<p>The Pentagon’s Active Denial System shoots energy beam that causes ‘sensation of intense heat on surface of skin’</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/pete-hegseth">Pete Hegseth</a>, the US secretary of defense, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/21/politics/heat-ray-weapon-dhs-pentagon">reportedly</a> signed a memo last month permitting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to test a non-lethal “heat ray” for potential use at the US southern border.</p><p>The “heat ray”, known as the <a href="https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/defense-tech-papers/44/">Active Denial System</a>, is a military-grade weapon that shoots an energy beam causing “a sensation of intense heat on the surface of the skin”, according to <a href="https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&amp;context=defense-tech-papers">a 2009 National Defense University case study</a> on the weapon.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/22/heat-ray-mexico-border-dhs">Continue reading...</a>