Unconventional Warfare: From Invisible Weapons to Mind Control (I) [EN]
From Theory to Application on Populations (Part 1)
Introduction
This article initiates a series of in-depth analyses on unconventional warfare technologies and mind control—a documented investigation that, far from conspiracy fantasies but also from systematic denials, reveals a reality attested by numerous declassified official documents, whose scope and sophistication exceed anything we could have imagined. Yet, as is often the case, reality surpasses the imagination of even the most daring novelists. While a majority remains convinced that these technologies are barely conceivable and above all that they fuel “conspiracy theorists‘" imagination, official documents tell a completely different story. This is precisely what Grok, an AI developed by xAI, reveals in its seemingly dystopian demonstration.1
While our brains are immersed in an ocean of electromagnetic waves, our smartphones have become extensions of our consciousness,2 artificial intelligence is infiltrating our thought processes, and the transfer of our consciousness into quantum computers has become a priority objective of advanced military programs, it becomes urgent to lift the veil on these technologies. Not to fuel fears, but to understand the real stakes that lie behind this carefully maintained smoke screen.
Let's consider the omnipresence of waves in our daily lives, which constitutes in itself a form of permanent psychotronic harassment, whether populations are aware of it or not. According to the Trésor de la Langue Française, harassment is characterized as “an incessant pursuit that causes physical discomfort”—3a description that precisely matches this continuous exposure to electromagnetic waves. This insidious dimension of technological harassment fully aligns with the arsenal of modern psychotronic weapons.
Psychotronics, initially presented as a branch of parapsychology aimed at scientifically studying unexplained phenomena,4 quickly transformed into a highly sensitive military research field. It encompasses all technologies capable of influencing human behavior through various means: electromagnetic waves, sound frequencies, neurological and biochemical manipulations. An invisible but formidably effective arsenal that today constitutes the core of what we call unconventional warfare.
It should be noted, however, that the boundary between psychotronic technologies and parapsychological research is not always hermetic, particularly in the military context. The CIA’s Star Gate project is a perfect illustration: this remote viewing program demonstrates how presumed parapsychological capabilities can be exploited for military intelligence purposes.5 This occasional porosity should not, however, mask the fundamental distinction between proven psychotronic technologies and parapsychological phenomena.
Moreover, it is crucial to distinguish between mind influence and mind control. This distinction, far from being semantic, reveals the subtlety of the mechanisms at work. Declassified documents on parapsychology in intelligence services show that this research has always oscillated between these two poles, progressively favoring more subtle and harder-to-detect influence techniques—intersubjectivity and propaganda being among them.6
One of the most perverse aspects of some of these technologies lies in the very nature of the (invisible) tortures they inflict—a paradox skillfully orchestrated by those who develop them. The effects on victims are systematically relegated to the realm of parapsychology—this classification is obviously not coincidental.
Indeed, how can one scientifically prove invisible attacks that leave no immediate physical trace yet methodically destroy not only the psyche but much more…?—that's the real issue at stake. By cataloging these phenomena as ”paranormal” falling under “parapsychology,” the system ensures a double victory: on one hand, victims’ testimonies are automatically discredited, and on the other hand, any serious investigation is nipped in the bud.
Moreover, as highlighted in a declassified report on parapsychology in intelligence services: “Parapsychological data, almost by definition, are elusive and unexplained. Add a history replete with proven frauds and many people instantly reject the subject, saying, in effect, ‘I would not believe this stuff even if it were true’.”7 This observation sheds light on the methodological trap in which victims are confined.
This paradox reaches its peak when one knows that the American Defense Intelligence Agency and Russian secret services have devoted decades of research to these technologies—while victims are labeled as confabulators or psychiatrically disturbed. A situation strangely reminiscent of the fate of electrosensitive people: their suffering is denied even though the impact of electromagnetic waves on living organisms has been documented for decades.
Before psychotronic weapons reached their current level of sophistication and were deployed on a large scale, psychological torture underwent a methodical evolution in a military and strategic context. First tested on specific targets (military personnel, diplomats, strategic figures), then gradually extended to broader populations, probably as part of social control programs, this evolution follows an implacable logic.
