[[Psychotronic Weapons]] are a theoretical class of electromagnetic weapons, described in [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] science journals, designed to influence or degrade human behavior and cognition. The term emerged from the Soviet nomenclature around [[ESP]] and [[Psychokinesis]], which was rewritten to sound technical and sever ties with the occult past of [[Parapsychology]].[^1] These weapons were described as involving "the generation of high-penetrating emission of non-biological origin." U.S. intelligence analysts were initially baffled by the concept, but later understood that these weapons were part of a broader Soviet effort to explore the psycho-physiological effects of microwave emissions, stemming from captured [[Ahnenerbe]] research.[^1] In the Soviet laboratories, if [[ESP]] and long-distance telepathic communications were proven to be scientific fact, they would be classified as augmented perception and cognition in humans. Electromagnetic weapons, which are designed to degrade or destroy perception and cognition in humans, would be useful countermeasures. The [[Moscow Signal]], a microwave beam aimed at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, was suspected by the U.S. to be an early form of such a weapon.[^1] --- [^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.