Military police considered using heat ray and stockpiled ammunition to clear protesters for Trump bible stunt
It has emerged that in the hours before Mr Trump’s photoshoot outside a church near the White House this summer, military police sought out controversial crowd control weapons – and even began stockpiling ammunition.
According to testimony from a whistleblower, federal defence officials reached out to the DC National Guard seeking an Active Denial System (ADS), a controversial microwave-based device that heats the skin of targets to an intolerable level with the aim of clearing them from a given area.
The email also mentioned a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), which can be used for announcements or as a sonic weapon. Neither device was ultimately used to clear the area outside the White House; instead, protesters were dispersed with tear gas and non-lethal projectiles.
The whistleblower, Major Adam DeMarco, told a House of Representatives committee that he was copied into an email describing the use of the different weapons. “The ADS,” it said, “can immediately compel an individual to cease threatening behavior or depart through application of a directed energy beam that provides a sensation of intense heat on the surface of the skin.”
Major DeMarco also said that during the protests, M4 carbine assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition were transferred to the DC Armory.
