The recent explosions of electronic pagers forming a communications network among Hamas operatives, captured on CCTV and observed around the world, are fascinating technically and strategically.  The phenomenon is also, however, instructive in larger potential applications of directed energy weapons and electronic warfare strategy, including domestic use against political enemies.

There is suspicion that President Trump himself, along with civilian supporters, may have been vulnerable to directed energy attacks.  Many nations have developed this technology; readers may recall reports of sonic and microwave energy directed at U.S. embassies.

As for exploding pagers, the actual detonation that was seen by millions of viewers was not from the pager itself, but from its lithium ion battery.  Such batteries are normally susceptible to some overheating and can also have a “runaway” meltdown.  Certain electric cars have had some issues with battery overheating or fire, and passenger aircraft like the Chinese C919, which is being lobbied by the Chinese government to replace the Boeing 737, contain many of these batteries for systems operations.  EM (or electromagnetic) attack can rapidly create a thermal overload and chemical explosion. 

Electromagnetism can make many electric devices into effective grenades.  Moreover, while a small pager or watch can explode and injure or kill, imagine what a computer, smartphone, entertainment system, or pacemaker could do — even an e-cigarette, children’s toys, lawn equipment, power tools, electric wheelchairs, headsets and headphones, or hearing aids and wireless earbuds, which are also susceptible to sonic attack.  Sound can kill.

This leads to another line of thought: imagine how such EM warfare can be used with complete secrecy and invisibility, to attack anyone, including political enemies, corporate competitors, heads of state, or anyone who was traditionally subject to assassination.  Guns and bullets are 19th-century relics by comparison.

Electro-magnetic and electronic warfare, or E.W., is actually a fairly old technology and strategy.  It has been used to remotely control aircraft and other vehicles since World War Two.  It can disrupt or disable power grids or sabotage any system, installation, infrastructure, or machine that has an integrated, battery-powered control technology, or certain computing systems.

President Trump’s Space Force initiative wisely reflected an understanding of electronic warfare risk, including satellite disruption, which affects communication and other critical civilian and military systems.

Like all weapons, E.W. can be of enormous advantage, and it represents advanced technology prowess that commands an enemy’s respect.  But it can also be appropriated for irregular purposes simply by corrupting the institutions that control it or have access to it. 

Electronic warfare is perhaps the most refined technology for political mass terror, as its main effect is intimidation: when you know that the devices you use in your daily life can track, trace, record, predict, and even physically harm, that can command obedience.  Your iPhone can become an effective control collar.

The epitome of such agency “weaponization” has already been shown by the Biden-Harris administration and the Harris election team, who understand that “weaponizing” a department, agency, service, or bureau is how you control the command structure and decision-making.  With that come all the weapons at its disposal, whether they are kinetic, like explosives; are administrative, like “lawfare”; are media, using psychological conditioning; are biopharmaceutical, using particle self-assembly; or are invisible, using energy.

Matthew G. Andersson is a venture founder and former CEO.  He was an executive adviser with the aerospace and defense practices of Booz Allen Hamilton and Charles River Associates, and has testified before the U.S. Senate.  He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Defense Daily, Aviation Week & Space Technology, the National Academy of Sciences, and the 2001 Pulitzer Prize report by the Chicago Tribune, and he received the Silver Anvil award from the Public Relations Society of America.  He is a graduate of the University of Chicago, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and worked with White House national security advisor W.W. Rostow at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

Image: Axel Rouvin via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.