Monster in the Wilderness

by C. Zickuhr

The HAARP project being constructed near Gakona, Alaska will
create the largest-of-its-kind ionospheric heater using computer
controlled radio frequency transmitters. HAARP, which stands for
High Frequency Active Auroral Research Project, is a joint effort
of the Air Force and the Navy. HAARP program manager, John
Heckscher, claims that it is a research project with both
military and civilian benefits yet only military experiments can
be found in the documentation for the project. The acronym
implies something to do with the aurora, but none of the project
papers mention that aspect. What sounds like an engineering feat
deserving of public accolade, has remained suspiciously low
profile, almost unknown to most Alaskans as well as the rest of
the country.

Documents acquired from the Office of Naval Research via the
Freedom Of Information Act reveal a more ominous purpose for
HAARP. According to these documents, the U.S. military believes
the former Soviet Union has similar heaters with which they claim
to have achieved higher levels of ionospheric reaction than
possible so far in the "West". Although smaller in size than the
HAARP project, there are many other ground based transmitting
heaters in operation around the world; Tromso, Norway and
Arecibo, Puerto Rico among them. Can these heaters already be
changing the weather, and have they somehow contributed to the
recent climate-based catastrophes in the U.S? Might migratory
species traveling through the "rays" have already experienced
irreversible damage? How many humans have contracted cancers that
might have remained dormant if not "excited" by these
transmissions? When Russia's Zhirinovsky speaks of secret
weapons, is he referring to their version of HAARP?

HAARP first came to my attention in the spring of 1993, when a
neighbor and airline pilot brought me materials on the project.
The FAA had briefed commercial pilots in Alaska on changes needed
to avoid interference from future HAARP transmissions. As a ham
radio operator, my neighbor assumed that I had some knowledge of
the "giant transmitter" and its effect on other communications.
After making inquiries to other hams, a few recalled seeing
announcements for public meetings in Glenallen and Anderson,
Alaska. Several then attended these Draft Environmental Impact
meetings and gathered information.

FAA personnel, pilots, communications engineers and others raised
serious questions during the HAARP Draft Environmental Impact
Statement process. According to official statements, these
questions were all properly addressed in the Final Environmental
Impact Statement (FEIS). Closer examination reveals a different
story. Local FAA engineers, aware of the heavy safety dependency
of airplane communications, voiced strong objections. The
national FAA, however, overrode these objections and gave HAARP
the green light after "assurances" that lower level concerns
would be accommodated. The FEIS admits that all forms of radio
communication are subject to interference, yet completely ignores
the concerns expressed in many of the comments. Individuals,
organizations and agencies that use radio for their day-to-day
livelihood were left with a "let us know and we'll try to
mitigate it" promise. It is important to remember the definition
of mitigation is "to reduce", not "to eliminate". What recourse
does the Alaskan Bush communicator have when their radio
transmissions are rendered useless by HAARP? That is their only
form of communication.

The FEIS and other Department of Defense documents indicate that
interference problems would be too great to allow it to be
located near other military facilities in Alaska. What kind of
monster is it that they can't even locate it near existing
military bases? Even the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA) has reservations about HAARP
transmissions. They would only permit one of the test sites
(Mineral Wells, Texas) to operate and so far have declined to
extend all the requested frequency/power privileges necessary for
the Alaska site. The enormous lobbying power of the military may
overwhelm reason and force the NTIA to go along with the HAARP
request. After all, Gakona is a "virtually uninhabited" area of
the world.

Electromagnetic radiation has drawn increasing interest in the
form of health impact studies and research worldwide. The HAARP
project will generate massive amounts of intentional and some
unintentional radiation. The HAARP environmental impact
statements deny possible biological effects on humans, citing
obsolete IEEE standards that basically say if the radiation isn't
causing you to feel heat, it does not harm you. The preponderance
of current studies indicate there can by promotion of cancer
growth, disorientation, and other negative physical effects from
low level, non-heating electromagnetic radiation. Why have our
government agencies given their affirmation to something so
clearly controversial?

After searching for answers to HAARP questions for the past year
and a half, what has surfaced are very few answers and many more
questions. How dangerous is HAARP (some physicists fear severe
planetary consequences)? Commenting on HAARP in the April, 1994
issue of Physics and Society, C. L. Herzenberg says "...this
technology does present issues that need to be publicly addressed
by the technical community". Can HAARP change the ionosphere and
weather patterns?? Can HAARP disrupt worldwide communications??
Can HAARP damage or destroy wildlife?? Will HAARP radiation
change the migration habits of animals that come near it?? Can
HAARP cause cancer?? Can the ionospheric effects of HAARP be
controlled?? Why has the project been kept low profile and
secretive, by the sponsors and the contractor (an ARCO
subsidiary)?

UPDATE: JUNE 1994 - ARCO sold their subsidiary to E-Systems, the
41st largest U.S. defense contractor noted for their counter
surveillance work. Why have Alaska's public officials avoided
providing serious answers to the public's questions?? Anything
that can generate these questions deserves the MONSTER title and
our serious attention.

