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4h ago

Pentagon Lets DHS Test Military Heat Ray for Possible Border Use

It hands DHS operational control of a nonlethal directed‑energy device, prompting concerns about legality, safety, sovereignty over border testing.

An Active Denial System from the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate is staged before conducting a demonstration in Wellton, Arizona, in April 2017.
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ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA - OCTOBER 10: The Pentagon is seen from a flight taking off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on October 10, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Combat Logistics Battalion 7 performed a non-lethal weapons training exercise March 21 in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Non-Lethal Weapons Program at the Combat Center’s Range 800. The Active Denial System 2, an advanced non-lethal direct-fire support system that projects a man-sized beam of heat-emitting millimeter waves. It can effectively engage targets up to 1,000 meters. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Alejandro)

Overview

  • A memo signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized a seven‑month loan of one Active Denial System to DHS, with the loan starting in September and ending unless extended.
  • The Active Denial System fires millimeter‑wave energy that heats the skin surface and creates an intense burning or tingling sensation that military officials say lasts about 10 to 15 minutes.
  • Hegseth's memo bars Defense Department personnel from operating the system and assigns DHS sole responsibility for system employment and for developing tactics, techniques and procedures.
  • Officials and former border agents say the testing plan has not disclosed where or how the system will be used, and they warn of legal, safety and cross‑border sovereignty risks, including the danger of people being pushed into rivers.
  • The device was developed and tested by U.S. forces in the 2000s, was briefly brought to Afghanistan without combat use, and past demonstrations exposed hundreds with only a small number of burns reported.