The origins of psychotronic research dates back to the 19th century, when discoveries in physics, particularly in electromagnetism, inspired new theories about mental capabilities.
French physiologist Charles Richet (1850-1935) paved the way by conducting the first scientific experiments on mental phenomena—telepathy was no longer just a mysterious phenomenon but became a subject of scientific study.
In 1888, German physicist Heinrich Hertz’s (1857-1894) discoveries on electronic resonance inspired American engineer and inventor Edwin Houston (1847-1914), who drew a bold parallel with thought transmission.8 According to Houston, the active brain emits “thought waves” that can influence other brains, similar to radio waves. This theory emerged within the context of technological advances of the time, particularly in long-distance communication.
Convinced of the reality of telepathic phenomena, Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev (1857-1927), Russian neurologist and father of objective psychology, developed the electromagnetic hypothesis that would serve as the foundation for subsequent investigations.
In 1920, Russian biophysicist Petr Petrovich Lazarev (1878-1942) formulated a revolutionary hypothesis by suggesting that “we must, thus, consider the possibility of catching in space a thought in a shape of an electromagnetic wave.”9 This race for mental control underwent a major evolution with the pioneering work of Leonid Vasiliev (1891-1966), parapsychologist and physiologist, which was published in 1962 in Experiments in Mental Suggestion.10 Vasiliev had already demonstrated the possibility of influencing human behavior at a distance through electromagnetic means, paving the way for decades of military research on mind control—his experiments on thought transmission and remote mental influence foreshadowed the sophisticated technologies that would later be developed for social control purposes.
This progression in mind control research continued notably on the American side starting in 1949, with the CIA launching Project MK-Ultra in 1950,11 followed by Project Bluebird, renamed Artichoke in 1951,12 aimed at developing behavioral control techniques. From 1963, the CIA formalized psychological no-touch torture techniques in the KUBARK manual,13 merging sensory disorientation and self-inflicted pain.14 Scientific interest in these no-touch techniques was so significant that in 2006, the Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas (CSHRA) and the Center for Mind and Brain (CMB) at the University of California Davis organized the first seminar on the neurobiology of psychological torture, demonstrating the disturbing evolution of these practices that escape conventional definitions of mistreatment.15
These no-touch torture methods echo increasingly sophisticated psychotronic technologies,16 as evidenced by Operation Crystal Ball—using mind control to take control of global judicial and political systems by 2000. Although formal proof of this program remains difficult to establish, it follows in the continuity of mind control programs developed by the CIA.17
According to the United Nations definition (1987, Convention Against Torture, Article 1.1):18 “Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. […]” This official UN definition of torture, while recognizing the mental dimension of torture, remains insufficient in face of contemporary challenges. It does not account for situations where entire populations are unknowingly subjected to experiments or deliberate exposures, as in the case of extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic waves.19 These waves, particularly in their non-thermal component, can cause insidious damage that only manifests in the long term, thus escaping traditional criteria for identifying torture. Indeed, how can one legally qualify suffering whose source is unknown to the victims and whose clinical effects may take years to manifest? This grey zone is precisely what developers of psychotronic technologies exploit.
In 2006, in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta,20 General Boris Ratnikov,21 former high-ranking official of Russian security services (FAPSI), helped lift the veil on decades of secret research. He revealed the existence of weapons capable of influencing human psyche remotely, causing hallucinations and manipulating mental processes. According to him, these technologies can “break a person's will” without leaving physical traces. These revelations are part of a long history of mind control research, conducted simultaneously by several world powers.
Thus, the transformation of psychotronics perfectly illustrates how a legitimate scientific discipline can be diverted for military purposes. This evolution deserves particular attention as it reveals the subtle mechanisms through which scientific research can be instrumentalized.
The website info.psychotronics.info (last accessed January 21, 2025 [archive]) is emblematic of this transformation. At first glance, it presents itself as an academic resource on psychotronics, but a thorough analysis reveals the troubling coexistence between scientific research and military applications.
