Reports show that ENMOD techniques have been applied by the U.S. military for more than half a century. Mathematician John von Neumann, in liaison with the Department of Defense, started his research regarding weather modification as early as the late 1940s, at the height of the Cold War. He foresaw "forms of climactic warfare as yet unimagined."
During the Vietnam war, cloud-seeding techniques were already used, starting in 1967 under Project Popeye, the objective of which was to prolong the monsoon season and block enemy supply routes along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
The military also developed capabilities that enabled it to selectively alter weather patterns. This technology is being perfected under the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP). HAARP is a weapon of mass destruction that operates from the outer atmosphere and is capable of destabilizing agricultural and ecological systems around the world.
According to the U.S. Air Force document AF 2025 Final Report, weather modification will offer the warfighter "a wide range of possible options to defeat or coerce an adversary." These capabilities also extend to the triggering of floods, hurricanes, droughts and earthquakes.
The document further stated, "Weather modification will become a part of domestic and international security and could be done unilaterally… It could have offensive and defensive applications and even be used for deterrence purposes. The ability to generate precipitation, fog and storms on Earth or to modify space weather… and the production of artificial weather all are a part of an integrated set of [military] technologies." (Related: An inconvenient truth about climate change - Grazing livestock may hold the secret to preventing environmental annihilation.)
Prohibition of military or hostile use
In 1978, the United Nations created a convention on the prohibition of military or any other hostile use of environmental modification techniques. This is because the problem of artificial modification of the environment for military or other hostile purposes was brought to attention in the early 1970s. The U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. agreed to hold bilateral discussions on measures to overcome the danger of the use of environmental modification techniques for military purposes.
Parties that signed the convention undertake not to engage in military or any other hostile use of environmental modification techniques, having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects as a means of destruction, damage or injury to another State party.
Environmental modification as a means of warfare is an area where governments have to be careful, as many believe it is a slippery slope from cloud-seeding and herbicides to forming more crippling techniques. Many believe that as long as environmental modification can be used as a weapon, all legitimate peaceful research will be suspect.
To better understand the concerns, there are three closely related issues under discussion in the convention:
- Weather modification involves activity that affects the weather on a short-range basis such as fog dispersal or cloud-seeding to produce rain.
- Climate modifications, although theoretical, can involve modification of the long-range weather situations of an area.
- Environmental modifications involve altering aspects of the environment in addition to the weather, such as the use of herbicides by the U.S. in Vietnam.
The Convention also provides a consultation mechanism to solve any problem arising in relation to the objective and in the application of the provisions of the convention, including the establishment of a committee of experts to be chaired by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Learn more about environmental modification techniques at MilitaryTechnology.news.
Sources include:
Please contact us for more information.
