First screen, captured 3 days ago. Hover to scroll the page, or open the video.

Pentagon grants DHS permission to test heat ray weapon for use at border

What HN thinks

A thread split between dread about mission creep and earnest engineering of anti-microwave sunglasses.

Safety depends on operators, who are distrusted
The Active Denial System only heats the outer skin, but harm rises with dwell time and bad settings. Commenters don't trust ICE/CBP or police to use it responsibly, citing misuse of pepper spray and rubber bullets.
It will be turned on citizens
Many expect the weapon to move from the border to domestic protests, much as LRADs, chemical munitions and MRAPs did through programs like 1033.
Less-lethal tools have a real role
A minority argues that nonlethal crowd control beats live fire when a real threat appears. Others answer that in practice these tools get used for pain compliance against nonviolent people.

Consensus: Most commenters think the device will be abused and will likely spread beyond the border, and few trust the agencies that would operate it.

Recommended in the comments

3M Thinsulate Climate Control 75 ↗ (product): Suggested half-seriously as eye shielding that still lets you see, though another commenter pointed out the system runs at 95 GHz.

Summarised by Claude from the comment thread 3 days ago.

Points: 85
Comments: 132
Best rank: #17
Posted: 2026-10-23 by bushwart
Category: Politics policy

active-denial-system directed-energy-weapons dhs pentagon border-security immigration non-lethal-weapons

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