Penn State and the War Machine
The following is an excerpt from the 2020 zine Penn State and the War Machine, written by Dillon Rockrohr, Max Larson, and John Schneider. (1) Reproduction here does not imply endorsement by them of this Guide. Read the full zine here.
This article is part of the SCDS Fall 2023 Penn State Dis-Orientation Guide. View the full Guide here: https://medium.com/@scdsstatecollege/list/penn-state-disorientation-guide-fall-2023-7baaafbc9a79
Since the 1970s the [Penn State] Applied Research Lab has continued to improve on torpedo design through research in underwater acoustics and fluid dynamics. It has also expanded to include DOD-sponsored research in the fields of materials science, laser processing, drivetrain technology, and additive manufacturing (industrial-level 3D printing). Most of these programs tackle obscure issues, such as the tiny gears in automotive transmissions, or “cold spray” bonding of particles. Although the military relevance of these projects may not be quite as obvious as a torpedo design, there is at least one new ARL project for which the “relevance” is absolutely clear: the Institute for Non-Lethal Defense Technologies (INLDT).
Established in 1998, the INLDT has accepted millions of dollars to research and promote the use of military-grade weapons against civilians. It has hosted international conferences to share tactics and practices with other nations — many of which, like Northern Ireland and Israel, have trouble dealing with their own “unruly” populations.
PSU loves to be on the bleeding edge of research. And when it comes to far-out ways to injure peaceful protestors, the INLDT has really pushed the envelope. First, the “Distributed Sound and Light Array” a.k.a the “Puke Ray,” which the INLDT first began researching in the 2000s. Next up: the LED Incapacitator, something like a lightsaber that makes you nauseous, was tested here in 2007.
But the real gem in our collection has got to be PSU’s interest in developing a “non-lethal operational anesthetic,” that is, pepper spray spiked with depressants (anything from Valium to fentanyl). In 2001, a writer for Science magazine mentioned that the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1997 banned the use of sedatives in combat. Was PSU breaking international law? No, said the director of the INLDT, we weren’t researching weapons for the battlefield…we were researching weapons for cops!
“The literature search was never a part, nor ever considered a part, of any effort to create military weapons for the battlefield. Rather, it was intended to list possible humane alternatives to deadly force for crisis situations…In fact, we are conducting a 6-month feasibility study to investigate whether combining a state-of-the-art anesthetic in small, harmless doses with pepper spray might reduce the very violent reaction that often occurs when it is used in domestic law enforcement.”
Uh oh! What happened in 2002 when Russian security forces ended a hostage crisis by releasing this kind of anesthetic gas? 244 people died. How did PSU respond to that news? Surely that put an end to their research? Nope! Again, the head of the INLDT wrote to the Washington Post: “what we saw in Russia almost cries out for more rather than less research into this.” Yikes!
Why did PSU get into the “non-lethal weapons” game? The answer is: $$$. Since the end of the Cold War, crowd control technologies have taken up a larger share of the market for weapons research. Our little Institute was founded with a massive grant from the Department of Defense’s new Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program, just when rubber bullets and the like were becoming hot commodities. Like any investor, the DOD seeks to fund research and tech that can one day be applied in a practical sense. They also need a sense of urgency to keep their massive budget intact. With the declining likelihood of a conventional war, they changed revenue streams. In other words, although they’re used by cops, non-lethal weapons are the result of the military-industrial complex bringing America’s war machine home — changing its targets from enemy soldiers to fellow citizens.
In a year like 2020, the consequences of this shift have become painfully evident. Following the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in March, U.S. police officers have seriously injured at least 63 protestors with so-called “non-lethal weapons.” That category includes tear gas, flash-bang grenades, rubber bullets, and bean bag rounds. And while non-lethal weapons are not designed to kill, they occasionally do and they frequently cause serious damage. For example, of those injured during the 2020 protests, 13 protestors have lost their vision. That should not be surprising. In 2017, one academic study found that among people injured by “less lethal” weapons, more than 70% suffered severe injuries. Lethal or not — weapons are weapons.
- Dillon Rockrohr, Max Larson, and John Schneider, Penn State and the War Machine, https://dillonrockrohr.com/assets/pdf/Penn_State_and_the_War_Machine.pdf
