Those weird sonic attacks at U.S. embassies? Microwave weapons, experts say

Sounds more like the US equivalent of BERG (the British Experimental Rocket Group).

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It definitely exists. Just a question of “why?” As noted up thread, you can knock one together in your garage. There are plans on Hackaday, even.

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Now I can understand Cuba not liking USA, but why attack Canada? IMHO this is just grasping for straws, trying to come up with some semi-plausible way these alleged attacks could be real given that the US government has already accused Cuba of being responsible.

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Fucking Great! Something else to worry about besides the nazi takeover of the country. What a relief.

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Exposure information is given in the main report and an appendix, and in more detail in a further assessment published later [2]. There was nearly continuous monitoring in the Moscow embassy from early 1963, and monitoring of other buildings further from the embassy at least every few months, but for earlier periods measurements were sparse. Tests for microwave radiation (0.5 Ghz to 10 Ghz) at the other embassies chosen were made periodically, at least once or twice a year but up to several times per month, and “only background levels have been detected at these Eastern European embassies”

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Great. Now my parents will want me to get rid of my microwave oven. Again.

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Thanks for that article.

This still sounds really weird as a news story. I could believe that it’s something like an urban legend that’s been magnified by its proximity to the unverifiable world of spy stuff; or an actual spy story that’s been deliberately tainted with bizarre and confusing misinformation; or even a plain old true story.

Part of what makes it so peculiar is the question of why it is specific to embassies. If it’s a weapon, why are Cuba and China separately interested in fucking up diplomats, and in such an outlandish and specific way? If it’s a spy technology - a time-of-flight 3D imaging system or something - why isn’t it being used in all sorts of places? This seems like evidence for the “mass hysteria in the diplomatic community” theory.

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Now available as a soccer ball… :-/

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Turns out an intern just was using a leaky microwave to cook Hot Pockets.

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Not in here, buddy. I just mopped. :wink:

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But yeah, metal and microwaves aren’t a good combination. I doubt the directed radiation is strong enough to spark tin or aluminum foil at range, but it might heat up.

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Self-inflicted is notably missing in that list.

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Well, the list of who is doing this is very short, and consists of powerful, callous nations who do not follow the geneva conventions.

edited for clarity.

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I think it would be difficult to make an entire building be a Faraday cage because any small gaps or holes, like door frames, window frames, corners, joints, etc are all places that short wavelength radiation like microwaves can penetrate. You could make a specially designed room be a Faraday cage, but I think a whole building is probably not practical.

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Does a Faraday cage have to be perfect to be useful in harm reduction? In the case of information leakage, I can see that perfection is is the goal, but for reducing harm from weaponized microwave radiation, wouldn’t attenuation be a valid goal?

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I’m not an expert, but I think you are right that attenuation could help. It probably depends on the strategy of the attacker.

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If you’re serious, they do sell leak detectors on Amazon, and in big box stores. Though it might be cheaper/faster/safer to replace your microwave.

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