Nonlethal Weapons and Capabilities

Task Force Report
Analysis and policy prescriptions of major foreign policy issues facing the United States, developed through private deliberations among a diverse and distinguished group of experts.

Integrating nonlethal weapons (NLW) more widely into the U.S. Army and Marine Corps could have reduced damage, saved lives, and helped limit the widespread looting and sabotage that occurred after the cessation of major conflict in Iraq. So argues this report of a Council-sponsored independent Task Force led by Dr. Graham T. Allison, director of the Belfer Center for science and international affairs at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, General Paul X. Kelley, USMC (ret.), former commandant of the Marine Corps, and former military officers, business executives, academics, diplomats, and congressional staff. Incorporating NLW capabilities into the equipment, training, and doctrine of the armed services could substantially improve U.S. effectiveness in conflict, postconflict, and homeland defense. The Task Force report concludes that equipping U.S.-trained and -supported local forces in Afghanistan and Iraq with NLW would help reinforce authority and be more acceptable to local populations than conventionally armed troops.

Graham T. Allison

Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Nonlethal weapons have not received the priority they merit at the Pentagon. To expand the role of NLW, the report argues, the secretary of defense should create an office sufficiently funded to serve as the single focal point for all NLW activity. The existing Joint Nonlethal Weapons Directorate has a budget for fiscal year 2004 of $43.4 million—up from an annual $22 million or so for the past seven years—the report urges a sevenfold increase in funding, to $300 million annually, which is still less than $1 of every $1,000 spent on defense. A breakdown of expenses is included in the report.

More on:

Defense Technology

Global

The report also advocates a four-pronged approach to further integrate nonlethal capabilities into the U.S. armed services: expand NLW deployment more widely in the Marine Corps and the Army infantry and ensure that the Navy and the Air Force have such capabilities adapted for their force-protection missions; extend the range of NLW payloads to 100 meters through precision delivery and fusing systems; complete development of the NLW system that can turn back an advancing adversary from hundreds of meters away by heating the skin of an individual without permanent injury; and advance the development of concepts such as the advanced tactical laser—which shows promise for use against equipment—along with the advent of nonlethal payloads that home in on a laser spot.

More on:

Defense Technology

Global

Task Force Members

GRAHAM T. ALLISON

RICHARD L. GARWIN

THEODORE GOLD

JOHN J. HAMRE

RICHARD HEARNEY, USMC (RET.)

JAMES KALLSTROM, USMC (RET.)

PAUL KAMINSKI

PAUL X. KELLEY

DAVID A. KOPLOW

HOWARD J. KRONGARD

THOMAS L. MCNAUGHER

CHRISTOPHER MORRIS

JANET MORRIS

GREGORY S. NEWBOLD, USMC (RET.)

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER JR.

ROBERT F. TURNER

ELIZABETH TURPEN

RODERICK VON LIPSEY, USMC (RET.)

LARRY D. WELCH, USMC (RET.)

MALCOLM H. WIENER

CHARLES WILHELM, USMC (RET.)

Top Stories on CFR

Indonesia

Prabowo Subianto was named the winner of the Indonesian presidential election. But it is unclear which version of Prabowo—the more moderate candidate from the campaign trail or the self-styled strongman—will govern Indonesia.

Russia

The mass casualty theater attack in Moscow was a reminder that affiliates of the Islamic State have reorganized and infiltrated even powerful states.

India

With India's development continuing to gain steam, one of the biggest challenges will be to avoid the mistake that others have made when they failed to recognize their newly acquired global systemic influence and adapt accordingly. Both China and Big Tech show that it is never too early to start managing one's own rise.