Neurotechnology and Operational Medicine - Neurotechnology in National Security and Defense - page 65

6 Neurotechnology and

Operational Medicine *

Carey D. Balaban

CONTENTS
Overview .................................................................................................................. 65
Neurotechnology and Formal Representations of Situation Awareness .................. 66
Neurotechnology and Formal Operational Representations of Situation
Awareness ................................................................................................................ 66
Hybrid Modeling and Simulation Approaches to Enhancing
Situation Awareness ...........................................................................................70
Neurotechnology Platform for Situation Awareness: Implicit
Human- Machine Interfaces ..................................................................................... 71
Some Operational Applications for Defense and Intelligence ................................. 71
References ................................................................................................................ 74

OVERVIEW
Operational medicine is the projection of societal (civilian and military), medical,
and public health resources into the realms of homeland security medical operations,
disaster relief, and humanitarian assistance. The effective management of these
assets requires a system with the resilience and flexibility to respond to a changing
threat landscape, particularly within the confines of an event. An event scenario
evolves as a function of actions (and reactions) of response personnel, victims, and
bystanders, each acting from different frames of reference that determine situation
awareness. This communication presents elements of a neurotechnology approach to
formalizing situation awareness for different roles in operational medicine contexts.
Operational medicine in the defense and intelligence domains is governed by the
same principles as any military, intelligence, or counter-terrorist activity because it
is essential to achieve situation awareness in the face of unpredictable natural events
and/or deliberate actions of foes. A first principle is to know your foes. In opera-
tional medicine, one's foe is, first and foremost, the developing scenario, including its
potential direct consequences and its potential collateral consequences. Awareness is
achieved by engaging procedures that identify the evolving natural and/or man-made
scenario, yet work prudently and safely to minimize its impact. These procedures
are embedded in a process of situation assessment that yields a sufficiently clear

* This chapter is adapted with permission from Balaban, C.D. 2011. Neurotechnology and operational
medicine. Synesis: A Journal of Science, Technology, Ethics, and Policy 2(1):T:45 -T:54.

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