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     MindNet Journal - Vol. 1, No. 42a * [Part 1 of 3 parts]

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     V E R I C O M M / MindNet         "Quid veritas est?"

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Notes:



Permission is given to reproduce and redistribute, for

non-commercial purposes only, provided this information and the

copy remain intact and unedited.



The views and opinions expressed below are not necessarily the

views and opinions of VERICOMM, MindNet, or the editors unless

otherwise noted.



Editor: Mike Coyle 



Contributing Editors: Walter Bowart

                      Alex Constantine

                      Martin Cannon



Assistant Editor: Rick Lawler



Research: Darrell Bross



Editor's Note:



The "Tables" in this article referred to as:



"...Tables 2-4 and 2-5 present the depth of penetration of

various frequencies of electromagnetic radiation in

biological tissues..."



...are not included in this reproduction. They are available

at the MindNet FTP site as: [mn142c.txt].



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Excerpted from:



LOW-INTENSITY CONFLICT AND MODERN TECHNOLOGY



LtCol David J. Dean, USAF, _Editor_



With a Foreword by CONGRESSMAN NEWT GINGRICH



Air University Press, Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research,

and Education, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, June 1986.



----------------------------------------------------------------



Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data



Low-intensity conflict and modern technology.



  Papers presented at a workshop conducted by Air University

Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research, and Education (CADRE),

March 1984.

  Includes bibliographies.

  1. Low-intensity conflicts--Congresses. 2.

Munitions--Congresses.  I. Dean, David J. II. Air University

(U.S.) Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research, and Education.

U104.L69  1986  355'.0218  86-3537



---



                          FOREWORD



   The United States is on the verge of a dramatic change in

its ability to cope with low-intensity conflict. We must become

a great deal better in the process of fighting this kind of

"small war"; the world will not give us any choice. We may learn

to adjust our current systems, procedures, and understanding

quickly and intelligently, in which case we will come to cope

with low-intensity conflict very rapidly. Or, we may learn this

difficult art in a grudging, confused, and halting manner, in

which case the next 20 years will be very painful and very

expensive, both for the United States and for the case of

freedom.

   This book is a serious effort to make thinking about and

working on low-intensity conflict easier, more understandable,

and more effective. It is a major contribution to what is a

growing literature and dialogue on the obligation of the United

States to respond to the challenge of low-intensity conflict.

   This book is needed because the United States finds itself

dramatically challenged by conflict below the level of full-scale

war. Unfortunately, our recent intellectual and bureaucratic

traditions and systems fail to address adequately the challenge

of low-intensity conflict. The organization of power in the State

and Defense Departments and the relationships between the

Congress, the news media, and the executive branch are all

unsuited to fighting a low-intensity conflict effectively.

    The United States has a long history of coping rather

successfully with low-intensity threats. From the opening up of

the West by the US Cavalry in the face of the American Indian to

the Philippine insurrection and the turn of the century to the US

Army's pursuit of Pancho Villa into northern Mexico to the US

Marine Corps presence in Nicaragua and Haiti in the twenties, the

United States systematically subdued low-intensity threats to

America's policies.

   Generally, these forces were used almost without debate or

news coverage. The country went about the process of becoming

more prosperous and more powerful in the pursuit of everyday

life, while allowing its professional soldiers to engage quietly

in dirty little wars in faraway places with almost no regard for

legal nicety or the technical problems of international law.

However, the dominant tradition of the American State Department,

the American news media, and the average American intellectual

community was shaped not by the American experience in the West

or the Philippines or Mexico and Central America, but rather by

the nineteenth century tradition of European thought.

   The European tradition is based on the concept of sovereignty

and formal declarations of war. Sophisticated lawyers focused on

the laws of England, Germany, and France. Sophisticated

academicians educated in England, Germany, and France came to

shape the concept of legality which had application to Europe,

but totally ignored European behavior outside of that continent.

In Europe, boundaries were not to be crossed by foreign armed

forces without a formal declaration of war. Once the boundaries

were crossed, a formal war would immediately ensure.

