gas at people ? what?s their reaction? First of all their irritated and they all run, and panic. /// 208 people get trampled, people get irritated, get respiratory distress. So we need to find something that?s as effective ? I mean you don?t want to compromise your effectiveness, but something in fact MORE effective than tear gas.
SHWAERY SAYS WHILE PUBLIC INTEREST IN NON-LETHAL TECHNOLOGY HAS INCREASED SINCE SEPTEMBER 11TH, THE MILITARY?S INTEREST FIRST ROSE SHARPLY IN 1993, WHEN U-S MILITARY FORCES WERE DEPLOYED IN SOMALIA TO PROVIDE FAMINE RELIEF. 18-SOLDIERS WERE KILLED; THE BODY OF ONE SOLDIER WAS DRAGGED THROUGH THE STREETS. THE SOLDIERS COULD NOT SHOOT BACK WITHOUT KILLING CIVILIANS.
TAPE SHWAERY 241 Somalia was the precipitating event. Where the military said, we had a situation here where all we had was retreat or use lethal force. We need something graded in between.
BUT HOW WOULD PEOPLE RESPOND TO A NEW GENERATION OF NON LETHAL WEAPONS? THAT TOPIC IS ALSO BEING DISCUSSED AT THE SYMPOSIUM. U-N-H PROFESSOR DONALD LUND HAS BEEN STUDYING FOREIGN PRESS ACCOUNTS OF EXISTING NON-LETHALS, TO TRY TO GAUGE PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE OF THEIR USE, ESPECIALLY TO CONTROL CROWDS.
TAPE LUND 377 there are more questions than there are answers. A lot of the traditional work in crowd control has been discredited, and that has raised the question of what in crowd control works and what doesn?t work, what is effective and what?s not effective. And what we?ve proposed is a whole program of research looking at various recent incidents, trying to develop a uniform description of those incidents from which we can abstract statistically things that are effective and ineffective in terms of reducing tensions and reducing violence levels.
LUND IS ALSO INTERESTED IN RECENT EXPERIMENTS WITH SO-CALLED ?CALMATIVE AGENTS? -- INHALED MEDICATIONS TO REDUCE ANXIETY AND AGGRESSION. LUND HAS HIGH HOPES FOR NON-LETHALS. HE BELIEVES THEY OFFER A HUMANE AND EFFECTIVE MEANS OF CONTROLLING CROWDS.
TAPE LUND 427 I?d rather make a crowd disperse with laughter, than with pain and suffering.
SOME IDEAS UNDER DISCUSSION IN PORTSMOUTH THIS WEEK SEEM A LOT CLOSER TO DEVELOPMENT THAN OTHERS. BUT THE NON-LETHAL WEAPONS PROGRAM IS VERY REAL. THE IN-TECH PROGRAM AT U-N-H HAS A BUDGET OF CLOSE TO TWO MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR. THE TOTAL PROGRAM HAS A BUDGET OF 24-MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.
PARTICIPANTS IN PORTSMOUTH THIS WEEK HAVE NO DOUBTS THAT THOSE FUNDS WILL EVENTUALLY HELP SAVE THE LIVES OF AMERICANS AND OF CITIZENS AROUND THE WORLD. FOR N-H-P-R NEWS, I?M DOUG MACPHERSON.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo