The Pentagon's Ray Gun

One of the ray gun's biggest advantages is that it can stay out of harm's way and still control a crowd.

Sid Heal wants to use it to control prison riots; the Navy could use it to fend off Iranians with their go-fast boats harassing American warships in the Strait of Hormuz. And the State Department could use it to protect American embassies like the one attacked by protestors in Belgrade.

Yet the Pentagon is spending just $13.1 million on the ray gun this year, out of a $475 billon defense budget.

Why is the Pentagon spending so little on technology that could change the rules?

"We don't have enough money to do the things that are the here and now, so it's extremely competitive. So, yes, $13 million is chump change. I regret that," Sue Payton explains.

"Could you have fielded it sooner if you had more money to spend on it?" Martin asks.

"Yes," she says.

A report by the Pentagon's Defense Science Board says the military is reluctant to spend much money on active denial until it has proven itself in the field.

"Sounds like a Catch-22. You can't get real money until it's fielded. But you can't field it until you get real money," Martin comments.

"That's exactly the way it is," Payton agrees.

Col. Hymes, who is in charge of all non-lethal weapons for the Pentagon, says the ray gun will be ready to go to Iraq this summer. But it's swimming against the tide of conventional military wisdom. "The active denial system, being new technology, is gonna have a lot of stigma around it," Hymes says.

"I've never heard anybody use the word stigma with respect to a new weapon," Martin says. "If this system could kill people it would be easier to field?"

"Lethal systems have an easier time getting into our system," Hymes says.

"You're going up against the culture of your own military?" Martin asks.

"Absolutely," Hymes says.

The ray gun has been tested on humans more than 11,000 times over ten years. The early tests, recorded with an infrared camera, were against people in their underwear so scientists could measure skin temperature. Their backs were turned so their eyes would not be exposed. Out of 11,000 tests there have been six cases of rashes and blisters, and two of more serious second degree burns. It's now cleared for full power on any part of the body.

Some people claim they've been able to stand the beam for four or five seconds. So how long could Martin take the heat? Turns out about three seconds, before he ran off.

Produced by Mary Walsh

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[tom mustric]

Can I obtain the original comments submitted to 60 Minutes from viewers like me, I was in the 600 numbers or higher. I would like to find my comments as tommustric or concertgrandpianoman. The comments numbered in the thousands. It talked about this technology ray gun deployed at a public school on me and my class by two unknown John Does, in suits with ties, in area marked "Under Construction." Clearly not school workers, but hovered over a black sized computer box adjusting dials on top, in a draped off hallway, window to window, where I was giving my class home students (my last teaching period of the day) a test in 2006. Thank you.

[StiffLongDKKnight]

You bleeding hearts are so hilarious, the Middle Eastern Islam nations have declared war on the United States of America. Any yet, if some of you'd your way...we would be bending over for a poopshute treatment 24/7.

[Sedecimo]

Ok you added the pros of the use of electronic weapons. But what about cons of these weapons who are more or less the unseen hand in our lives when used on a constant and large scale. That is the back sight I encountered. I would like your input.
Would you know how to stop a reoccurring electronic stalking in your life which is embedded in a denigrating masonic game that if it is stopped by a council existing of high ranking masons appointed by the government can save your life? Stopping the game seems to be imperative since you would in theory be able to stay on in the firsts phase or leave the country as now in the second phase due to emigration under the immunity from a different country or lodge. They say you are also put in to a different net where you can not be bothered as much. Or maybe you are just granted more rights.
Going to the police has no use since the stalking in this case with high tones that are driven through your house can not be proofed and there s no law against it. Moving on your own is no solution either since the house is unsellable. Loyalty to the masonic system makes people deaf when they enter the house.
How to make your government backed by masonry accountable for electronic warfare in a world in which governmental institutions strive for global governance through weak e.g. European bodies? Weak because these bodies are subsidised through a local funding system. It are the member states that pay them. Is this not in itself a recepy for more electronic warfare for conflict?

