Date: Sun, 6 May 2001 15:43:31 -0400 From: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor) Subject: Plausible Explanation of RF Incidental Casualties To: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor)
[Note from Matthew Gaylor: I almost never send postings of a speculation nature that involve topics of this sort. But this is an exception. This is a message that appeared on the Cypherpunks list.]
From: Steve Schear <schear@lvcm.com> Old-Subject: Fwd: Re: Simple RF Weapon Can Fry PC Circuits Re: Simple RF Weapon Can Fry PC Circuits
[Apologies for the anonymous cross posting from a wireless list for professionals. steve]
>At 8:39 -0700 5/3/01, someone wrote:
>From: someone
>To: someone-else
>Subject: Re: Simple RF Weapon Can Fry PC Circuits
>Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 08:39:06 -0700
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>
>>>"Our whole nation is vulnerable," says David Schriner, a weapons specialist
>>>and engineer who codesigned the radio frequency device.
>
>David Schriner has been warning about susceptibility of
>infrastructure and aircrft to high power RF disruption for some
>time.
>
>Here's the URL of his testimony I quoted:
>
>http://www.house.gov/jec/hearings/radio/schriner.htm
>
>In addition to wiping out electronic circuitry, weapons-level RF
>emissions could cause ignition in materials (see, for example,
>http://www.rfterrorism.com ).
>
>After hearing a lengthy lecture on the subject, I was persuaded that
>RF disruption could well have been the cause of the TWA 800
>disaster. Some kind of explosion took place on the plane, caused by
>some ignition source. Numerous witnesses sighted a missile, which
>was photographed. Some concluded that the missile hit the plane,
>which the Defense Department strongly denied (probably correctly).
>It conceded that a substantial military exercise was taking place in
>the area.
>
>Harvard's Elaine Scarry argued that RFI emissions from the many
>military craft and vessels in the area unintentionally affected the
>TWA plane. The true picture may have been different but may still
>have implicated RF.
>
>As presented, the puzzle fit together this way. The military
>exercise was one involving the firing of a high-power microwave
>(HPM) weapon at a cruise missile, as part of a DoD test to determine
>the susceptibility of the cruise missile's electronics to
>malfunction when hit by a very strong RF pulse.
>
>The HPM was fired from the Energy Department's Brookhaven Laboratory
>(http://www.bnl.gov). The cruise missile was launched from a Navy
>vessel and was intended to be retrieved from the water after the
>test, for later disassembly and examination.
>
>When it performs such exercises, the Defense Department alerts New
>York airport authorities and only specific flight paths for civilian
>aircraft are allowed during a time window. Such an alert occurred
>and has been documented. But TWA 800 deviated from the prescribed
>flight path and time window.
>
>The HPM beam, intended for the cruise missile, was said to have
>illuminated the TWA plane too, causing electrical surges nd
>ignition in its fuel tank. The peculiar burnouts in the circuits and
>parts found suggested electromagnetic pulse exposure, or power
>surges.
>
>Revealing the truth would require the government to acknowledge the
>existence of the classified RF weapon. And who knows how accurate
>the aim is or how narrow the beamwidth of these broadband terawatt
>rigs. (Dare I say they are UWB?) There could be massive citizen
>opposition -- think of Vieques.
>
>This is not the same scenario as the claims that a mssile
>containing a HPM warhead was shot at the plane. I can't think of any
>government motivation for shooting this civilian plane, but testing
>a missile's vulnerability to an RF weapon would seem much more
>plausible.
>
>
>steve
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