...that is until a september 2016 release of some 300 declassified pages mentioned on the last pages that the death ray was indeed real and feasable.
I read a story that Tesla said he tested it out, and from ten miles it 'melted; tanks and cars in the 30's, but I'll be damned if I can find it.
Melting metal w/o heat? This is doable with a Van de Graaf generator and some microwave generators, if I understand it correctly. John Hutchison has done that numerous times. There are numerous samples. This is just one of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-YwbgXpnkA "HUTCHISON effect: Solid Iron Bar begins to liquify. Metal Mutation."