On March 7, 2023, Amy Catherine Matelic — a licensed clinical social worker — filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General. The request was assigned tracking number DODOIG-2023-000607. Status: Rejected. What the request named, and what the rejection said, are both significant.
What Was Specifically Requested
The FOIA request named specific programme categories and requested specific documentation:
- “Directed Energy Bio-Behavioral Research (DEBR) programs and contracts” — named explicitly as an existing programme category within CIA, FBI, DoD
- “Remote Neural Monitoring weapons/technologies” — specific technology named
- Non-lethal weapons using “non-ionizing or ionizing radiation weaponry”
- DEW used for “behavior control” and “behavior modification”
- DEW testing on “human subjects” either “knowingly or unknowingly”
- The frequencies (Hz) used in each DEW programme
- Informed consent documentation including Federal Wide Assurance from OHRP, IRB compliance documentation, and Secretary of Defense waivers of consent
- Locations/fields of operations where DEW are being used on US civilians
The DoD IG Response
The response came March 9, 2023 — two days after submission. Signed by Eric R. Powers, Government Information Specialist, FOIA Privacy and Civil Liberties Office. The response stated: “Given our mission and responsibilities, we are not aware of a nexus between the information you are requesting and the DoD OIG. With this action, we are administratively closing your case in this office.”
Why the Rejection is Significant
The DoD Inspector General’s mandate includes investigating fraud, waste, abuse, and improper use of DoD resources — including improper human experimentation. If a programme is testing directed energy weapons on US civilians without consent, that is precisely what the IG is supposed to investigate. The response “we are not aware of a nexus” means either: (1) these programmes are genuinely not DoD OIG’s jurisdiction because they are not DoD programmes; (2) the IG is aware but chose to administratively close rather than investigate; or (3) the programmes exist under a classification or compartmentalisation that keeps them outside the IG’s normal visibility.
The requester also simultaneously filed the identical request to: the Air Force, CIA, DoD Office of the Secretary of Defence, US Marine Corps, and three additional agencies — eight requests in parallel. The MuckRock multi-request (case 119187) documents this. The pattern is consistent with someone who believes they have been targeted and is trying to identify which agency is responsible.
Source: MuckRock FOIA DODOIG-2023-000607. muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/freedom-of-information-act-request-direct-energy-weapons-department-of-defense-office-of-the-inspector-general-142308/. DoD OIG response March 9, 2023.