Neuroscience, National Security, and the Reverse Dual-Use Dilemma - Neurotechnology in National Security and Defense - page 167

10 Neuroscience, National

Security, and the Reverse
Dual-Use Dilemma *

Gary E. Marchant and Lyn M. Gaudet

CONTENTS
Introduction ............................................................................................................ 167
The Reverse Dual-Use Problem ............................................................................. 168
Military Neuroscience ............................................................................................ 169
The Reverse Dual-Use Problem Applied to Military Neuroscience ...................... 170
A Proposed Solution .............................................................................................. 173
References .............................................................................................................. 176

INTRODUCTION
The “dual-use” problem is a well-known, yet unresolved, problem vexing much of
the cutting-edge research and development in science and technology. Simply stated,
the dual-use problem is the risk that scientific and technological innovations created
for legitimate civilian or defensive military purposes will be diverted for offensive
or malicious uses. For example, research on virulent flu virus strains intended to
develop preventive or therapeutic measures could provide knowledge that could be
misused to spread the virus for terrorist purposes (Hale et al. 2012).
We address here the opposite problem, for which we have coined the term “reverse
dual-use” problem (Marchant and Gulley 2010). It occurs when technologies devel-
oped for legitimate military objectives spread to the civilian sector and have largely
unanticipated disruptive or detrimental effects. This is a type of rebound effect, where
a technology developed for one beneficial purpose has an unintended detrimental sec-
ondary effect.
Although much less recognized than the more familiar dual-use problem, the
reverse dual-use problem is becoming an increasingly prevalent and serious problem.
Many technologies developed by the military for legitimate national security objec-
tives, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) (or “drones”), various surveillance
technologies, and cyber-attack capabilities, are likely to have destabilizing or dis-
ruptive consequences if allowed to proliferate unrestricted in the civilian sector.

* This chapter is an expanded and updated version of Marchant and Gulley (2010), adapted with permission
from AJOB Neuroscience 1(2):20 -22.

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