Feed: Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Feed Link: https://www.engadget.com/
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Title: NOAA warns staff a militia group thinks its radars are 'weather
weapons'

Date: Wed, 07 May 2025 20:22:36 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/science/noaa-warns-s...

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has warned the National
Weather Service of possible attacks from an armed conspiracy group targeting
Doppler radar stations, according to a report from CNN. The group, Veterans
on Patrol, is going after government radars because it believes they're being
used as "weather weapons."

CNN learned of the possible attacks through NOAA emails warning NWS staff
that Veterans on Patrol was planning to conduct "penetration drills on NEXRAD
sites to identify weaknesses," with the ultimate goal of destroying NEXRAD.
Despite its cooler-than-average name, the NWS uses NEXRAD or "Next Generation
Weather Radar" for a fairly mundane purpose: detecting precipitation in the
atmosphere. NEXRAD plays a vital role in locating thunderstorms and tornados,
making it easier to evacuate vulnerable communities before disaster strikes.

It's not clear what Veterans on Patrol sees as threatening about radar ΓÇö
the group was previously focused on white nationalism and Pizzagate-style
government conspiracies ΓÇö but concern over the effects of being exposed to
radio waves is a common bugbear for conspiracy-types. For example, groups set
fire to cell towers early in the COVID-19 pandemic because of a belief that
5G somehow spread the virus. Viewing radar as a weapon could originate from
some similar misconceptions.

NWS staff have been advised to use the buddy system when working at remote
radar sites and report anything suspicious to the authorities. Even without
the threat of physical violence, though, the NWS and NOAA at large have
already been devastated in 2025. Hundreds of weather forecasters were fired
because of the cuts made by the Trump administration, just one of many
attempts to dismantle government services.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/science/noaa-warns-s...
radars-are-weather-weapons-202236953.html?src=rss

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