Neuroscience, National Security, and the Reverse Dual-Use Dilemma - Neurotechnology in National Security and Defense - page 168

Perhaps no technology is more prone to the reverse dual-use problem than military
neuroscience. This chapter explores the reverse dual-use problem focusing on
military neuroscience as a case study. Part I explains in greater detail the reverse
dual-use problem and how it differs from the more traditional dual-use problem.
Part II summarizes the field of military neuroscience, at least how it appears from a
nonclassified perspective. Part III then assesses the reverse dual-use problem in the
context of military neuroscience. Finally, Part IV provides preliminary thoughts on
how the reverse dual-use problem might be addressed.
THE REVERSE DUAL-USE PROBLEM
Over the years, many technologies and products developed by military research
and development have valuable subsequent applications in the civilian economy.
Examples include aviation technologies, global positioning system (GPS) surveil-
lance, and the Internet. Yet, as the power of new emerging technologies in fields
such as genomics, synthetic biology, nanotechnology, neuroscience, information and
communication technologies, and robotics surge forward at an unprecedented pace,
the spread of powerful technologies that may have legitimate national security appli-
cations may have consequences that are not beneficial or even benign when spread
to the civilian sector. We refer to this problem as the “reverse dual-use dilemma”
(Marchant and Gulley 2010). While the dual-use problem primarily focuses on the
(mis)use of beneficial, civilian technology for nefarious or military applications
(National Research Council 2004), the reverse dual-use dilemma is concerned with
the disruptive impact of spillover into the civilian sector of technology developed by
the military for legitimate national security purposes.
Two things are different today that are bringing the reverse dual-use problem to
the forefront. First, the immense power and pervasiveness of emerging technologies
such as neuroscience create a much stronger potential for adverse and potentially
catastrophic societal impacts when such civilian spillovers occur. Indeed, there is
likely to be a strong negative correlation between the value and utility of an emerging
technology to the military and its potential disruptive consequences for the civilian
sector. Second, the time lag between military development and civilian application
is shrinking—what would take decades to make its way into the mainstream in the
early part of the century may take only a handful of years to reach general society
today. For example, UAV developed by Honeywell with Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) funding was recently licensed to the Miami-Dade
Country Police almost simultaneously with its military debut (Brown 2008).
In fact, this development of miniature UAVs by various national security agen-
cies (Weiss 2007) is a powerful illustration of the reverse dual-use dilemma. These
micro- or even nanoscale miniaturized UAVs would provide unprecedented capa-
bilities for covert surveillance or stealth assassination of adversaries. From a mili-
tary perspective, such a capability would be enormously attractive, vastly increasing
operational effectiveness and perhaps even reducing net casualties. Yet, once such
devices spill into the civilian sector, how can there be any privacy if tiny, undetect-
able “insects” can covertly enter and videotape any bedroom, boardroom, or other
once-private space? And what if a “fly” buzzing around the president is a robotically