"Nonlethal weapons" might seem a misnomer after Russian security forces killed 118 hostages by pumping an incapacitating gas into a besieged Moscow theater last month. Still, similar weapons, aimed at knocking out people and equipment without killing, could be a valuable tool for the U.S. military, according to a National Academy of Sciences report released yesterday. Research into the area should be stepped up, according to the study, which was commissioned by the Marine Corps and the Navy.

Nonlethal weapons include a broad array of compounds and technologies, from foul-smelling gases and slippery foams to chemicals that spoil fuels and high-powered microwave devices that knock out ships. The panel, chaired by Miriam John, vice president of Sandia National Laboratories' California Division, says such weapons are needed by a modern military increasingly focused on preventing terrorist attacks, enforcing embargoes, and peacekeeping--all while trying to minimize casualties.

Critics say the report comes close to encouraging violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans the stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. The panel acknowledges that some nonlethal weapons fall under the treaty. But Jonathan Tucker, a senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., says the report's discussion of the pact is "confusing at best and sophistry at worst."

--MARTIN ENSERINK

Related sites
The NAS report
U.S. Institute of Peace