A proven enlightened counter-measure

26/10/2008 11:45:00 AM GMT

The Department of Defense is obligated to examine realistic methods for ending war and terrorism.

By Dr. David Leffler

* Attention: Secretary Gates

"Enlightened counter-measures we take today will bolster the internal strength of vulnerable states so they will not harbor violent networks seeking to launch the next attack," DoD Secretary Gates said during a speech at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Gates is right. However, rather than start from scratch during these dangerous times a proven scientifically validated counter-measure is needed.

Despite its advanced technology and valiant efforts, the DoD and its allies struggle to eliminate violent extremism. Violent extremism is a human problem requiring human solutions. The underlying cause of extremist social violence is accumulated social stress.

Therefore, to eliminate such social problems, the DoD and its allies need to reduce collective societal stress.

Extensive scientific research indicates that the best way to reduce collective societal stress, eliminate extremism and thereby snuff out war and terrorism, is to adopt an ancient strategy. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi has revived the ancient Vedic technology of Invincible Defense Technology (IDT) in a non-religious manner. It has been quietly and successfully used by members of many faiths to eliminate conflict in the past.

Prevention Wings of the Military consisting of 3% of the military could ideally achieve this goal. These special units would be trained in the Transcendental Meditation (TM) and TM-Sidhi programs. They would practice them in large groups, twice a day in the vulnerable states.

Extensive research shows that the group size needed to reduce social stress depends on population size. It needs to be at least the square root of 1% of the population.

To calculate this number, multiply the population size by 0.01, and then take the square root of this number. For instance, the U.S. population is approximately 305 million. 305,200,000 x 0.01 = 3,052,000. The square root of 3,052,000 is approximately 1,747, so a group of at least 1,747 IDT experts is needed. The group size needed globally is currently about 8,126. Studies show that when these thresholds are crossed, the "Maharishi Effect" (ME) takes place.

Crime goes down, quality of life indices go up, war and terrorism abate. For instance, an ME intervention was studied in the U.S. capital in 1993. Predictions were lodged in advance with government leaders and newspapers. An independent Project Review Board approved the research protocol. Crime fell 23 percent below the predicted level when the group size reached its maximum. Temperature, weekend effects, or previous trends in the data failed to account for changes. Social Indicators Research published the results.

Over 50 studies have shown that IDT works. The causal mechanism for IDT is not completely understood. However, a Journal of Social Behavior and Personality study offers a proposed explanation of causality of IDT in biological terms. Research conducted on the powerful neurotransmitter serotonin shows that it produces feelings of contentment, happiness and even euphoria. Low levels of serotonin, according to research, correlate with violence, aggression, and poor emotional moods.

The IDT study showed that higher numbers of IDT experts correlated with other community members having a marked increase in serotonin production. These results were statistically significant and followed the attendance figures. This offers a plausible neurophysiologic mechanism to explain reduced hostility and aggression in society at large.

The ME has also been documented world-wide in a study published in the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation using data provided by the Rand Corporation. When large assemblies of IDT experts exceeded the ME threshold for the world during the years 1983-1985, deaths due to terrorism globally decreased 72%, international conflict decreased 33%, and violence was reduced in other nations without intrusion by other governments.

The military in Mozambique used IDT to end its civil war in the 1990s. Today, Holland, Bolivia, Colombia, Trinidad, and Peru have enough practitioners of the TM-Sidhi program to create the ME. The U.S. is close to achieving the requisite number of IDT experts through the Invincible America Assembly in Fairfield, IA. And India is working on a global project. These are all civilian groups. The pilot project in Mozambique dissolved after the UN broke up the military as part of the civil war treaty.

High school students, who will graduate and move on, make up the bulk of the practitioners in Colombia. Limited economic opportunities in Iowa have hindered the development of the U.S. group. Long term civilian groups may not be reliable.

The DoD is responsible for protecting the U.S., and is obligated to thoroughly examine realistic, scientifically-proven methods for ending war and terrorism.

Since the DoD is funded and its personnel are paid to perform their duties, it is not subject to the fluctuations of donors, jobs, graduations, and optional activities. Military members are paid to protect the nation. Ultimately, it is the DoD's duty to build a Prevention Wing of the Military.

A paradigm shift is taking place in the U.S. military. According to the 2007 strategy announced by the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard: "We believe that preventing wars is as important as winning wars." This is the biggest revision of naval strategy in 25 years, focusing more on humanitarian missions and improving international cooperation. From the Army side, COL Brian Rees authored an IDT research paper entitled "The Applications of Strategic Stress Management [SSM] in Winning the Peace."

The U.S. Army War College paper concluded "SSM has demonstrated efficacy when addressing the nefarious activities of criminals and terrorists, as well as the legal violence of combatants." COL Rees has given presentations to the Proteus Management Group at the Army War College and Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S. about how IDT could prevent the collective stress responsible for war and terrorism.

-- Dr. David Leffler, an eight-year US Air Force veteran, is now the Executive Director at the Center for Advanced Military Science (CAMS), www.StrongMilitary.org, an organization that advocates prevention-oriented technologies in the military.