[reply60min]

people, especially of a foreign occupier and killer, have a right to protest, throw stones or otherwise. just because it becomes a "hands off" weapon suitable for great abuse and torture makes it that more repugnant. no longer do we see telephone generators connected to shock, or body guards filed lunging with cattle prods, instead it the imperceptible trigger finger of the tazer gun is used for torture by the us military. this is just another device to silence the occupied, torture the masses from speaking by a foreign occupier which is not welcome in the country.

[reply60min]

the us military pulled it off the field and initiated a pr campaign to see if the public would buy it to which martin, hymes and the soldiers are the actors. not mentioned is the possible abuse to put down real protesters of an foreign occupied country that have a legitimate right to protest. not mentioned is the concern that it can cook any exposed flesh including the cornea. maybe when martin and hymes turn 70 and wonder about their cataracts or why they need lens implants they will think back on their part in the propaganda campaign. martin never challenged they system by wetting down the simple shield so the microwaves boiled THAT surface water molecules. they never mentioned how the same fire hose spray like seen against whaling protesters nullifies it''s effects at sea. they never showed how a swarm of people can run a "pattern" towards the single beam device.

[reply60min]

If you followed the foreign news sources you would know the us already experimented with the system in iraq and only brought it back for public "vindication" after the outcry of it''s experimental and abusive use. Reports of badly burned men examined by iraqi doctors who could find no physical gunshot or other means of death. at that time the system had no timer interlock and the iraqi people were likely used as guinea pigs of extreme calibration studies. search video archives and you will find the same of us experimentation of flame throwers on anesthetized tied down live pigs. similar archives will reveal telling soldiers to exit the bunkers and stand up to observe nuclear blasts, aerosol spread near san francisco, etc.

[viewersteve]

How foolish for your reporter to take the Pentagon''s claims of "harmless" seriously. Standing in front of the weapon as a "demonstration" of its harmlessness could very well cost him his life.

Radiation''s effects long-term effects are subtle but deadly. Only rigorous, long-term clinical studies done by objective researchers over years can verify that the weapon ray is harmless to humans. Anecdotal assertions by the Pentagon prove nothing.

Years from now, your reckless reporter and other Pentagon volunteers may experience high rates of various cancers. Their children may suffer high rates of birth defects.

A retrospective clinical study done by trained medical researchers may prove then that ray weapon was not, in fact, harmless. But by then, it will be too late.

At that point, CBS 60 minutes will have another good story: How reckless the Pentagon had been back in 2008, and how a few volunteers and a CBS reporter had allowed themselves to be duped, tragically.

It will be a good story unless, because of a groundswell of public support due to your drum-beating story on Sunday, the Pentagon deploys the ray weapon worldwide prematurely before proper health studies are done. Then, the story will be very different. It will be a tragedy of untold proportions both medically and politically.

[sousamm22]

This "ray gun" report was weak at best. The reporter missed asking the most obvious of questions--Is there any material that will reflect these high frequency waves? If such material exists then this weapon is useless. Since the question was not asked this report was useless.

[kirky01-2009]

As a Brit, I read and watched this article with interest. What struck me was the attempted humanity of the new weapon. It aims to disable without permanently injuring you - a novel idea for a state army. This is a crowd control device really, with fringe benefits for military applications when a military is involved in doing a Policemans job. The Cold War scenario is over and this is the future. As for a weapon of torture, has anyone been pistol whipped before? Shot in the leg? Knee? A comendable project imho.

Ian, London.

[change_b4_ss]

1. ONLY $13mm spent on the non-lethal version; odds that the $13 bill was spent on the one that really kills you?
2. Rules of engagement?? That sounds pretty hostile, CBS.
3. If we can''t discuss someone with "comparisons to Hitler" what do we do if we really think someone does look like Hitler? What did they do in Germany? Censorship and book burning....
4. How ''bout the choice of "hostile victims" for the ray gun? Now THAT image really sends a message, huh?
5. What happened to real investigative journalism? We could sure use some of that right now; my guess is that CBS''s own reporters would like to do some of that...how bout a story about what really happened with Rove and Siegelman for example, or their connections to organized crime/military in the South. Help, CBS...