Because the Defense Department has neglected non-lethal weapons development, troops in the field often have little choice but to use deadly force when confronting a potential adversary, according to an April 21 report to Congress by the Government Accountability Office. The DoD kicked off its Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program in 1996 with the goal of testing, researching, training, developing policy and doctrine for the weapons’ use. But according to GAO, an outlay of $386 million since 1997 has yielded four weapons now in use in the field. And because their development was a low priority until 2007, the program operates with little guidance and oversight, and "limited measurement of progress and performance," according to the report.
