The export classification of recently-devised forms of non-lethal weaponry can be a tricky business, and nowhere more so than in the case of Long Range Acoustical Devices (“LRAD”). This interesting article in Der Spiegel Online states that the Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) is considering adding LRADs to the Commerce Control List. What is apparently motivating the review of the LRAD is concerns that the Chinese, who have a number of LRADs manufactured by American Technology Corporation, may use them on human rights demonstrators during the Beijing Olympics.

The LRAD, according to the Der Spiegel article, was developed in the wake of the attack on the USS Cole in order to enforce exclusion zones around naval vessels. That would certainly seem to put the equipment in Category XI of the USML. American Technology Corporation argues otherwise:

But the American Technology Corp. (ATC) says the device is designed to “influence behavior and determine intent.” Robert Putnam, in charge of media and investor relations with the San Diego, California-based company, says it is “a directed sounds communications system, not a weapon.”

And the company’s website describes the ability of LRAD to communicate over long distances “with authority.”

But the device can also direct over long distances ear-splitting sounds that are painful and potentially dangerous to hearing. So it seems somewhat dicey to say that the device is just a long-distance communication device.

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