While the world looked for bigger bombs, a small team of U.S. researchers was building something stranger: a guide to shutting people down-mentally, physically, and psychologically-without killing them.
The Quarterly Technical Progress Report, a document spanning late 1970 through early 1972, details the CIA-backed Behavioral Control Support Project: a methodical review of how to subdue individuals, mobs, or armed adversaries using light, chemicals, electricity, fear, sound, and deception-with minimal force and maximum control.
It wasn’t just research.
It was the beginnings of a non-lethal weapons doctrine.
🔦 Flashblindness, Shock Nets, and Electrified Foam
Researchers evaluated everything from flashblindness simulators to electrified nets, assessing each one’s speed, range, risk of lethality, and ability to neutralize without backlash.
Some were bizarre.
Some were outright dangerous.
"It might not be possible to extrapolate simulation results to levels useful operationally… risk of permanent eye damage would not be clarified by the tests."
- Flashblindness system evaluation
Others, like the electrified net, sounded promising-until real-world physics got in the way.
"Ineffectiveness against clothed subjects… high variability in skin resistance… shorting itself out."
- Electrified restraint system report
🧬 Mapping the Human Body’s Weak Points
The team categorized incapacitation by effect type:
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Psychological (panic, fear, disorientation)
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Sensory (blinding, stunning, sonic overload)
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Chemical (irritants, sedatives, hallucinogens)
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Electrical (stun, paralysis)
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Physical (nets, glue, bolas, projectiles)
Each tool was graded by delivery system, speed, duration, covertness, and risk of failure or countermeasures.
This wasn’t science fiction. It was a manual in progress.
🚗 Real-World Scenarios: Hijackers, Riots, and High-Speed Pursuits
The document breaks down real-life applications, using coded scenarios:
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Surrounded car: Deploy gas from rooftop vents, electrify the chassis, or trigger car-top foam bursts.
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Lone agent under threat: Hidden mace sprays, shock batons, dart pens, adhesive bombs.
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Snatch operation: Net traps, beekeepers’ suits, taffy pellets, martial arts.
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Crowd control: Robots with strobe lights, synchronized sound waves, drug darts, "marshmallow barrages."
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Pursuit evasion: Instant color-change panels, rolling roadblocks, exploding paint grenades.
Operators were advised to tailor effects for "minimum force and plausible deniability."
🔍 Behavioral Control, by the Numbers
By mid-1971, the team had reviewed over 160 documents-many classified. Their literature review focused on:
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CIA, military, and foreign reports
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Riot control strategies
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Police manuals
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Science fiction and comic books (seriously)
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Patents for future technologies
The idea was to gather and grade every known (and unknown) method for human control.
⚠️ "New" Techniques in the Pipeline
Despite exhaustive review, researchers admitted that few new ideas emerged. But two stood out-both involving chemical agents delivered through the skin, using substances that rapidly penetrate and deliver psychoactive payloads.
"The control agent could be mixed with a skin penetrant and delivered via projectile or aerosol."
- Experimental concept proposal
Animal testing was discussed. Field deployment was next.
🕳️ When Non-Lethal Becomes Total Control
In the end, this wasn’t just about safety. It was about power without blood.
The Behavioral Control Support Project wasn’t trying to save lives.
It was trying to engineer obedience-on any battlefield, in any crowd, under any condition.
Whether with shock, smoke, or psychological sleight of hand, the goal remained constant:
Control the subject-without leaving a mark.
