Innovations & technologies

U.S. Special Operators Have a New 'Mind-Reading' Kit

United States Special Operations Command recently showed off a series of innovations designed to help SEALs, Green Berets, and other special operations forces determine if they’re being understood by locals—and if the questions they’re asking are making the subject uncomfortable. The system uses a variety of sensors to monitor a subject’s physiological state, indicating stress and other factors.

DefenseOne reports that the kit was developed by U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and fifteen partners as a “physiological analysis tool.” Despite the moniker, the kit isn’t actually a mind reading kit. Instead it uses radar and other sensors to monitor the subject’s heart rate and body temperature. The kit also analyzes the subject’s voice.

As a result, the kit can be used to quietly determine, for example, if a meeting with locals went well and was understood by the participants, or if it concluded with the locals angry or stressed. The tool would be particularly useful when dealing with people from unfamiliar cultures, especially those that might hide emotions from relative strangers. U.S. troops, trained to operate over a wide area of the globe, may not have the cultural familiarity to “read a room.”