This duality is not accidental: it reflects the very history of the term “psychotronics” and its evolution across different countries. During the first conference on psychotronics in 1973, Zdenek Rejdák (1934-2004), a Czechoslovak scientist from the Soviet bloc, presented an initially scientific vision.22 His presentation Psychotronics reveals new possibilities for cybernetics established visionary parallels between the human brain and cybernetic systems.23 He notably described the brain as an information processing system of unmatched complexity, composed of “1000 times seven billion = seven trillion semiconductor elements in operation and an additional seven trillion in reserve.”24 This analysis of the neuron as an ”integrated modular element” comparable to 1000 transistors or semiconductor diodes eerily foreshadows future developments in artificial intelligence and mind control technologies.
This legitimate scientific vision paradoxically provided the perfect conceptual framework for the development of psychotronic weapons. Indeed, understanding the brain as an electromagnetic system responding to specific signals paved the way for technological manipulation possibilities. Research on biocommunication and biophysical effects, initially intended to understand unexplained psychic phenomena, was gradually diverted toward covert military applications.
This transformation occurred subtly, exploiting the inherent duality of the term “psychotronics.” Introduced in 1967 by Rejdák to replace the term “parapsychology” in a scientific context,25 the term quickly acquired a second meaning specifically denoting “the use of machines that send out waves that carry psychic warfare messages and can also be used to cause various types of physical incapacitation and illnesses.”26 This semantic ambiguity is not insignificant: it allows military programs to be concealed under the guise of academic research, while discrediting victims by associating their testimonies with paranormal phenomena.
It is important to note that while parapsychology has had a rigorous scientific framework since 1937, notably with the creation of the Journal of Parapsychology and the European Journal of Parapsychology,27 the effects of psychotronic weapons have little in common with the phenomena studied in this field. This misleading classification precisely aims to submerge these very real military technologies within a controversial field of study. As noted by the Parapsychological Association,28 the difficulty in studying parapsychological phenomena lies in their elusive nature—parapsychology being defined as the study of certain unusual events associated with human behavior, primarily extrasensory perception and psychokinesis. Critics accuse it of promoting mysticism and occultism—a perception that psychotronic weapons developers deliberately exploit to discredit their victims, by submerging very real military technologies within a controversial field of study.
As early as 1970, American political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski (1928-2017) introduced a visionary concept—the “technetronic” society (a neologism combining “technology” and “electronic”). In his work Between Two Ages,29 he describes a profound societal transformation where technology and electronics shape society culturally, psychologically, socially, and economically. This prescient vision is not limited to one country—it announces the emergence of a global control system where scientific and technical knowledge far exceeds the framework of production to directly affect all aspects of human life.30 A society where continuous surveillance and population control become the norm—31 a reality we live in today.
This technetronic society rests on a fundamental pillar: the university. As Brzezinski emphasizes, “In the technetronic society the university becomes an intensely involved ‘think tank,’ the source of much sustained political planning and social innovation.”32 A prescient observation that reveals how academic institutions become laboratories for a new form of social control—more subtle, more pervasive. Intersubjectivity—this collective construction of reality—is now shaped in lecture halls and laboratories, where the boundary between research and manipulation becomes increasingly blurred.
Echoing Rejdák’s thinking 30 years earlier, Brzezinski heralds the advent of augmented humans when he writes that “the adaptation of science to humane ends and a growing concern with the quality of life become both possible and increasingly a moral imperative for a large number of citizens, especially the young.” This vision is accompanied by “both the growing capacity for the instant calculation of the most complex interactions and the increasing availability of biochemical means of human control”33—tools that increase the potential scope of direction consciously chosen by elites.
Moreover, DARPA’s Avatar project, initiated in 2012, illustrates the disturbing evolution of these technologies.34 Under the guise of research on consciousness transfer in virtual environments, this program paves the way for potential new forms of mind control. The military implications and risks of use for previously discussed no-touch torture raise major ethical questions, all the more concerning given that the history of programs like MK-Ultra has demonstrated how official ethical considerations can easily be circumvented.
