Agence France Presse October 30, 2002
US military has no Fentanyl but has non-lethal means of crowd control
BY JEAN-MICHEL STOULLIG
The US military does not have Fentanyl or any other incapacitating gas similar to the one used in the Moscow hostage drama Saturday, but it is constantly modernizing its non-lethal arsenal of crowd control, defense officials and experts said.
Russia broke four days of silence Wednesday when Health Minister Yuri Shevchenko revealed that the mystery gas that claimed the lives of 119 captives was based on Fentanyl, a fast-acting opiate derivative normally used for treating chronic pain and as a veterinary anaesthetic, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
"We don't have it. We don't have any kind of incapacitating agent, and have no intention of developing them," Pentagon spokesman Major Tim Blair told AFP. However, he did not exclude the possibility of privately-funded research.
"I'm not aware of any active programs right now," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.com, a research organization specializing on military and intelligence matters.
"I'm sure there will be active programs by the end year, in universities and private industries" he added.
The Pentagon has a Joint Non Lethal Weapons Directorate under the US Marine Corps that pursues development of a new generation of non-lethal weapons
"Incapacitating gases, like anaesthetic or weakening gases, are not in the US inventory. They are not consistent with the focus of the Department of Defense," said Army Lieutenant Colonel Rivers Johnson, another Pentagon spokesman.
"We have means within the family of non-lethal weapons, we have riot control agents like pepper spray," he added.
Colonel Rivers stressed that the United States banned hallucinogenic chemicals such as BZ or QNB (quinuclidinyl benzilate) in April 1997 because they had been prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention.
According to the Directorate, the US military is counting on its non-lethal arsenal to deal with a terrorist attack or for crowd control.
Among the fielded non-lethal capabilities are the "Taser", an immobilizing device that propels an electrical charge from a distance of even meters (20 feet).
The Directorate also expects several devices to be fielded within one year.
One of them is a "clear a space," or flash-bang, device, which will be used to evacuate a room or a ship's hold by distracting or disorientating the enemy.
The "active denial system" and the "paintball rounds" are expected to be fielded in more than one year.
The first heats the top layer of the skin, creating a painful repel effect and the second bursts on impact with a serious sting, releasing a suffocating substance into an individuals eyes, nose and lungs.
"The dilemma the Department if Defense has with non-lethal weapons or less than lethal weapons is that there is a narrow band between being lethal and ineffective" Pike said.
"If you look at the use of Fentanyl, hundreds died and several hundreds walked away" he said.
"It wouldn't be a particularly useful thing to have, say in the Battle of Baghdad .It would be just enough to make people outraged but not enough to control the crowd," he said.
"I'm sure US Special Operations command and people dealing with hostage rescues are going to be very interested by the Moscow case and US law enforcement agencies will need to have a very convincing answer as to why they don't have those capabilities next time there is a hostage situation in the US," Pike pointed out.
© Copyright 2002 Agence France Presse
