Department of Defense
INSTRUCTION
NUMBER 3200.19
May 17, 2012
Incorporating Change 1, September 13, 2017
USD(AT&L)
SUBJECT: Non-Lethal Weapons (NLW) Human Effects Characterization
References: See Enclosure 1
1. PURPOSE. In accordance with the authority in DoD Directive (DoDD) 5134.01 (Reference
(a)), this Instruction:
a. Establishes policy, assigns responsibilities, and provides procedures for a human effects
characterization process in support of the development of NLW, non-lethal technologies, and
NLW systems.
b. Establishes the Human Effects Review Board (HERB) in accordance with DoD
Instruction (DoDI) 5105.18 (Reference (b)) as an independent DoD board to ensure appropriate
scientific processes are used to characterize the human effects of all DoD NLW programs.
c. Establishes the Human Effects Readiness Level (HERL) as a measure of the availability,
sufficiency, and maturity of data and information of the human effects of NLW.
d. Establishes health care capability (HCC) indexes as a basis to determine the risk of
significant injury (RSI) from NLW.
e. Focuses on the human effects on NLW targets. Effects of weapons on operators are
covered in other DoD procedures as required.
2. APPLICABILITY. This Instruction applies to:
a. OSD, the Military Departments, the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
and the Joint Staff, the Combatant Commands, the Office of the Inspector General of the
Department of Defense, the Defense Agencies, the DoD Field Activities, and all other
organizational entities within the DoD (hereinafter referred to collectively as the “DoD
Components”).
