[War] US: Rayguns and Rights

[pentaj2 at Scranton.edu]

"Rayguns and Rights"
13 March 2013
President John Williams
USA
===========================
<OOC: This whole post is based off of this: 
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-
19225797.htm>

<Washington: 1300 EDT, the White House>

   It had become a custom of the President's to spend Wednesdays 
focused on national security and defense matters - they were a concern 
24/7/365, of course, but Wednesdays were a focused time for deep 
thinking, reading, and studying.

   So it was that he was in the President's Dining Room, where he had 
breakfast with Kay and their Secret Service details every morning, at 
1300 Wednesday afternoon, having lunch with SECDEF Abbot, SECSTATE 
Hill, and Admiral Giambastiani. Nick Manfredi, Lucas Maxwell, and 
Larry Harris also tended to appear at these lunches, but this 
Wednesday found them otherwise occupied.

   After the initial glasses of water were poured, POTUS held up a 
sheet of paper. "Got some interesting mail today. This one's from an 
OIF vet, served with 2nd battalion 172nd Infantry Brigade before it 
was reflagged as the 2nd of the 25th ID. He pointed out something.

"How many of you guys have heard of the Active Denial System?" 
Williams asked.

Everybody raised their hands, which got Ambassador Hill a curious 
eyebrow. "Where'd you run into it?" POTUS asked.

"I remember seeing it in PopSci a few years back. I was at the 
barber's, bored, PopSci was available," Hill replied with a shrug.

"Ah. That said, everybody knows what it is...Now, curiously, it's been 
through a *few* development iterations, basically been ready for 
production since 2010...But it's never been fielded. Writer asks a 
good question. Why hasn't it?" POTUS asked.

"Human rights issues, sir," Admiral Giambastiani replied, spreading 
something on his sandwich. "Too much fear that it's like a torture 
device."

"for -10 years-?" Williams asked.

"Yes sir. I mean, think about it. This is a pain ray, basically."

That got a nod. "Hmm. A stupid idea, but maybe it'll work. You think 
we could find credible independent observers willing to observe a 
modicum of security rules, bring them in to observe tests to clear 
that up?" Williams asked.

"Maybe. Who're you thinking?" Hill asked.

"Amnesty, HRW, AMA, ICRC, off the top of my head," Williams noted.

"May want to invite American Psychological Association and American 
Psychiatric Association, too," Abbot interjected.

A nod from POTUS. "Have them name observers to get cleared, go over 
the data, and report back. Do you think it'd fly?"

"It might. No guarantees, but it might," Hill noted.

"Sir, do we really want to give them a veto over the weapons we use, 
though?" Giambastiani asked.

"No. Not a veto. But will they get to make recommendations? Why not?" 
Williams replied.

That got nods.

"Okay then, moving on."
---
Actions:
1. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the AMA, the American 
Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and 
the ICRC are all to be invited to select qualified persons to be 
cleared to review the research and testing documentation on the Active 
Denial System (ADS), and to observe tests of the system. or security 
reasons, the US Government would prefer that American citizens or NATO 
Member State citizens be the ones selected - others can be picked, 
there's no veto, but their selection would mean it would take longer 
to grant the security clearances necessary. (The idea is that the 
cleared people actually get to read the documentation and stuff, and 
write what they will about it (within certain more-or-less obvious 
ground rules, such as "keep in mind that what you write, the guys 
shooting at us can read"), but that most people will only see what 
they write, which the military will go over solely to make sure that, 
say, it doesn't say how to defeat t
he device (or how to build em yourself). Otherwise, they're covered by 
a fairly standard NDA.)
2. We'll listen to what they have to say, but as recommendations only -
 they don't get a veto.