In the remote wilderness of Alaska lies HAARP, a scientific research facility which has attracted more than its fair share of mystery and controversy. Ever since its establishment in 1993 the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, or HAARP, has drawn questions.
Despite its stated purpose of studying the upper atmosphere, HAARP has become a magnet for conspiracy theories, ranging from weather manipulation and causing natural disasters to mind control. While those in power usually dismiss such theories, HAARP stands out because it has been the focus of international investigations, including those led by the European Parliament.
Why do some believe something momentous is hidden at the facility? Is there any truth to the claims surrounding HAARP?
Science Experiment or Super Weapon?
The High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program can be found amidst the rugged terrain of Gakona, Alaska. Not exactly well-hidden, its distinctive array of antennas, spread across a vast expanse, emits powerful beams of high-frequency radio waves into the ionosphere, a region of the Earth’s upper atmosphere.
Officially HAARP’s mandate is to examine the ionosphere and explore its behavior under the influence of these radio waves. By studying the ionosphere, HAARP’s scientists hope to advance our understanding of space weather phenomena, radio propagation, and communication systems.
The facility’s capabilities are impressive. HAARP can generate extremely high-power radio frequency energy and focus it on specific regions of the ionosphere, allowing researchers to simulate and investigate various atmospheric conditions. This unique ability has led to numerous scientific discoveries and technological advancements, particularly in the fields of ionospheric physics and radio communications.
HAARP’s funding comes from three sources: the US Armed Forces (specifically the Air Force and the Navy), The University of Fairbanks Alaska, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). These sponsors, plus the facility’s remote location and the secrecy surrounding some of its operations have fueled speculation and conspiracy theories.
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While the scientific community maintains that HAARP serves purely research-oriented objectives, skeptics question its true intentions, sparking a contentious debate over the facility’s actual capabilities and its potential impact on the world around us.
The idea that HAARP has been used by the US government for clandestine military applications has been a popular one for almost three decades. The conspiracy theories seem to have begun in 1995 when Elisabeth Rehn, a Finnish Member of the European Parliament tabled a motion regarding “the use of military resources for environmental strategies.” This led some to believe she was referring to HAARP.
In 1996 an American scientist and climate activist called Rosalie Bertell began warning people that HAARP had been deployed as a military weapon. Around this time another conspiracy theorist, Nick Begich Jr (son of former US Representative Nick Begich and brother of former US Senator Mark Begich and retired Alaska state senator Tom Begich) wrote Angels Don’t Play This HAARP.
In it, he claimed HAARP could be used to cause earthquakes as well as turn the atmosphere into a giant magnifying glass. More recently he has claimed that HAARP is being used for mind control.
Bertell and Begich’s claims caught the attention of Magda Aevolet, a Belgian MEP. She teamed up with Rehn and produced a report that stated that HAARP’s potential military use was a global concern and that the European Parliament needed to step in and examine its legal, ethical, and ecological implications.
The two also called for an international independent body to regulate HAARP’s use and research. The report wasn’t exactly well-researched, as the only people interviewed during its creation were Bertell and Egich.
This opened the floodgates for increasingly outlandish conspiracy theories. A Russian military journal spread the idea that HAARP would “trigger a cascade of electrons that could flip Earth’s magnetic poles”.
Jesse Ventua, a former Governor of Minnesota and documentary maker, suggested the government could be using the technology to manipulate the weather and hit people with mind-controlling radio waves. The claims got ever more outlandish as time went by.
Even some scientists got in on the action. Physicist Bernard Eastlund believed that HAARP utilized technology based on his patents. According to him, it could be used not just to control the weather but could even take down satellites.
Over the years multiple disasters have been blamed on HAARP. Everything from massive thunderstorms to major power outages and even the downing of Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (a favorite among conspiracy theorists) are supposedly the work of this facility.
Some even believe Gulf War Syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome are caused by it. Most recently the tragic 2023 earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, which claimed tens of thousands of lives, were said by some to be caused by HAARP.
Debunking the Theories
So, is HAARP up to no good? You may be unsurprised to hear that the actual experts don’t think so. Umran Inan, a Stanford University professor recently explained to Popular Science that the theories were bogus.
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He told the magazine: “There’s absolutely nothing we can do to disturb the Earth’s [weather] systems. Even though the power HAARP radiates is very large, it’s minuscule compared with the power of a lightning flash—and there are 50 to 100 lightning flashes every second. HAARP’s intensity is very small.”
Others have explained that HAARP attracts so many conspiracy theories because it’s so hard to explain what it actually does. For anyone without a science background, the whole thing comes across as deeply mysterious. The fact that HAARP is less forthcoming with its research than other government-funded facilities adds to this air of mystery.
In 2015 the US government announced it would hold a tour of HAARP in an attempt to appear more open. That year the University of Alaska Fairbanks also took over sole control of the project, separating it from the US military entirely. It was hoped this would help put an end to the conspiracy theories and allow HAARP to be more forthcoming with its research.
As with so many other conspiracy theories, in the end, the claims surrounding HAARP lack any credible evidence. Claims of weather manipulation, mind control, and seismic activity induction remain unsubstantiated by scientific research. Scientists (who have the education to understand HAARP) emphasize that HAARP’s primary focus is on ionospheric studies and radio communication advancements, with no basis for the extreme allegations.
The conspiracy theorists have also, tellingly, failed to come up with a plausible motive for all this. The technology to control the weather already exists, it’s called cloud seeding and has existed since the Vietnam War.
In fact, it’s still in use today. We also know what causes the Gulf War and Chronic Fatigue syndromes, two other things often blamed on the facility, and suffice it to say their causes have nothing to do with HAARP’s research.
Moreover, HAARP’s operations are subject to scrutiny and oversight by the scientific community, making it unlikely that clandestine activities could occur undetected. While HAARP may inspire fascination, separating fact from fiction is crucial in understanding its true purpose and dispelling the myths that have proliferated around it.
Top Image: The vast antenna arrays at HAARP. Source: Michael Kleiman / Public Domain.
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