I want to start by saying a MAJOR HUGE THANK YOU to Journalist Dahr Jamail publishing his findings on the United States Military's use of Electromagnetic Weapons Field Testing and War-games off the West Coastal areas.
Journalist Dahr Jamail was on Democracy Now this morning, and was discussing the DoD/Navy in the Arctic doing field exercises in sonic weaponry and blowing up several rounds of LIVE munitions in that part of the Ocean for Military War-games.
But during the course of his interview they brought up ELECTROMAGNETIC WEAPONS Field Testing - Jamail said he was SURPRISED no other news outlets picked up on his reporting, to include Target's like me - but this for little known or passed up news article is CRITICAL for All Targeted Individual's to not only read, but finally be validated to some extent that the DoD is FIELD TESTING Directed Energy Weapons - IN LIVE TRAINING, WARGAMES and FIELD TESTING - ON AMERICAN SOIL - into CIVILIAN POPULATED REGIONS - and WHERE WILDLIFE flourish...
Dahr Jamail | Navy Plans Electromagnetic War Games Over National Park and Forest in Washington State
Monday, 10 November 2014 11:34 By Dahr Jamail, Truthout | Report
Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest in Washington State are two of the most beautiful wilderness areas in the United States. Majestic glacier-clad peaks rise above temperate rainforest-covered hills. Gorgeous rivers tumble down from the heights and the areas are home to several types of plants and animal species that exist nowhere else on earth.
These protected national commons are also the areas in and near where the US Navy aims to conduct its Northwest Electromagnetic Radiation Warfare training program, wherein it will fly 36 of its EA-18G "Growler" supersonic jet warplanes down to 1,200 feet above the ground in some areas in order to conduct war games with 14 mobile towers. Enough electromagnetic radiation will be emitted so as to be capable of melting human eye tissue, and causing breast cancer, childhood leukemia and damage to human fetuses, let alone impacting wildlife in the area.
If it gets its way, this means the Navy would be flying Growler jets, which are electronic attack aircraft that specialize in radar jamming, in 2,900 training exercises over wilderness, communities and cities across the Olympic Peninsula for 260 days per year, with exercises lasting up to 16 hours per day.
No public notices for the Navy's plans were published in any media that directly serve the Olympic Peninsula; hence the Navy initially reported that it had received no public comments on its "environmental assessment" for the war games.
One barely advertised public comment meeting was held in the small town of Forks, a several hour drive from the larger towns and cities that will be impacted by the war games. When asked to schedule more public comment meetings, the Navy refused.
But word spread. Tens of thousands of residents across the peninsula became furious, and widespread and growing public outcry forced the Navy to extend the public comment period until November 28 and schedule more public meetings.
It is not news that the Navy has been conducting electronic warfare exercises for years, but it might come as a surprise for people to learn that according to the US Navy's Information Dominance Roadmap 2013-2028, the Navy states it "will require new capabilities to fully employ integrated information in warfare by expanding the use of advanced electronic warfare."
What is at stake is not just whether the military is allowed to use protected public lands in the Pacific Northwest for its war games, but a precedent being set for them to do so across the entire country.
The Die Is Cast
The Navy already has an area in Mountain Home, Idaho, that is available for such war gaming.
Nevertheless, according to the Navy's "environmental assessment," it opted not to fly the 400 miles to Idaho in order to save jet fuel and enable their personnel to have more time with their families.
The war games would include the use of large RV-sized trucks equipped with electromagnetic generating equipment that would be dispersed along 14 sites in Olympic National Forest and several right along the boundary of Olympic National Park. While no trucks would, in theory, be allowed inside Olympic National Park, the warplanes would most likely be crossing over the park on a regular basis.
The exercises would be conducted by naval warplanes launching from the US Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island that would fly over the northern coast of the Olympic Peninsula in order to reach the West Coast, where they would fly inland over national forestland and Olympic National Park, in order to target the vehicles' aimed electromagnetic radiation.
According to the Navy's so-called environmental assessment, the purpose of these war games is to train to deny the enemy "all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation (i.e. electromagnetic energy) for use in such applications as communication systems, navigation systems and defense related systems and components."
Six of the radiation emitting truck sites would be within 10 miles of the Quinault Reservation, and at least six of them would be right along the border of Olympic National Park.
The Quinault Indian Nation has spoken with the Navy regarding the electronic warfare range proposal due to our ongoing concerns for our people and our wildlife in our usual and accustomed hunting grounds. Our people have lived here for thousands of years. We have always depended upon the fishing, hunting and gathering resources here, and managed these resources for the benefit of current and future generations. Today we co-manage these resources with our fellow sovereigns, the state and federal governments. The Navy has responded to our questions, on a government-to-government basis. At this time our only additional comment is that we will be monitoring the Navy's activities, to assure there is no harm to the resources we manage and must protect for the sake of our people, our heritage and our generations to come.