Coincidence or cynical nod? The new Stargate project announced by Trump—a $500 billion investment in AI—35bears the same name as the CIA's secret mind control program from the 1970s. While the two projects may seem unrelated, a common thread connects them: the fusion between human brain and artificial intelligence. As previously detailed, scientist Rejdák presented a prophetic vision: the brain as a perfect cybernetic machine—the possibility of building computers capable of creation and possessing a degree of intuition, a description that strangely foreshadowed today's artificial neural networks.36
In the upcoming installments of this series, we will explore the complete arsenal of this unconventional warfare—from ELF waves to consciousness transfer, including next-generation psychotronic technologies—revealing how the invisible has become the ultimate weapon of a global control system whose sophistication exceeds the understanding of even the most imaginative science fiction writers.
Kindly note: By default, when you subscribe, you receive papers in French in your mailbox. If an English translation exists, the link will be provided at the top of the French paper.
Dialogue in French with Grok: Lena Delaine (2025), Psychotronique : des armes invisibles qui hackent nos cerveaux.
As evidence of the danger, Apple's assistant Siri—which originates from the CALO project (Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes), a $500 million research program conducted by SRI International (Stanford Research Institute) under DARPA funding. This project perfectly illustrates how mental influence and surveillance technologies have subtly integrated into our daily lives: a cognitive assistant born from a U.S. military research agency-funded program became, after its acquisition by Apple in 2010, a personal assistant used by millions of people, continuously collecting behavioral and biometric data from its users. Learn more: Artificial intelligence: CALO (archive), 75 Years of Innovation: CALO (Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes) (archive), SRI International is Awarded DARPA Contract to Develop New Cognitive Computing Software (2003 [archive]).
The Trésor de la Langue Française is one of France’s most authoritative dictionaries as the dictionary of the Académie française, comparable to the Oxford English Dictionary in its scholarly importance and comprehensiveness. Original quote: “Poursuite incessante qui fait subir des désagréments physiques.”
The Soviets preferred to use the term biocommunication and « Other Soviet terms which are equivalent to the term parapsychology include psychophysiology, psychotronics, psychoenergetics, and biophysical effects. »—read Part I, Extrasensory perception of the analysis prepared in 1975 by the U.S. Army Medical Intelligence and Information, Office of the Surgeon General, Soviet and Czechoslovakian Parapsychology Research, following the first conference on parapsychology research held in Prague in 1973. For an equivalence of North American and Soviet terms, see the diagram on page 3 “Comparison of US and Soviet Parapsychology Terms.”
The original Star Gate project, launched in 1972 by the CIA and then taken over by the DIA until 1995, officially aimed to explore paranormal phenomena such as remote viewing for intelligence gathering. But beyond this stated objective, the program pursued deeper research into human brain capabilities and ways to exploit them. A DIA document reveals three major axes: “Operations” for intelligence collection, “Research and Development” on brain capabilities, and “Foreign Assessment” of psychotronic technologies potentially threatening to national security. To learn more, read the CIA report published in 1995: An evaluation of the remote viewing program: research and operational applications. For additional information, a detailed analysis by John Greenwald along with official documents (totaling 89,901 pages!): The Stargate Collection – CIA Program on Remote Viewing (2020).
