The Pentagon has authorized the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to borrow a heat-ray system for a seven-month test, CNN reported, as officials consider possible use along the southern U.S. border.
The U.S. Marine Corps says the Active Denial System (ADS) can reach up to 1,000 meters. Its 95-gigahertz millimeter-wave beam heats skin to a depth of about 1/64 inch, creating a sensation the service describes as reversible. CNN reported military officials said the tingling can last 10 to 15 minutes and prompt an instinctive urge to flee.
CNN said a memo signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth covers one ADS, with the loan starting in September. According to CNN, the memo bars Department of War personnel from operating the device and gives DHS responsibility for its use and for developing tactics and procedures. CNN reported that DHS’s request did not identify where or how testing would occur, or how the system might eventually be used. EconoTimes previously covered the seven-month loan to DHS.
The Department of Defense (DoD) says nonlethal weapons are designed to disable targets while reducing the risk of death or lasting injury; reversible effects are a design goal, not a guaranteed outcome. CNN reported officials raised concerns about possible harm from border use, including the risk that people pushed toward a river could drown. A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official told CNN, “Even if they’re chasing people back to the river, you don’t want them to go in and drown.”
CNN also reported that CBP officials considered using the ADS against migrants in 2018, but then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen rejected the proposal. A CBP spokesperson told CNN the agency continually assesses new technologies for their operational value.
A defense official told CNN DHS could request further use when the loan ends, depending on need. CNN did not give a specific end date.