The Navy claimed it had served notice to the Makah, Quileute, Hoh and Quinault tribes, all located in close proximity to the proposed war games areas.
John Moshier, the Navy's northwest environmental manager for the US Pacific Fleet, has stated that their planes would be flying as low as 1,200 feet above the ground.
Yet the Navy's environmental impact assessment does not even mention noise pollution or the sound of the Navy's jets, and lists "no significant impacts" for public health and safety, biological resources, noise, air quality or visual resources.
Tens of thousands of outraged residents from around the Olympic Peninsula have expressed their opposition via letters to the US Forest Service, public meetings, letters to the editor in newspapers across the peninsula, flooding article comment sections and via social media.
David King, the mayor of Port Townsend, a town on the Northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula, has voiced his opposition to the plan, along with numerous other public officials from around the Olympic Peninsula, in addition to the thousands of angry residents.
"This is bringing militarism home in a very direct way, in one of the most pristine parts of the country," Linda Sutton, a retired teacher who lives in Port Townsend, told Truthout. "Most of the people who live here do so because we are free of this kind of militarism. And people who visit here, come here for the natural beauty and environment, and if we allow this place to be turned into a war-gaming area, it is reprehensible."
"No Significant Impact?"
According to the National Park Service, the top two purposes of a national park are:
- To preserve and protect the natural and cultural resources for future generations.
- To provide opportunities to experience, understand and enjoy the park consistent with the preservation of resources in a state of nature.
As for national forests, according to US Code 475, which outlines the purposes for which national forests were established and how they are to be administered:
No national forest shall be established, except to improve and protect the forest within the boundaries, or for the purpose of securing favorable conditions of water flows, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United States; but it is not the purpose or intent of these provisions, or of said section, to authorize the inclusion therein of lands more valuable for the mineral therein, or for agricultural purposes, than for forest purposes.
The Navy's war-gaming plans are most likely in violation of the stated purposes of the National Park Service, in addition to being in violation of the aforementioned US code.
The Navy's so-called environmental assessment, which they claim includes plans for "protecting people and large animals," reported "no significant impact" would result from the $11.5 million warfare training project, which aims to be operational by September 2015.
The report, however, failed to provide specifics on either the maximum potential exposure or the intensity of the electromagnetic radiation emitters from the trucks to be used in the war games.
"Experimental evidence has shown that exposure to low intensity radiation can have a profound effect on biological processes."
Nevertheless, Dean Millett, the district ranger for the Pacific district of the Olympic National Forest, had issued a draft notice of a decision in which he had agreed with the Navy's finding of "no significant impact," which has cleared the way for a Forest Service special permit to be issued to the Navy for the war games. Millet, however, insists that the decision is his to make, but has not made a final decision yet.
Under massive public pressure, however, Millett reopened public comment because of what he claimed was "renewed interest . . . from members of the public who were unaware of the proposal."
Mike Welding, the Naval Air Station at Whidbey Island spokesman, recently admitted to reporters that any antennas emitting electromagnetic energy produce radiation.
"As a general answer, if someone is in the exclusion area for more than 15 minutes, that's a ballpark estimate for when there would be some concern for potential to injure, to receive burns," he said.
The Navy's "environmental assessment" (EA) states, "There are no conclusive direct hazards to human tissue as a result of electromagnetic radiation," and, "Links to DNA fragmentation, leukemia, and cancer due to intermittent exposure to extremely high levels of electromagnetic radiation are speculative; study data are inconsistent and insufficient at this time."
However, in direct contradiction to the Navy's responses along with their so-called environmental assessment, in 1994, the US Air Force published the report, "Radiofrequency/Microwave Radiation Biological Effects and Safety Standards: A Review."
Page 18 of the report states: "Nonthermal disruptions have been observed to occur at power densities that are much lower than are necessary to induce thermal effects. Soviet researchers have attributed alterations in the central nervous system and the cardiovascular system to the nonthermal effect of low level RF/MW radiation exposure."
The report concludes, "Experimental evidence has shown that exposure to low intensity radiation can have a profound effect on biological processes." (emphasis added)
"The planned range may alter the attractiveness of this region as a destination for tourists and there is potential for significant economic impact.
Furthermore, the "EA" quotes from a study (Focke et al. 2009) that deals with extremely low frequency radiation (50 hertz) only and is thus completely irrelevant to the gigahertz radiation being proposed (1 gigahertz equals 1 billion hertz).
