Transitioning Brain Research - Neurotechnology in National Security and Defense - page 12

tailoring of instructional material. Such capability could provide more flex-
ible job assignment and more effective employment of available manpower.

• Medical treatment and rehabilitation—Providing more rapid and complete

recovery from injury and enhanced resilience to the stresses and hazards of
military operations (Miller 2008) so as to prevent or ameliorate the human
costs of military service and enhance post-military health.

• Team process performance—By sensing, modeling, and supporting the

dynamic social cognition processes needed to bridge organizational, cul-
tural, and expertise gaps across team members (Fiore et al. 2003), NR can
enhance the productivity of heterogeneous groups.

• System engineering—Including technologies to support shared-initiative

problem solving between humans and machines (Smith and Gevins 2005),
thereby enhancing the information-processing capabilities of both individu-
als and organizations.

The knowledge and tools generated by and from cognitive neuroscience activi-
ties have the potential to fundamentally alter many national security processes.
Optimization of human-system performance capabilities, better employment (and
protection) of available manpower, and reduced operational costs can dramatically
expand the options available to government and military leaders in implement-
ing national security policy. The value of brain-mind research to national security
needs has been recognized among government, military, and science agencies, and
investment in human cultural, cognitive, behavioral, and neural sciences has steadily
emerged as a national budgetary priority (Defense Research and Engineering 2007).
Some of the potential benefits of cognition research (CR) and NR activities are
detailed throughout this chapter. Realization of scientific potential in the practical
world, however, is the result of labor required to fashion new knowledge and technolo-
gies into forms suitable for operational use, with accompanying acceptance and policy
change. Therefore, the goal of this chapter is to explore the requirements necessary
to evaluate and implement brain-mind-related research products in some of the set-
tings important to national security, particularly the Department of Defense (DoD).
Furthermore, because the insights generated by neuroscience promise to change many
current assumptions about both human and machine capabilities, transition will likely
face unique, additional challenges. This chapter introduces some of these challenges
to highlight the discussion and planning needed to anticipate and avoid them.

THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSITION PROCESS
All DoD transition programs are designed to shepherd new products into acquisition
programs, where they are purchased for operational use. Although the science and
technology (S&T) community sponsors research projects through funding support, it
is the acquisition community that handles the major tasks of transition. This expands
the range of people and issues that researchers must accommodate to guide their
work into operational practice. Among other responsibilities, acquisition agencies
ensure that products contain sufficient clarity of purpose (i.e., fit a need and will be
used), reliability (i.e., will perform “as advertised”), and sustainability (i.e., can be