About

According to Naval Captain Paul Tyler in a 1976 essay, “The Electromagnetic Spectrum in Low-Intensity Conflict,” a “speed-of-light weapons effect” could be achieved with “the passage of approximately 100 milliamperes [of directed frequency] through the myocardium, [leading] to cardiac standstill and death.” In other words, electromagnetic devices with stun or kill settings could theoretically wipe out entire armies—and cities. The patent for just such a “death-ray” device, according to officials of the McFarlane Corporation, an independent Research and Development firm, was pirated from them in 1965 by NASA. The theft was reported in hearings before the House subcommittee on DOD appropriations, chaired by Rep. George Mahon (D-Texas). According to McFarlane company literature, the invention—termed a Modulated Electron-Gun X-Ray Nuclear Booster—could be adapted to “communications, remote control and guidance systems, electromagnetic radiation telemetering and death-ray applications.”