The Navy has not provided any relevant studies that prove no long-term effects to flora and fauna for their proposed 4,680 hours per year of exposure.
Nor does the "EA" factor in the electromagnetic radiation from the Navy's Growler jets, as the jets will be using it to locate ground transmitters.
Peer-reviewed, published scientific studies about the harmful effects to humans of electromagnetic radiation abound.
A quick search on Google Scholar for "Electromagnetic fields risk to humans" produces over 63,000 results, most of which are published scientific studies that chronicle the deleterious impact of electromagnetic fields to the human organism.
Some of the studies titles are: "Carcinogenicity of radiofrequency," "The sensitivity of children to electromagnetic fields," "Exposure to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields and the risk of malignant diseases - an evaluation of epidemiological and experimental findings," "Extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields as effectors of cellular responses in vitro: possible immune cell activation," and "Exposure to electromagnetic fields and the risk of childhood leukemia," to name just a few.
One study, titled "Leukemia and Occupational Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields: Review of Epidemiologic Surveys," states in its abstract: "Results for total leukemia show a modest excess risk for men in exposed occupations, with an enhanced risk elevation for acute leukemia and especially acute myelogenous leukemia."
A report titled "Biological effects from electromagnetic field exposure and public exposure standards," published in the journal Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy in 2008, concluded:
Health endpoints reported to be associated with ELF and/or RF include childhood leukemia, brain tumors, genotoxic effects, neurological effects and neurodegenerative diseases, immune system deregulation, allergic and inflammatory responses, breast cancer, miscarriage and some cardiovascular effects. The BioInitiative Report concluded that a reasonable suspicion of risk exists based on clear evidence of bioeffects at environmentally relevant levels, which, with prolonged exposures may reasonably be presumed to result in health impacts.
Electromagnetic radiation's impact on wildlife is very well documented, as thousands of peer-reviewed scientific studies have been published on the topic.
In May 2014, a study titled "Electromagnetic Interference Disrupts Bird Navigation, Hints at Quantum Action" was published in the journal Nature. "Researchers found out that very weak electromagnetic fields disrupt the magnetic compass used by European robins and other songbirds to navigate using the Earth's magnetic field," according to the study.
That same month another study, "Sensory biology: Radio waves zap the biomagnetic compass," was also published in Nature. "Weak radio waves in the medium-wave band are sufficient to disrupt geomagnetic orientation in migratory birds, according to a particularly well-controlled study," Nature reports. It added, "Interference from electronics . . . can disrupt the internal magnetic compasses of migratory birds."
A 2013 study published in Environment International, "A review of the ecological effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF)," concluded, "In about two-third[s] of the reviewed studies ecological effects of RF-EMF [were] reported at high as well as at low dosages."
A June 2011 study published in Ecosphere, titled "Impacts of Acute and Long-Term Vehicle Exposure on Physiology and Reproductive Success of the Northern Spotted Owl," found that while the spotted owl is able to compensate for a low level of increased noise pollution and vehicle presence up to a threshold, "beyond which disturbance impacts may be greatly magnified - and even cause system collapse." The northern spotted owl is an endangered species.
While more studies on the impact of electromagnetic radiation on larger animals are underway and the results pending, the negative impacts on birds in the proposed war-gaming areas are clear.
FROM DEMOCRACY NOW - 16 JUNE 2015
The Gulf of Alaska is one of the most pristine places left on Earth; the region includes critical habitat for all five wild Alaskan salmon species and 377 other species of marine life.
Bombing the Arctic: US Navy War Games in Gulf of Alaska Threaten One of World’s Most Pristine Areas
The U.S. Navy is set to begin a major war exercise in the Gulf of Alaska amid protests from local communities concerned about environmental damage. The Navy is reportedly unleashing thousands of sailors, soldiers, airmen, marines and Coast Guard members along with several Navy destroyers, hundreds of aircrafts, untold weaponry and a submarine for the naval exercises. The Gulf of Alaska is one of the most pristine places left on Earth; the region includes critical habitat for all five wild Alaskan salmon species and 377 other species of marine life. The Navy’s planned live bombing runs will entail the detonation of tens of thousands of pounds of toxic munitions, as well as the use of active sonar in fisheries. The Navy has conducted war games in the Gulf of Alaska, on and off, for the last 30 years, but these new exercises are the largest by far. They come at a time when scientists are increasingly worried about climate change causing Arctic melting. Meanwhile, the unprecedented melting has created an opportunity for the military to expand its operations into previously inaccessible terrain. We are joined by Dahr Jamail, staff reporter at Truthout, whose latest piece is "Destroying What Remains: How the US Navy Plans to War Game the Arctic."
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