Waco: The Rules of Engagement - Defense Electronics

Defense Electronics
July 1993
DOD, Intel Agencies Look at Russian Mind Control Technology, Claims FBI Considered Testing on Koresh

By Mark Tapscott

Federal law enforcement officials considered testing a Russian scientist's acoustic mind control device on cultist David Koresh a few weeks before the fiery conflagration that killed the Branch Davidian leader and more than 70 of his followers in Waco, Texas, Defense Electronic has learned.
In a series of closed meeting beginning March 17 in suburban Northern Virginia with Dr. Igor Smirnov of the Moscow Medical Academy, FBI officials were briefed on the Russian's decade-long research on a computerized acoustic device allegedly capable of implanting thoughts in a person's mind without that person being aware of the source of the thought.
"It was suggested to us [by other federal officials] that they bring in the FBI, which was looking for a viable option to deal with Koresh," said a source who participated in the Smirnov meetings who agreed to discussion the gathering only on condition of anonymity.
His account of the meeting was confirmed by an executive summary memorandum prepared by official of Psychotechnologies Corp., a Richmond, Virginia, based firm that owns the American rights to the Russian technology. A copy of the Psychotechnologies summary, which has been circulated among U.S. intelligence executives, was obtained by DE.
The Psychotechnologies memo described the standoff between federal agents and Koresh in Waco as "an ongoing domestic hostage situation." After several meetings with Smirnov, FBI officials, who repeatedly expressed fear during the discussions that Koresh and his followers were suicidal, asked for a proposal describing requirements and procedures for using the device in Waco, he said.
"They wanted the Russians to promise zero risk" in using the device on Koresh, but the Russians wouldn't do that," the participant said. Another obstacle was the fact Smirnov had only brought "entry-level equipment" and more sophisticated hardware would have had to be rushed over from Russia before the device could be used in an attempt to end the standoff in Texas.
As a result, Koresh and his band were not used as test subjects for a demonstration of a technology developed under the former Soviet Union and apparently used against civilians in Afghanistan, which is why the U.S. defense and intelligence communities were well-represented in the March meeting in Virginia.
"There was a strong interest among the intelligence agencies because they had been tracking Smirnov for years," the participant said, "and because we know there is evidence the Soviet Army's Special Forces used the technology during the conflict in Afghanistan."
Alcohol and drug abuse among Red Army soldiers was so pervasive during the Afghan war that Soviet officials relied upon the technology in preparing troops for missions involving atrocities against civilians.
Officials from the central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Advance Research Project Agency (ARPA) were also present, according to the source. Spokesmen for those agencies did not return a reporter's telephone calls seeking to confirm whether individuals from their organization attended the Smirnov meetings.
Because the US has no known counter-measure to the technology, intelligence community and ARPA officials are concerned that weaponize versions of the device may still be in Russian military inventory, and they expressed fear during the meetings that the technology could be exported to Third World nations via growing black market in military equipment from the former Soviet Union, he said.
The main purpose of the March meetings was described in the Psychotechnologies memo as to "determine whether psycho-correction technologies represent a present or future threat to the U.S. national security in situation where inaudible command might be used to alter behavior.
The memo went on to note that meeting attendees were also interested in whether "psycho-correction detection decoding and counter-measures programs should be undertaken by the US." An effective psycho-correction device could be a military threat the memorandum continued if it were deployed to "negatively affect morale of US troops in combat" or to "affect judgement or opinions of decision makers, key personnel or populaces" in a conflict.
Further, the memo said Department of Defense (DOD) official were concerned that the technology could be used in protection of US embassies , military training and in non-violently "clearing areas of potential enemies, snipers, etc."
Non-military participants were also included in the Smirnov meetings in Virginia, as well as a series of subsequent briefing by the two Russians at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Topeka. The non-military attendees included Dr. Richard Nakamura of the National Institute of Mental Health and Dr. Christopher Green, director of General Motors Corp. (GM) biomedical research department in Detroit.
Dr. Nakamura could not be reached for comment, but he was described in the Psychotechnologies memo as being "familiar with US patents" in the area and that "the Russian seemed to have solved" mathematical problems "which had prevented development of US work beyond basic stage."
Dr. Green said through a GM spokesman that he attended the Smirnov briefing in his capacity as a member of a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel on 21st Century Army technologies. "This has no connection to anything being done by GM," the spokesman said.
"It looks promising but we don't have enough details yet to really appraise it," Dr Fowler Jones of Univ. of Kansas Medical Center's psychology division told DE. "It was really more of a presentation than an actual demonstration because, unfortunately, a lot of the software we couldn't get going." Jones said he and his colleagues at the Kansas facility are looking for funding sources before search to determine whether the Russian psycho-correction technology can be used in treating alcoholism and other addiction.
The Psychotechnologies memo described an agreement company official entered into with Smirnov in March in which "the Russian side agreed to commit the psycho-correction technologies still in Russia and all related know-how to the US. company in exchange for stock. The Russian side has agreed to provide all support necessary to recreate current [psycho-correction] capability in the US and to upgrade the capability using US components and computer programmers. All necessary developmental and existing algorithms will be provided by the Russian side."

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