PROGRAM TO ASSESS THE UTILITY OF NON-LETHAL WEAPONS.

SEC. 1078. PROGRAM TO ASSESS THE UTILITY OF NON-LETHAL WEAPONS.(a) Sense of Congress.—It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Defense should support the research, development, test, and evaluation, procurement, and fielding of effective non-lethal weapons and technologies explicitly designed to, with respect to counterinsurgency operations, reduce military casualties and fatalities, improve military mission accomplishment and operational effectiveness, reduce civilian casualties and fatalities, and minimize undesired damage to property and the environment.(b) Program Required.—(1) Demonstration and assessment.—The Secretary of Defense, acting through the Executive Agent for Non-lethal Weapons and in coordination with the Secretaries of the military departments and the combatant commanders, shall carry out a program to demonstrate and assess the utility and effectiveness of non-lethal weapons to provide escalation of force options in counter-insurgency operations.(2) Non-lethal weapons evaluated.—In evaluating non-lethal weapons under the program under this subsection, the Secretary shall include non-lethal weapons designed for counter-personnel and counter-materiel missions.(c) Report.—(1) Report required.—Not later than October 1, 2011, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the role and utility of non-lethal weapons and technologies in counterinsurgency operations.(2) Elements.—The report under paragraph (1) shall include the following:(A) A description of the results of any demonstrations and assessments of non-lethal weapons conducted during fiscal year 2011.(B) A description of the Secretary’s plans for any demonstrations and assessments of non-lethal weapons to be conducted during fiscal years 2012 and 2013.(C) A description of the extent to which non-lethal weapons doctrine, training, and employment include the use of strategic communications strategies to enable the effective employment of non-lethal weapons.(D) A description of the input of the military departments in developing concepts of operations and tactics, techniques, and procedures for incorporating non-lethal weapons into the current escalation of force procedures of each department.(E) A description of the extent to which non-lethal weapons and technologies are integrated into the standard equipment and training of military units.