Peace Time: October 31, 1999

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NATO is set to announce its new policy on non-lethal weapons. At the insistence of military commanders, the policy will not require NATO troops to first use non-lethal weapons before resorting to lethal weapons. The military has insisted that there will be cases where non-lethal weapons are not appropriate, and that potential adversaries must not be able to assume that they get "one free bite" by declaring that NATO's first response to an attack will be a non-lethal response. The US has said it is ready to provide "useful guidance" on the subject, since it has done more work on non-lethals than any other NATO member.--Stephen V Cole