A very different kind of chemical warfare

Can you handle the truth? Rumors have been floating around for years, but the Pentagon has finally fessed up. The U.S. military seriously considered, then abandoned, a project for a "gay bomb"—a chemical weapon packed with hormones that would turn enemy soldiers into lovers, not fighters. Gives new meaning to the Enola Gay. It might ...

Can you handle the truth? Rumors have been floating around for years, but the Pentagon has finally fessed up. The U.S. military seriously considered, then abandoned, a project for a "gay bomb"—a chemical weapon packed with hormones that would turn enemy soldiers into lovers, not fighters. Gives new meaning to the Enola Gay. It might sound like some wacky 1950s Cold War experiment, but no, this was only 13 years ago, one year after Bill Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was implemented. 

Can you handle the truth? Rumors have been floating around for years, but the Pentagon has finally fessed up. The U.S. military seriously considered, then abandoned, a project for a "gay bomb"—a chemical weapon packed with hormones that would turn enemy soldiers into lovers, not fighters. Gives new meaning to the Enola Gay. It might sound like some wacky 1950s Cold War experiment, but no, this was only 13 years ago, one year after Bill Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was implemented. 

The Sunshine Project, an Austin, Texas and Hamburg, Germany-based NGO that works on biological weapons issues, used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain documents from the Air Force's Wright Lab in Dayton, Ohio, which confirmed that in 1994, the lab asked for $7.5 million to fund the development of such unconventional weapons. This much has been known since at least 2005. But new details have come to light. According to Wright Lab's proposal,

One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior."

That idea was only one of many "creative" endeavors that the lab proposed. Another idea was a bomb that would make enemies particularly flatulent, so they could be detected from far away.

In fairness to the U.S. military, the proposal did ultimately fail to pass muster. But just imagine what could have been: Members of al Qaeda, ready to do battle, instead fall sweaty and panting into the arms of their irresistible fellow mujahedin for some sweet, sweet lovin'.  

(Hat tip: KPIX)

Christine Y. Chen is a senior editor at Foreign Policy.

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