Additional pieces to the puzzle that have shown themselves only
serve to heighten speculation that we are not getting clear and
concise answers. There is a connection to the recently installed
Cray supercomputer at UAF and to the Geophysical Institute there.
There is an obvious power requirement that might be met by a
proposed coal power plant at Healy, connected by a proposed power
distribution intertie. Some of the experiments will require
"seeding" the ionosphere with chemicals that could be delivered
by rockets from the Poker Flats rocket range near Fairbanks.
Patents held by the ARCO subsidiary building HAARP describe a
similar ionospheric heater and claim abilities to stop missiles,
change weather, and disrupt global communications. The inventor,
Bernard Eastlund, claims he was hired by ARCO to find a use for
their Alaska North Slope gas deposits; hence, his inventions
described in the patents. Microwave News May/June, 1994 reported
Eastlund said "The HAARP project obviously looks a lot like the
first step toward this."

The Gakona location is interesting as it was once destined to
become an over-the-horizon radar facility. The Cold War ended
before it could be completely built. This left the military with
a remote location with buildings and generating equipment
partially completed, and a choice - either restore it to its
original natural condition or find another use. HAARP
conveniently fits the site. Is the choice of this remote site for
these monster transmitters more a factor of fewer people to
complain? Does it reduce the number of humans exposed to HAARP
transmissions thereby reducing the liability? What about the
wildlife in the area, what exposures will they be subjected to?
One need only remember experiments of another era that generated
nuclear fall-out killing and crippling humans and animals in its
path. It only took forty to fifty years to get the agencies
involved to admit liability.

In order to get an idea of just how large the HAARP transmitters
are, imagine all the ham radio operators in the United States
(there are over 500,000) transmitting at their maximum allowed
power from one giant antenna. That still would not be as powerful
as HAARP's multi-gigawatt (giga = billion) radiation capability.
The average Alaskan ham can communicate across the state with
less power than will be in the unintentional harmonics and
side-lobes radiated by HAARP.

What exactly will HAARP do? According to HAARP project documents
it will "perturb" the ionosphere with extremely powerful beams of
energy. Using polarized, pulsating radio frequency transmissions
to perform experiments which include devising methods to destroy
the communications capabilities of others (presumably an
adversary) while preserving their own communications. Experiments
with mirroring and reflecting abilities of the ionosphere
(abilities we currently depend on for all forms of communication)
will be carried out to see what military purposes may be served
by the resulting changes. An apt analogy that springs to mind is
that of an inquisitive youngster poking a sleeping bear with a
stick, to see what might happen! What will we do once the monster
is unleashed?

The Alaska location was partially picked for its alignment with
the earth's magnetic force lines. Military experiments with the
magnetosphere also appear to be planned. And again the scientists
warn of possible dire consequences, including setting the earth
into some unexpected vibration or oscillation, similar to an axis
wobble. Many scientists such as Richard Williams writing in
Physics and Society in April, 1988 have denounced this kind of
testing as irresponsible and downright dangerous, fearing long
term negative ionospheric effects. Also, like any magnet, the
force lines will react at their opposite pole, near Australia and
New Zealand. Australians are concerned enough to consider sending
a team to Alaska to document and investigate HAARP. Shouldn't
Alaskans be interested too?

A group of NO HAARP activists is seeking to formalize their
opposition by incorporating as a non-profit organization or
affiliating with an existing group. Their prime purposes will be
to promote awareness, file legal actions and other activities
focused specifically on HAARP, something no group is currently
doing. In fact, probably due to the remoteness of the Gakona
location, it has been difficult to get outsiders interested. We
are quite aware that the promoters of HAARP fully realize that
they have the upper organizational hand and the money to outlast
our grassroots opposition. Those of us in NO HAARP are committed
to doing what we can to stop the project before it comes on-line
with full power in 1997. Considering the project has been
underway since the mid-1980's, this will be a difficult task.
Luckily it was not completely funded as of a year ago. There is
hope that legislative alternatives to stop it may exist as well.
John Heckscher was quoted by Microwave News in the May/June, 1994
issue saying that "money for completion of the demonstration
project is in place . . . but the larger facility would require
additional funding from Congress". Unfortunately, this additional
funding is likely to be buried deep in the DOD budget.

What can you do? Of course you can try to "write your congress
person". The Alaska delegation to congress is noted for their
alignment with the military so don't expect too much action from
them. Send contributions for the NO HAARP effort to Jim Roderick,
P.O. Box 916, Homer, AK 99603. You can lobby with the NTIA to
turn down the HAARP frequency/power request. You can make others
aware of the HAARP project and the questions it raises. Contact
Eric Nashlund at 907-8223602 or snail at HCO-1 Box 271 Copper
Center, AK. 99573 Kirtland AFB is the source of information
through FOIA that we have received info on this projrect.

Later Larry