For years, people who identify as “targeted individuals” have alleged that sophisticated directed-energy or electromagnetic weapons are being used covertly against people. Their accounts vary dramatically: some describe attacks originating from nearby vehicles or portable devices, while others believe energy is being directed from aircraft, satellites or other space-based platforms, with some specifically pointing to the U.S. Space Force. Those individual allegations remain unproven. But roundly dismissing targeted individuals as “crazy conspiracy theorists” merely because the technologies they describe sound impossible is increasingly difficult to justify. Two developments are particularly noteworthy: neuroscientist Dr. James Giordano has publicly discussed directed-energy systems small enough to be carried in backpacks or mounted in vehicles, while the Pentagon has now acknowledged for the first time that the United States has operational weapons in orbit.
Giordano’s comments during a July appearance on NewsNation’s Katie Pavlich Tonight are especially relevant. Giordano, who has been involved in examining cases associated with the so-called Havana Syndrome, told Pavlich that directed-energy technology is not science-fiction “ray gun” material: the technology exists and can be weaponized. More strikingly, he discussed the increasing scalability and portability of these systems. NewsNation’s reporting said directed-energy weapons can be mounted in backpacks or vehicles and that Giordano said there was evidence of domestic use. He also discussed countermeasures capable of detecting, blocking or deflecting directed energy and stressed the importance of identifying exposures quickly enough to treat affected individuals. That doesn’t establish who was responsible for any particular incident, much less validate every targeted-individual account. But it significantly changes the technological part of the conversation.
Now add what happened in September. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink announced that the Space Force has “on-orbit space control weapons” capable of defending U.S. forces against hostile adversary action. Meink deliberately declined to say whether those systems are kinetic or non-kinetic, how they operate, whether they have been tested, or precisely what they can target. The following day, Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. Douglas Schiess confirmed that Guardians currently operate weapons in orbit. The disclosure is extraordinary, but it is important not to connect dots that the available evidence doesn’t connect. There is currently no public evidence demonstrating that the portable systems Giordano discussed and the newly acknowledged orbital weapons are components of the same system, work together, or are being used against civilians. Indeed, “space control” could mean weapons intended primarily to interfere with or destroy adversaries’ satellites.
Still, viewed together, the disclosures illustrate how broad the directed-energy and advanced-weapons landscape has become—from potentially concealable systems operating at relatively short range to highly classified military capabilities operating hundreds of miles above Earth. That makes an important distinction unavoidable: the existence and weaponization of these technologies is one question; whether a particular person has been attacked with one is another. Targeted individuals cannot use the Pentagon’s orbital announcement or Giordano’s remarks as proof that their particular symptoms, injuries or alleged fatalities were caused by government weapons. Establishing that would require independently verifiable evidence connecting an actual device, operator and exposure to an individual case. But critics likewise should no longer treat concepts such as portable directed-energy weapons or weapons operating in space as inherently fantastical when experts and the government are openly discussing precisely those broad categories of technology.
That brings us to the transparency problem. National-security agencies necessarily keep genuine military capabilities secret, but that secrecy can also create profound distrust when technologies become publicly acknowledged only years after their development. In this instance, Meink even said the wording of the orbital-weapons announcement was “very well thought out,” while declining to reveal the systems’ specifics. Given the much more serious allegations raised by targeted individuals—including alleged directed-energy injuries, deaths and nonconsensual experimentation—the Pentagon should address the civilian question explicitly. Have U.S.-controlled directed-energy weapons ever been tested or deployed against civilians inside the United States? Have unwitting civilians ever been subjects in experiments involving them? Could portable systems and space-based military capabilities ever operate as parts of a larger architecture, and if so, what safeguards prevent their misuse? If civilians were subjected to such experimentation, what legal authority permitted it, who provided oversight, and would victims be entitled to compensation? None of those questions presupposes that targeted individuals’ allegations are true. But between Giordano publicly discussing concealable, weaponized directed-energy technology and the Pentagon acknowledging weapons operating in orbit, demanding clear answers about the boundaries, oversight and history of these technologies is no longer a conversation that can reasonably be dismissed with ridicule.
Congress also has an important—and necessarily bipartisan—role to play. Questions involving directed-energy technology, national security and possible harm to Americans should not become another partisan football. Congress has already demonstrated that Democrats and Republicans can act together on anomalous health incidents: the HAVANA Act passed unanimously and established a mechanism to compensate qualifying U.S. government personnel suffering certain brain injuries, while congressional committees have previously called for continued investigation of unexplained cases and possible external stimuli. Lawmakers should bring that same bipartisan scrutiny to the broader questions raised here, using their oversight powers to demand classified and unclassified briefings from the Pentagon, intelligence agencies and Space Force; determine what directed-energy capabilities exist and what rules govern them; and establish whether any such technology has ever been tested on or used against unwitting civilians. If evidence ultimately substantiates civilian victims, Congress should also examine accountability and an appropriate compensation mechanism. If investigations find no evidence supporting those allegations, that conclusion should likewise be made public to the greatest extent national security permits. Either way, these are questions that deserve investigation and evidence—not partisan assumptions or ridicule.