NOAA warns employees a militia group thinks its radars are 'climate weapons'

The Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has warned the Nationwide Climate Service of doable assaults from an armed conspiracy group focusing on Doppler radar stations, in keeping with a report from CNN. The group, Veterans on Patrol, goes after authorities radars as a result of it believes they’re getting used as “climate weapons.”

CNN discovered of the doable assaults by way of NOAA emails warning NWS employees that Veterans on Patrol was planning to conduct “penetration drills on NEXRAD websites to establish weaknesses,” with the last word aim of destroying NEXRAD. Regardless of its cooler-than-average title, the NWS makes use of NEXRAD or “Subsequent Era Climate Radar” for a reasonably mundane function: detecting precipitation within the ambiance. NEXRAD performs an important position in finding thunderstorms and tornados, making it simpler to evacuate weak communities earlier than catastrophe strikes.

It is not clear what Veterans on Patrol sees as threatening about radar — the group was beforehand centered on white nationalism and Pizzagate-style authorities conspiracies — however concern over the consequences of being uncovered to radio waves is a standard bugbear for conspiracy-types. For instance, teams set fire to cell towers early within the COVID-19 pandemic due to a perception that 5G by some means unfold the virus. Viewing radar as a weapon might originate from some related misconceptions.

NWS employees have been suggested to make use of the buddy system when working at distant radar websites and report something suspicious to the authorities. Even with out the specter of bodily violence, although, the NWS and NOAA at giant have already been devastated in 2025. Hundreds of weather forecasters have been fired due to the cuts made by the Trump administration, simply one in every of many makes an attempt to dismantle government services.

This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/noaa-warns-staff-a-militia-group-thinks-its-radars-are-weather-weapons-202236953.html?src=rss

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