Pentagon Clears DHS to Test Heat-Ray Weapon for Possible Border Use

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo last month clearing DHS to test the Active Denial System, a military "heat ray" that fires an invisible beam causing a burning sensation at distances beyond half a mile, for potential use in border operations, CNN reported Oct. 21, 2026. The Pentagon is loaning DHS one system for seven months; DHS, not Pentagon personnel, is solely responsible for its use. Current and former CBP officials said the agency has discussed using it for crowd dispersal at the border, though it has never been deployed there.

Officials raised concerns about legality, sovereignty if the beam struck people still in Mexico, and physical harm, including the risk that migrants could be pushed toward rivers and drown. In 2018, then-DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen rejected a similar proposal over concern about "treating immigrants and citizens like enemy combatants." Some Border Patrol agents questioned whether the tool is needed given low crossing numbers.

No deployment has occurred. A CBP spokesperson said the agency is "continually evaluating new technologies."