Let us cite a highly relevant document on mental influence used in military psychology strategies, published on July 29, 1957, by the French Armed Forces Staff (5th Division) under the aegis of the Ministry of National Defense and Armed Forces: “Provisional Instruction on the Use of Psychological Weapons” [Original French quote: Instruction provisoire sur l’emploi de l’arme psychologique]. I quote from section 33 “Analysis of Means, 1) Management and execution bodies. This analysis aims to understand foreign official, para-official, or private organizations responsible for the political and technical conduct of psychological warfare. 2) Means of communication with the masses: Material means: press, radio, television, cinema, posters, leaflets, graffiti, rumors and whispered propaganda, speeches, etc.; Means of influence: infiltration and control, compromise, intoxication, ‘brainwashing,‘ etc.; Active means: strikes, boycotts and demonstrations, sabotage and terrorism, letters and dissemination of symbols, etc.; New scientific psychological techniques.”—available online (archive) [Original French quote: “Analyse des moyens, 1) Organes de direction et d'exécution. Cette analyse a pour objet la connaissance des organismes étrangers officiels, para-officiels ou privés chargés de la conduite politique et technique de la guerre psychologique. 2) Moyens de communication avec les masses : Moyens matériels : presse, radio, télévision, cinéma, affiches, tracts, graffiti, rumeurs et propagandes chuchotées, discours, etc.) ; Moyens d'influence : infiltration et noyautage, compromissions, intoxication, ‘lavage de cerveau”, etc. ; Moyens actifs : grève, boycottage et manifestations, sabotages et terrorisme, lettres et diffusions de symboles, etc. ; Techniques psychologiques scientifiques nouvelles.”] An NATO symposium would be organized precisely on this subject, military psychology, in Paris from July 27 to 29, 1960.
Kress, Kenneth A. 1999. “Parapsychology in Intelligence: A personal review and conclusions,” in Journal of Scientific Exploration (13/1): 70—available online.
Alvarado, Carlos S. 2015. “Telepathic Emissions: Edwin J. Houston on ’Cerebral Radiation’,” in Journal of Scientific Exploration (29/3): 467–490—Available online. See particularly: 475–76.
See following note, 2002 edition page 8.
The original 1962 Russian version Eksperimental’nye Issledovaniia Myslennogo Vnusheniia (trans.: Mysterious phenomena of the human psyche) was translated into English in 1963—2002 reprint available online.
Read the declassified CIA document. Also read this well-documented article on the National Security Archive website, CIA Behavior Control Experiments Focus of New Scholarly Collection (archive).
To learn more about no-touch torture: Welsh, Cheryl. 2008. CIA ‘no touch’ torture makes sense out of mind control allegations—available online (archive). On page 7 of the previously cited document: “The CIA’s psychological paradigm for ‘no touch’ torture fused two new methods, ‘sensory disorientation’ and ’self-inflicted pain,’ whose combination, in theory, would cause victims to feel responsible for their own suffering and thus capitulate more readily to their torturers.”
The Neurobiology of Psychological Torture (archive): “Psychological torture (henceforth PT) is a set of practices that are used worldwide to inflict pain or suffering without resorting to direct physical violence. PT includes the use of sleep deprivation, sensory disorientation, forced self-induced pain, solitary confinement, mock execution, severe humiliation, mind-altering drugs and threats of violence—as well as the exploitation of personal or cultural phobias.”
PDF of presentations available on the seminar page, Workshop on the Neurobiology of Psychological Torture, held on September 30, 2006.
Ibid. 4: “‘No touch’ torture techniques sound strangely similar to mind control allegations. A comparison of ‘no touch’ torture to mind control allegations raised the possibility that mind control allegations could be based on the well researched psychological theory for ‘no touch’ torture. Torture victims exhibit symptoms similar to psychotic processes and organic disorders and experts say this is not mental illness but an outcome of the psychological component of torture. […] As torture victims are not mentally ill, mind control victims would not be mentally ill but rather have undergone and are undergoing a traumatic situation comparable to torture, such as the alleged illegal targeting with government mind control weapons.”
Detailed in Part II to follow.
From the interview in Russian language, translated into English.
Learn more about Boris Ratnikov.
