Active Denial System: Someone didn't think this through

The US Air Force has developed a new non-lethal weapon, the Active Denial System. It's designed to work as a "goodbye" weapon, a device that motivates unruly crowds to disperse by firing millimeter-wave radiation at them. There'd certainly be good reason to leave - the device is said to induce unbearable agony. Wired has an excellent article on ADS, leading off with this scenario:

"The crowd is getting ugly. Soldiers roll up in a Hummer. Suddenly, the whole right half of your body is screaming in agony. You feel like you've been dipped in molten lava. You almost faint from shock and pain, but instead you stumble backwards -- and then start running. To your surprise, everyone else is running too. In a few seconds, the street is completely empty."

That's the ideal response to ADS use, the one that the military is counting on. But what if it goes down like this, instead?

""The crowd is getting ugly. Soldiers roll up in a Hummer. Suddenly, the whole right half of your body is screaming in agony. You feel like you've been dipped in molten lava. You almost faint from shock and pain, but instead you stumble backwards -- and then start running. To your surprise, everyone else is running too. The man in front of you trips on something, and falls. You trip over him. You try to get up, but the crowd is so dense, you can't rise. People trample your legs, arms - a boot hits your face, but you scarcely notice, because that horrible molten-lava feeling is still there. You see others on the ground as well - men, women, children, screaming in pain. You think the man you tripped on is dead, his skull crushed.

In a few seconds, the street is choked with screaming, agonized, desperate people. You still feel as if you're burning. Is this hell?"

No, this is what's going to happen when you fire agony-rays on dense crowds of people with no idea what's going on. The Active Denial System will create total, instant panic. This thing has a 500-meter range - you can use it to instantly turn an entire mob into something with no capacity to reason, to think of anything other than escape. That's what it's designed for. And that is why, if it's ever used for "riot control", history may never forgive us.

Lest you believe I'm just hand-waving here - we know, for an absolute fact, that mass panic can kill. It happened in August of 2005, when a crowd of Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad became convinced a bomb was about to go off. There was no bomb, but nearly a thousand died in the panic.

I'm not saying that there may not be legitimate uses for this weapon. But the thing that scares the crap out of me is that the primary, intended use of ADS would almost assuredly result in disaster. I doubt that even rubber bullets or tear gas could create this level of panic. Nor can they create the sheer level of torment people will suffer when they're trapped in the ADS field by that panic. Someone didn't think this through all the way, and I sincerely hope someone does before we see the ADS deployed.