Book Description

This thesis examines the utility of non-lethal weapons for mitigating risks in demanding tactical scenarios, specifically crowd control. Noncombatant evacuation operations (NEOs) are conducted when a host government becomes unstable. A NEO force's failure to manage the potential for local violence against the mission can lead to negative consequences for U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Therefore, the NEO force must control any escalation in the threat level because mission success could be jeopardized. Along with restrictive rules of engagement these considerations discourage the use of deadly force. Thus, non-lethal weapons have a role in NEOs. One of the challenges in NEOs is crowd control. Crowds have the potential for violence. Left unchecked, they can endanger the NEO mission. This thesis finds that a non- lethal capability is essential for responding to these threats. The thesis' methodology produces a short list of suitable non-lethal crowd control weapons for deployment in NEOs. Finally, the arguments for non-lethality in NEOs can be extended to other operations other than war, thus increasing the utility of non- lethal weapons in the U.S. military inventory.