Full quote (pp: 377–378): “Cyberneticians say that man at present is the most perfect cybernetic machine, in terms of his capacity to receive, store, process and evaluate information. In practice this means the following: Suitable techniques must be developed that will enable us to utilize for conscious activity the maximum of the brain’s latent capacity or to consciously and purposefully combine at the right time our conscious activity with unconscious activity, somewhat in the same way as additional high-capacity power plants are connected to the power network during periods of peak load. […] This must necessarily lead us to the study of practices that could become a bridge connecting the conscious and the unconscious. […] Training in intuitive cognition must become as obvious in the future as training in routine scientific methods such as, for example, statistics, etc. […] Even though the use of computers with large-capacity memories offers itself as a solution, it is still man who creatively builds the computers and programs them. […] Theoretical cyberneticians are proposing at present the construction of computers that would create and would possess at least a degree of intuition. […] Psycbotronics has a great opportunity to provide such essential knowledge about these processes, and thereby to help cybernetics in solving one of the most complicated tasks, that of teaching computers to create. […] Yet we believe that psychotronics is able already now to offer cybernetics fruitful models.”
Full quote (p. 375): “Let us imagine the neuron with its intricate structure as an integrated modular element that contains, besides a resistor and capacitor, 1000 transistors or, say, 1000 semiconductor diodes. The train then has a working army of 1000 times seven billion = seven trillion semiconductor elements in operation, and another seven trillion in reserve. If we investigate the functioning of the brain from the viewpoint of information capacity, then we find the following: The brain has about 14 billion nerve cells. If only 10 billion are able to receive information at any one time, and the transmission capacity of a nerve fiber is 14 bits per second, then this means that the brain is able to receive 140 billion bits of information per second thus the memory capacity of the brain seems to be a million times greater than the computer memory that stores information.”
Redják, Zdenék. 1974. “La Psychotronique: état présent des connaissances,” in Impact: science et société (XXIV/4): 303–307—available online.
Quote from page 3 of a previously cited document, Soviet and Czechoslovakian Parapsychology Research: “Czechoslovakian parapsychologists have begun using the term ‘psychotronics’ in reference to all aspects of their paranormal phenomena research.”
More information on the Journal of Parapsychology and the European journal of parapsychology.
Why is parapsychology so controversial? (2011, updated 2021—last accessed January 25, 2024).
Brzezinski, Zbigniew. 1970. Between two ages. America’s role in the technotronic era. New York: Tne Viking Press—Available online.
Ibid. 10: “The post-industrial society is becoming a ‘technetronic’ society: a society that is shaped culturally, psychologically, socially, and economically by the impact of technology and electronics—particularly in the area of computers and communications. The industrial process is no longer the principal determinant of social change, altering the mores, the social structure, and the values of society. In the industrial society technical knowledge was applied primarily to one specific end: the acceleration and improvement of production techniques. Social consequences were a later by-product of this paramount concern. In the technetronic society scientific and technical knowledge, in addition to enhancing production capabilities, quickly spills over to affect almost all aspects of life directly. Accordingly, both the growing capacity for the instant calculation of the most complex interactions and the increasing availability of biochemical means of human control augment the potential scope of consciously chosen direction, and thereby also the pressures to direct, to choose, and to change.”
Ibid. 97: ”More directly linked to the impact of technology, it involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled and directed society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite whose claim to political power would rest on allegedly superior scientific know-how. Unhindered by the restraints of traditional liberal values, this elite would not hesitate to achieve its political ends by using the latest modern techniques for influencing public behavior and keeping society under close surveillance and control. Under such circumstances, the scientific and technological momentum of the country would not be reversed but would actually feed on the situation it exploits.”
Ibid. 11.
Ibid. 10 (full quote): “In the technetronic society scientific and technical knowledge, in addition to enhancing production capabilities, quickly spills over to affect almost all aspects of life directly. Accordingly, both the growing capacity for the instant calculation of the most complex interactions and the increasing availability of biochemical means of human control augment the potential scope of consciously chosen direction, and thereby also the pressures to direct, to choose, and to change.”
Biochemical means refer to all techniques that can influence biological and chemical processes of the human body, particularly at the brain level. This includes: psychotropic substances, neurological modifications, hormonal manipulations, alterations of cerebral processes
A long-kept secret project, OpenAI Stargate, the supercomputer that will propel AI to the stars: everything you need to know (May 5, 2025), officially announced both by OpenAI on X (June 21, 2025) and by newly elected President Donald Trump (last accessed January 22, 2025).