Pentagon Grants DHS Permission to Test Heat Ray Weapon for Potential Border Use

The Pentagon has given the Department of Homeland Security permission to test a military-grade heat ray and develop tactics to potentially use it in operations at the southern U.S. border, according to a memo signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last month and obtained by CNN.

How the system works

The weapon, officially known as the Active Denial System, is a nonlethal system that fires an invisible beam of electromagnetic waves able to reach a little more than half a mile, according to the U.S. military. The beam causes a burning sensation on contact with human skin, which Pentagon officials have compared to the blast of heat felt when opening a hot oven. Military officials have said the resulting “tingling effect” lasts between 10 and 15 minutes and creates “an instinctive and irresistible urge to run from the effect.”

The memo authorizes the “temporary loan” of one Active Denial System to the department for seven months, starting in September. It states the system “shall not be operated by DoW (Department of War) personnel” and makes DHS solely responsible for “system employment, use and development of tactics, techniques and procedures.” At the end of the loan period, DHS can submit a further request for use of the system in border operations, a defense official told CNN.

A history of hesitation

The military deployed the system to Afghanistan nearly two decades ago but declined to use it during active combat operations, CNN reported. Officials also considered using it at overseas facilities holding terrorism suspects, but chose not to.

Border officials have weighed the system before. In 2018, Customs and Border Protection officials discussed using it against migrants before the November midterms, but then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen rejected the idea. “The issue was treating immigrants and citizens like enemy combatants,” a former DHS official told CNN. One former Customs and Border Protection official questioned the trade-offs: “Even if they’re chasing people back to the river, you don’t want them to go in and drown. For the cost, for the training and for the policies you’re going to create, is the juice worth the squeeze?”

Officials have also flagged questions about legality, use of force, effectiveness and sovereignty — particularly if the system were turned on people still in Mexico. The El Centro sector, which covers about 70 miles of the border, evaluated the system several years ago, when Rodney Scott, who now serves as Customs and Border Protection commissioner, led the sector, according to a CBP official. In a statement to CNN, a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said the agency is “continually evaluating new technologies, especially those that enhance operational effectiveness and strengthen mission capabilities.”

Reporting based on coverage by CNN.