   That practice did not pertain to most of the world. British

colonial expeditions against local tribes, bandits, and guerrilla

operations, for example, were routine and primarily military.

These expeditions went virtually unreported except in books like

those of Winston Churchill. When they were covered as spectacular

adventures against backward local natives. The emphasis was

almost always on the heroism of the British rather than on the

use of overpowering force against clearly overmatched natives

simply fighting for their own freedom. If the British campaigns

against the Mahdi, the Zulu, and the Afghans in the nineteenth

century were covered today, we would notice major shifts in

emphasis and bias in that coverage.

   The British approach to low-intensity conflict in the

nineteenth century was virtually schizophrenic. This approach had

no place among the legal niceties of international laws that

governed sovereign states which tended to be only European. Thus,

wars could be fought in the gray area between civilized and

uncivilized nations without anyone noticing.

   The post-World War II United Nations declared, in effect, that

all of us are civilized and have human rights. The European

concepts of sovereignty and international law became applicable

to all people. This new approach radically changes the approach

of low-intensity conflict. It requires that an entire new area of

international law be developed with those situations in which one

state does not wish to declare war, but, nevertheless, finds

itself engaged in violent action or facing the potential for

violent action with other states.

   This area of international life lacks an intellectually

adequate American tradition. Our first great challenge in the

area of low-intensity conflict, is the next 20 years, to invent a

theory of law and structure of behavior that allows us to survive

and win "small wars," with a framework that maintains certain

basic rights for every human being. In addition, in the

nineteenth century tradition, there was no serious consideration

given to systematic organized terrorism. There were occasional

acts of violence committed by specific and usually identifiable

anarchists. These acts were mostly dealt with by various police

forces operating quietly on the fringes of society, in situations

in which the policemen were heroes. There was almost no

consideration given to the possibility that a sovereign

government was backing the anarchists. Thus, there was no

state-backed terrorism which directly threatened a particular

government.

   Whether it is the Irish Republican Army, the Palestine

Liberation Organization, or Islamic fanatics with direct backing

from Libya, Iran, or Syria or indirect backing from Cuba and the

Soviet Union, state-backed terrorism poses a new threat to the

West for which we have no framework to respond. We are going to

have to develop a capacity for striking at the cause of terrorism

and the source of terrorist support if we are to survive in a

free country. That is the second great challenge of out time in

low-intensity conflict.

   Finally, in the nineteenth century, there was no single empire

systematically creating conflicts around the planet, looking for

weaknesses in its opponents which could be exploited by new

methods of warfare violence. The simple fact is the Soviet

empire and its colonies have studied the West and have come to

the conclusion that our greatest vulnerability is in

low-intensity conflict. In this type of conflict, the Soviet

Union suffers little if its client is defeated but gains greatly

if its client wins.

   Since the Soviets have discovered the blind spot in our

intellectual armor for competition, we can expect more and more

low-intensity conflict for the foreseeable future. Only when we

have developed a deterrent to low-intensity conflict as

successful as our nuclear deterrent and our deterrence of

conventional war in Europe will we be able to suppress Soviet

efforts in this area. As long as the Soviet Union thinks it can

cause the United States trouble in Central America while we do

them little harm in Afghanistan, and as long as they can begin

various minor wars using second and third level puppets, clients,

and colonies while we are incapable of responding except by the

direct use of American forces, the Soviets are going to have a

great advantage. They are going to pursue this zone of

international competition with great intensity and great

savagery.

   Intellectually, politically, and professionally, low-intensity

conflict may be the most serious area of competition with the

Soviet Empire over the next 30 years. The free world must find a

legal, political, and diplomatic formula which enables us to cope

with low-intensity conflict. Until we find a way to deal with

Soviet-supported or other low-intensity conflict, we are going to

remain at a grave disadvantage in the competition for survival on

this planet.

