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From “Harassing, Annoying, and ‘Bad Guy’ Identifying Chemicals)” a proposal written by the U.S. Air Force Wright Laboratory in June 1994 and obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by The Sunshine Project last year.

Three classes of chemical weapons are proposed:

I. Chemicals that attract annoying creatures to the enemy position and make the creatures aggressive and annoying. Stinging and biting bugs, rodents, and larger animals would be candidates to be drawn to the enemy positions. Sex-attractant chemicals for bugs is one candidate. Another example: a “sting me/attack me” chemical that causes bees to attack would be especially effective for infiltration routes. Treat a section of the trail with the chemical and position multiple beehives a short way down the trail.

II. Chemicals that make lasting but non-lethal markings on personnel. Those that were exposed to the chemicals could be easily identified (by smell or appearance) weeks later, making it impossible for them to blend with the local population. The chemical marking should also be annoying to the exposed individuals and to those around him/her. A variation on the theme would be that we would have the counteracting treatment, and affected personnel would have to come to us for the treatment. This version would be especially suitable for use against mixtures of enemy forces and non-combatants. Civilians would come to us for treatment, and the enemy forces that did not seek treatment could be identified. A more subtle version would be chemical-detecting equipment. Marked individuals would not know they were marked and would not know how the dogs/equipment identified them. These chemicals could also be used as part of a security system (for civilian or DOD use) for high-value stored items, being released when the building was broken into. Small dispensers of the chemical could be used by banks as an alternative to exploding red dye for marking stolen money and marking the robber. Unlike red dye, the robber would not know he was being marked and would be easier to identify. One example: develop a low-toxicity compound of [redacted] that still retains the characteristic of creating severe and lasting halitosis for those exposed to small concentrations.

III. Chemicals that affect human behavior so that discipline and morale in enemy units is adversely affected. One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior.


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March 2005

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