Environmental objections to the PAVE PAWS radar system: a scientific review

As part of our continental defense system, the United States Air Force has operated a radar system, known generally by the label PAVE PAWS, off of Cape Cod, MA since 1978. Some populated areas in the vicinity of the system are subject to a low level of background radiofrequency radiation from the system, and local citizens' groups have expressed concern that this radiofrequency radiation may affect their health. These concerns have been fueled by presentations and letters by Dr. R. A. Albanese, an applied mathematician at the Air Force Research Laboratory, who has proposed standards by which that PAVE PAWS radiofrequency radiation which is incident on populations should be judged. I discuss those standards that are sufficiently well defined to be subject to analysis and show that they are not based on sound quantitative reasoning.