Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Military Sought, Considered Using Heat Ray On White House Protesters
The New York Times: Military Police Considered Using Heat Ray On D.C. Protesters, Whistle-Blower Says
Hours before law enforcement officers violently cleared protesters from a square outside the White House in June, a top military police officer sought out weaponry like powerful sound cannons and a device that “causes targets to feel an unbearable heating sensation,” an Army National Guard major told lawmakers in written testimony. The major, Adam DeMarco, an Iraq war veteran who serves in the District of Columbia National Guard and was called in to enforce the crackdown on protesters, told House lawmakers last month that he had received an email from a top law enforcement official at the Defense Department asking if the Guard was equipped with sound cannons or a nonlethal heat ray, known as the Active Denial System, or A.D.S. (Edmondson, 9/17)
NPR: Military Police Considered Using Controversial Heat Ray Against D.C. Protesters
In written responses to the House Committee on Natural Resources obtained by NPR, Major Adam DeMarco of the D.C. National Guard said he was copied on an email from the Provost Marshal of Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region. He was looking for two things: a long range acoustic device, a kind of sound cannon known as an LRAD, and a device called the Active Denial System, or ADS. The ADS was developed by the military some twenty years ago as a way to disperse crowds. There have been questions about whether it worked, or should be deployed in the first place. It uses millimeter wave technology to essentially heat the skin of people targeted by its invisible ray. (Temple-Raston, 9/16)
The Washington Post: White House Protests: Feds Stockpiled Munitions, Sought 'Heat Ray' Device Before Clearing Lafayette Square, Whistleblower Says
D.C. National Guard Maj. Adam D. DeMarco's account contradicts the administration’s claims that protesters were violent, tear gas was never used and demonstrators were given ample warning to disperse — a legal requirement before police move to clear a crowd. His testimony also offers a glimpse into the equipment and weaponry federal forces had — and others that they sought — during the early days of protests that have continued for more than 100 days in the nation’s capital. DeMarco, who provided his account as a whistleblower, was the senior-most D.C. National Guard officer on the ground that day and served as a liaison between the National Guard and U.S. Park Police. (Lang, 9/16)
In related news about health and racism —
The Washington Post: Calls To Declare Racism A Public Health Crisis Grow Louder Amid Pandemic, Police Brutality
The push to highlight racism as a public health threat, one that shortens lives and reduces quality of life in a manner similar to smoking or obesity, gained even more momentum in the summer. The coronavirus pandemic and police brutality have emerged in recent months as inescapable crises that have killed non-White people at disproportionately higher rates. (Bellware, 9/15)
