Hegseth reportedly authorizes DHS a seven-month Active Denial System loan

DHS would take sole responsibility; Defense Department personnel could not operate it

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly signed a memo last month, according to The Guardian’s October 22 report, permitting DHS to test the Pentagon’s non-lethal Active Denial System for potential use at the U.S.-Mexico border. The memo also authorized a seven-month temporary loan beginning in September and allows DHS to request further use.

The “heat ray,” known as the Active Denial System, is a military-grade weapon that shoots an energy beam causing “a sensation of intense heat on the surface of the skin,” according to a 2009 National Defense University case study. The case study said the sensation “creates an intolerable sensation and reflexive movement,” such as ducking or running.

In the memo, first obtained by CNN, Hegseth authorized a “temporary loan” of the Active Denial System to DHS for seven months beginning in September. DHS can request further use of the Pentagon system if needed.

When used, the Active Denial System can produce an invisible beam of 95 gigahertz that penetrates about 1/64th of an inch into the skin and causes a burning sensation. The system is technically not a “heat ray” because it uses millimeter waves, not infrared, Forbes reported in 2020. Pentagon officials compared the feeling to a blast of heat when opening a hot oven, according to CNN. The feeling is temporary, lasting between 10 and 15 minutes.

The Guardian’s photograph was captioned as showing an Active Denial System in Wellton, Arizona, on April 4, 2017, with the photograph credited to Cpl. Andrew Huff/Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron-1.

In 2012, the Marine Corps announced that the system complied with the international legal obligations of the US, and officials said they felt “comfortable” that it was safe.

The new memo, seen by CNN, states that DHS will be solely responsible for the system’s “employment, use and development of tactics, techniques and procedures.” It also states that no Department of Defense personnel shall operate it.

A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said in a statement that the agency was “continually evaluating new technology, especially technology that can save lives while simultaneously enhancing national security effectiveness”. When asked for comment, the Pentagon referred The Guardian to DHS, which shared the CBP statement.

The report said it remained unclear exactly what DHS planned to use the Active Denial System for. The memo permits the department to use it for potential operations at the U.S.-Mexico border but does not announce a deployment.

The U.S. military initially brought the system to Afghanistan nearly 20 years ago, the Washington Post reported. The military quickly returned it to the United States without ever using it there.

Customs and Border Protection officials had reportedly considered using the Active Denial System in areas with a large number of illegal crossings or for crowd dispersal, but the system was never deployed.

During the first Trump administration, officials sought to use the Active Denial System, first in 2018 to stop migrants from crossing the border, the New York Times reported. Later, in 2020, the administration also sought to use it to control protests in Washington, D.C., after the killing of George Floyd, the Washington Post reported.

The immediate change documented by Hegseth’s memo is a seven-month loan and authority to seek additional use. DHS remains responsible for the system, while its intended border mission remains unspecified.