Bright future for non-lethal weapons

Caroline Lauer

The legacy of world domination by Western powers continues with further advances in military technologies. Far from resting on their deadly laurels, Western governments are still at the forefront of progress in the sector - and non-lethal weapons seem to be the next generation receiving research and development (R&D) funds. From sticky foam to malodorants and high-powered microwave weapons, increasingly sophisticated weapons will bring into line those who intend to challenge Western hegemony and market forces.
The end of the Cold War has brought about a new world order, in which the UShas assigned itself the role of the world's "policeman". The increase in media cov-erage of so-called peacemaking, peacekeeping, counter-insurgency and anti-ter-rorism has created a situation where the death of civilians has become less accept-able in the eyes of the public. The US has recently focused on the development ofnon-lethal weapons with a view to subduing their opponents while retaining pub-lic approval. This, in turn, helps to legitimise their self-appointed role as therighter of wrongs in the world. In their constant search for legitimacy, the US has come to call non-lethal weapons "weaponsof mass protection".
It is extremely difficult to know howmuch money is spent for the research and development of non-lethal weapons in theUS because it receives funding from the highly secretive "black" budget, estimatedto be between US$30bn to US$50bn a year. Officially, the US had investedUS$37m in non-lethal research up to 1996.

Non-lethal malodorants

Talking about malodorant weapons tends to trigger smiles, but the effects of suchweapons are less laughable. They can create severe nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.Thirty years ago, the US tried to develop an ethnically targeting variety of thesechemical weapons that would only affect the Vietnamese. Developing "ethnicweapons" is fundamentally racist. A new US malodorant programme began in1998. The Pentagon provided the Monell Chemical Senses Centre in Philadelphiawith US$195,000 in 2002 to carry out research on malodorant technology. Thereare also internal research programmes within the army--the total investment inthese is unknown.

Chemical and biological...

Malodorance is not the only area for research on ethnically targeted weapons. A DNA technology programme concernedwith ethnic population targeting is also said to be under way. This is clearly aninfringement of international law as chemical and biological weapons are prohibitedby the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stock-piling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and Their Destruction.
Although biological agents are used every day in scientific research, it is pro-hibited to use them for hostile purposes. It does not matter whether they arelethal, the simple fact that they are designed to be used in a hostile waymakes them illegal.
The same principle applies to calma-tive agents, also called sleep agents, which were allegedly used by the Sovietsin Afghanistan. Their effects range from sleep to overpowering hallucinations.Rapidly expanding sticky foam is another chemical agent used as a de-mobiliser.Surprisingly, chemical agents are prohibited in warfare because of the hostile natureof war, but can be used against civilians in domestic law enforcement under the nameof "riot control agent".

Acoustic...

Acoustic weapons may cause a range of physiological effects, from imbalance, tospatial disorientation, to death. In 1990, loud music forced Noriega out of the Vat-ican Embassy in Panama. In Northern Ireland, British forces use the Curdler, adevice using high-intensity sound, for riot control. Acoustic weapons are "indis-criminate" weapons, and so civilians may also be injured when attacks are made onthe military. Indiscriminate weapons are illegal according to international law.
Infrasound weapons are powerful ultralow frequency sonic weapons thatcan penetrate buildings and vehicles. They are directional and tunable. Theycan cause disorientation and affect the performance of simple sensory motortasks. In experiments, animals stopped breathing when hit by infrasoundweapons. They can also cause diarrhoea.
Accoustic weapons can cause permanent deafness. In third world countries where illiteracy rates are high, deafness would deprive people of their main means of understanding.

Energy weapons...

Over the past 10 years, the US has been developing tactical laser weapons, whichare designed to disrupt optical and electro-optical devices such as binoculars, gunner's sights and infra-red sensors. Tactical laser weapons are anti-personnel as they do not destroy electro-optical devices but they attack the eyes of the operator. They are described as non-lethal weapons because they are supposed to blind the person temporarily. However, the effect of tactical laser weapons depends on the distance between the weapon and its target. If the target is too close they can cause irreversible blindness. While artificial limbs can be provided,there is currently no replacement for eyes.
    What is more, while the blinding effect is supposed to be temporary, thisdoes not mean that the subject will stay alive. The laser blast stops opponents run-ning away. Being temporarily paralysed, the subject becomes a more vulnerabletarget for lethal weapons. In these cases non-lethal weapons do not come as areplacement for lethal weapons, but rather double up and increase the chanceof killing.
    For these reasons tactical weapons havebeen criticised as being politically tricky and not surprisingly their funding hasdisappeared into the "black" budget. The US is expected to have sophisticated tac-tical laser weapons by 2015, but they are not the only state to make research in thistechnology; Britain, China, Germany, Israel and France are also alleged to haveresearch programmes.
    Another type of energy weapon is thehigh-powered microwave (HPM). This weapon uses broad beams of microwaveradiation to incapacitate electronics in computers, communications networks andpower plants. At low settings, they could be used to break up a crowd by inflictingburns. HPM weapons can prove lethal as people are effectively cooked, with tem-peratures that can reach 130 degrees F.
    An electromagnetic pulse weapon isalso being developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Thismay cause loss of bodily function control and disrupt short-term memory.

...or informational

Informational weapons have attracted much attention because of their enormouspotential. There is a high propaganda value in cloning a person's voice or broad-casting a synthesised message; for instance, to give fake orders to an opponent.
    Computer viruses can also prove effective weapons to crack opponents' computers.
    International civilian movements such as the anti-globalisation or peace move-ments could see their freedom of expression and thought impinged on as the fab-ric of their network has been largely woven through the web. What is more,there are concerns that the use of informational weapons might lower the thresholdof war and accelerate escalation. For instance, if a country brought down theNew York Stock Exchange with a computer virus, the US government may con-sider it as an act of war and retaliate with lethal weapons.
    Although the "non-lethal" label makes it good for political spin doctoring in ourmedia-oriented world, the weapons that hide behind the fac,ade can inflict perma-nent injury and prove lethal. Currently they are largely still being developed inmilitary R&D departments, but they could soon be manufactured and sold togovernments to repress social unrest.
    There is no doubt that the non-lethalweapons market will become lucrative over the next few years and soon begin totake centre stage at international events such as DSEi.

Caroline Lauer is a Peace News print and online news editor.
Part Two: you can read the second installment of this report, focusing on the private companies involved in the development and trade in non-lethal weapons, from 1 October at http://www.peacenews.info/