As the United States moves toward possible military conflict with Iran, the White House and the Pentagon have been boasting about an exotic arsenal of directed-energy weapons that could signal a new era of lethality in warfare. The administration’s public talk about the new weapons systems followed the success of U.S. forces on Jan. 3 in penetrating Venezuelan air defenses, neutralizing defenders there and snatching President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. After that decisive operation, officials