What is ‘Ghost Murmur’? The secret CIA heartbeat tracker used to find downed American pilot in Iran

The CIA used a secret new technology called ‘Ghost Murmur’ to locate and rescue the downed US airman in Iran, as per a new report by New York Post. Reportedly, the technology works by idenitifiying the long-range quantum magnetometry to detect the electromagnetic fingerprint of a human heartbeat while pairing the data with AI software to isolate the signature.

What is Ghost Murmur?

Reportedly, Ghost Murmur was developed by Skunk Works, , the secretive advanced development division of Lockheed Martin. The technology was first used by The CIA during the mission to find the missing weapons systems officer, known publicly as 'Dude 44 Bravo'. After his F-15 jet was shot down last week, the officer survived in Sourther Iran for two days while Iranian troophy looked for him with a bounty on his head.

The report notes that the relatively barren landscape in Iran made for “an ideal first operational use” of Ghost Murmur due to low electromagnetic interference and a lack of competing human signatures. Moreover, the thermal contrast between a living body and the cold desert floor at night gave operators a secondary confirmation layer.

“The name is deliberate. ‘Murmur’ is a clinical term for a heart rhythm. ‘Ghost’ refers to finding someone who, for all practical purposes, has disappeared,” the report quoted a source as saying

Reportedly, the heartbeat signal is normally so weak that it can only be measured in a hospital setting with sensors pressed against the chest. However, advances in the field known as quantum magnetometry reportedly have made it possible to detect these signals at ‘dramatically greater distances’.

“The capability is not omniscient. It works best in remote, low-clutter environments and requires significant processing time,” the report quoted a source as saying

How did Ghost Murmur help find the downed pilot?

Following the downing of his F-15 jet, the wounded airman was hiding in a mountain crevice. Although he had activated a Boeing-made Combat Survivor Evader Locator beacon, search and rescue teams remained uncertain of his precise location until Ghost Murmur detected him.

The report notes that a pivotal moment came in the mission when the airman briefly stepped out of the crevice to send the beacon signal that allowed Ghost Murmur to pick up his signature.

“. Some of these capabilities fall under covert action authorities and because covert means exactly that I'm not going to be able to tell you everything that you want to know.” Ratcliffe said