Meanwhile, “Pandora’s box is open as far as making these kinds of things,” Balaban said. Devices that can be used in ultrasonic attacks, for example, are readily available on the internet for less than $300. The off-the-shelf devices are intended to repulse vermin such as rats and insects and have a range of about 30 to 40 feet, he said.
“We are facing a threat. And an important thing is to figure out the battlespace we are dealing with here and make some solutions,” Balaban said. “It’s the perfect kind of gray warfare. It’s a very good way to degrade your opponent’s capabilities so you can exploit it with conventional means.”
Such weapons could be used clandestinely against a political leader, for example, to ultimately destabilize a society, Giordano said. “I think what you are beginning to see is a greater likelihood for targeting the brain in these ways — both in regard to its structure and its functions, which includes cognitions, emotions and behaviors — in ways that are going to be disruptive on a variety of scales from systems in the individual to systems in the social and political” realm, he said.
Balaban added: “We have a plausible set of vulnerabilities — areas we know nothing about, neuro-weapons, that have been used asymmetrically. We have to figure out what the heck this is.”
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine....acks-in-havana