   This book is a serious step toward grappling with the

technical, intellectual, and military problems of low-intensity

conflict. The breadth of topics covered clearly indicates the

complexity and range of difficulties which Americans and our

allies in the free world have to explore if we are to develop a

successful response to low-intensity conflict. Any student of

American survival and any citizen concerned with understanding

how this nation can cope with the challenge of low-intensity

conflict more effectively will be served by studying this work.

Its authors are to be commended for a job well done and a

process well initiated.



                                     [Original signed]

                                     Newt Gingrich

                                     House of Representatives



[...]



(Pages 249 to 260)



Part Two



TECHNOLOGY



THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM IN LOW-INTENSITY CONFLICT



By Capt Paul E. Tyler, MC, USN



   Although electromagnetic radiation is familiar to everyone,

the prototype being visible light, and although some magnetic

and "electrical" properties have been observed for centuries (the

lodestone, for example), not until late in the eighteenth century

did scientists identify electromagnetism for what it really is,

explore its physics, and develop rational theories for its

practical use. Major contributions to this field include the

experiments and studies of Harvey, Helmholtz, and Maxwell.

Maxwell finally formulated the basic theory of the

electromagnetic field, which Hertz later verified. Today,

research on electromagnetic fields is moving in directions far

different from what these pioneer scientists envisioned or

attempted.

   The results of many studies that have been published in the

last few years indicate that specific biological effects can be

achieved by controlling the various parameters of the

electromagnetic (EM) field. A few of the more important EM

factors can be manipulated are frequency, wave shape, rate of

pulse onset, pulse duration, pulse amplitude, repetition rate,

secondary modulation, and symmetry and asymmetry of the pulse.

Many of the clinical effects of electromagnetic radiation were

first noticed using direct current applied directly to the skin.

Later the same effects were obtained by applying external fields.

Electromagnetic radiation has been reported in the literature to

induce or enhance the following effects:



1. Stimulation of bone regeneration in fractures.

2. Healing of normal fractures.

3. Treatment of congenital pseudarthrosis.

4. Healing of wounds.

5. Electroanesthesia.

6. Electroconvulsive therapy.

7. Behavior modification in animals.

8. Altered electroencephalograms in animals and humans.

9. Altered brain morphology in animals.

10. Effects of acupuncture.

11. Treatment of drug addiction.

12. Electrostimulation for relief of pain.

13. Altered firing of neuronal cells.



These are but a few of the many biological effects and uses that

have been reported over the past decade. There are not exhaustive

and do not include many of the effects reported in the Soviet and

East European literature.

   As with most human endeavors, these applications of

electromagnetic radiation have the potential for being a

double-edged sword. They can produce significant benefits, yet at

the same time can be exploited and used in a controlled manner

for military and covert operations. This paper focuses on the

potential uses of electromagnetic radiation in future

low-intensity conflicts.



POTENTIAL MILITARY APPLICATIONS OF EMR



   The exploitation of this technology for military uses is still

in its infancy and only recently has been recognized by the

United States as a feasible option. A 1982 Air Force review of

biotechnology had this to say:



  Currently available data allow the projection that specially

  generated radio frequency radiation (RFR) fields may pose

  powerful and revolutionary antipersonnel military threats.

  Electroshock therapy indicates the ability of induced electric

  current to completely interrupt mental functioning for short

  periods of time, to obtain cognition for longer periods and to

  restructure emotional response over prolonged intervals.



  Experience with electroshock therapy, RFR experiments and the

  increasing understanding of the brain as an electrically

  mediated organ suggested the serious probability that impressed

  electromagnetic fields can de disruptive to purposeful behavior

  and may be capable of directing and or interrogating such

  behavior.



  Further, the passage of approximately 100 milliamperes through

  the myocardium can lead to cardiac standstill and death, again

  pointing to a speed-of-light weapons effect.



  A rapidly scanning RFR system could provide an effective stun

  or kill capability over a large area. System effectiveness will

  be a function of wave form, field intensity, pulse widths,

  repetition frequency, and carrier frequency. The system can be

  developed using tissue and whole animal experimental studies,

  coupled with mechanisms and waveform effects research.



  Using relatively low-level RFR, it may be possible to sensitize

  large military groups to extremely dispersed amounts of

  biological or chemical agents to which the unirradiated

  population would be immune.(1)



The potential applications of artificial electromagnetic fields

are wide ranging and can be used in many military or

quasi-military situations.

   Some of the potential uses include dealing with terrorist

groups, crowd control, controlling breached of security at

military installations, and antipersonnel techniques in tactical

warfare. In all of these cases the EM systems would be used to

produce mild to severe physiological disruption or perceptual

distortion or disorientation. In addition the ability of

individuals to function could be degraded to such a point that

they would be combat ineffective. Another advantage of

electromagnetic systems is that they could provide coverage over

large areas with a single system. They are silent and

countermeasures to them may be difficult to develop. Assuming

that electromagnetic radiation can be controlled to produce a

specific adverse biological effect, the equal possibility exists

that one can produce a beneficial effect such as enhancing the

performance of the individuals. This development would provide

personnel with enhanced capabilities in time of need. For

example, if a small force is required to operate in isolation for

an extended period of time, then local exposure to the right

parameters of electromagnetic radiation may give this force the

ability to do so with minimal rest and still maintain peak

performance. One last area where electromagnetic radiation may

prove to be of some value is in enhancing abilities of

individuals for anomalous phenomena.



CLASSICAL THEORY VERSES RECENT THEORETICAL RESEARCH



   Even though the body is basically an electrochemical system,

modern science has been almost exclusively studied the chemical

aspects of the body and to this date has largely neglected the

electrical aspects. However, over the past decade researchers

have devised many mathematical models to approximate the

internal fields in animals and humans. Some of the later models

have shown general agreement with experimental measurements made

with phantom models and animals. Presently most scientists in

the field use the concept of specific absorption rate of

dosimetry of electromagnetic radiation. Specific absorption rate

is the intensity of the internal electric field or quantity of

energy absorbed per unit time is per unit mass. The latest

edition of the Dosimetry Handbook discusses specific absorption

rate in detail.(2) Tables 2-4 and 2-5 present the depth of

penetration of various frequencies of electromagnetic radiation

in biological tissues according to current electromagnetic

theory. However, the use of these classical concepts of

electrodynamics does not explain some experimental and clinical

findings. For example, according to classical physics, the

frequency of visible light would indicate that it is reflected

or totally absorbed within the first few millimeters of tissue

and thus no light should pass through significant amounts of

tissue. But it does. Also, classical theory indicates that the

body should be completely invisible to extremely low frequencies

of light where a single wave length is a thousand miles long.

However, visible light has been used in clinical medicine to

transilluminate various body tissues. The technique is

particularly useful in observing the skulls of infants and the

various sinus cavities.

   A second area of classical theory fails to provide an adequate

explanation for observed effects is in the clinical use for

extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic fields.

Researchers have found that pulsed external magnetic fields at

frequencies below 100 hertz will stimulate the healing of

nonunion fractures, congenital pseudarthroses, and failed

arthroses.(3) The effects of these pulsed magnetic fields have

been extremely impressive and their use in orthopedic conditions

had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

   Recently, pulsed electromagnetic fields have been reported to

induce cellular transcription.(4) At the other end of the

nonionizing spectrum, research reports are also showing

biological effects that are not predicted by classical theories.

For example, Kremer and others have published several papers

showing that low-intensity millimeter waves produce biological

effects. They have also shown that not only are the effects seen

at a very low power, but they are also frequency specific.(5)

   As a result of theses and other studies, several groups of

scientists have been reevaluating their concepts and looking for

new solutions. Some of the newer approaches have included the

recognition that biological systems are nonlinear and rather

than apply simple linear functions to the interaction of

electromagnetic fields and biological systems, one must use

nonlinear wave mechanics. Some researchers have even

incorporated the mathematics of chaos dynamics.