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well hello everyone and welcome to the u.s naval academy in annapolis maryland i'm jeff mccrees
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i'm the deputy director of the james stockdale center for ethical leadership and this is another installment in our
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series entitled brain science and effective leadership uh made possible by the generous support of the
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robert mary looker foundation uh today's program is being recorded and will be placed on the stockdale center's
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website so today we're honored to have speak professor james giordano from georgetown
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university whose talk is entitled battleship a battlescape brain
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leading in leadership in preparedness and use of neurocognitive science in military and intelligence operations
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uh after dr giordano's prepare comments he'll entertain questions and comments uh please submit
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them by the chat function of google meets and uh i will acknowledge you after his prepared
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comments and we'd ask that you please uh keep your microphones on mute for the entirety of the
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presentation unless you've been acknowledged uh a few notes about professor giordano's distinguished career
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he's a professor in the department of neurology at georgetown and a professor as well in georgetown's
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department of biochemistry he leads a sub-program in military medical ethics
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of the pellegrino center for clinical bioethics he is fellow of the project on
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biosecurity technology and ethics at the u.s naval war college in newport and is the author of over 300
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publications seven books 20 government white papers on earth technology biosecurity and
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ethics and of uh i've interested many of you on this call he also wore
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the uniform of a u.s navy officer earlier in his career so gee as i turn this over to you i
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might ask you maybe to say a couple of minutes about that last point and tell us a little bit about your time in uniform and we welcome you to the uh
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us academy over to you thank you very much it's a real pleasure and honor to be here well this
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i was in uniform a long time ago in a galaxy far far away i got out of the military in 1995 but
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obviously my ongoing work since then has continued to conjoin military and civilian units both within
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our government and internationally with our allies i was the united states naval officer a naval aerospace physiologist
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held additional designations as a research physiologist and research psychologist and i was the director of the aerospace
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training center at marine corps station cherry point i was involved with operational engineering and test flight directorate
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there at cherry point primarily working as the aeromedical liaison to operational training and
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readiness for comcab east the marine corps stations on the east coast that involved not only the fixed-wing community but certainly the
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rotary wing community as well my main areas of interest were aeromedical and biomedical fitness and capability
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for what we were calling at that time the aerospace athlete the training environments not only of
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aerospace but certainly of underwater and special operations were just as demanding if not more demanding
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than a professional athlete with the caveat that characteristically on the playing field of any sort
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nobody's shooting at you so i had the pleasure of doing all of my operational flight time with the united states
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marine corps and i shout out a healthy semper fi to all my marine colleagues and a bladed happy birthday and i served as
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the aeromedical liaison to the station operation engineering squadron there at cherry point as well as to bma q2
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and then later on to the mag and my particular areas of expertise at that time and
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operational designations and and facilitation was in g tolerance with high performance aircraft in the
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in the tournament burn fast mover community high altitude work both with our folks who are in the rotary wing community who are doing some
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high altitude training at that time in preparation for utilizing what ultimately became the v22 osprey
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and then also biomedical fitness and performance programs uh throughout not only the the air medical community but more broadly through some
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of the more special operations united states marines that was my time in uniform that said
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one of the things that we've come to understand and it predicates on some of the work earlier
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is that we're clearly at a point where we see a critical interface between the engineering and the human in the
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loop and very often the human in that loop irrespective of whatever that loop may be whether it's aerospace which
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certainly is my sandbox undersea special operations and a variety of different capabilities and
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taskers is characteristically at a point of somewhat becoming overwhelmed by science and technology that's being put
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in place so as to make the job easier but also to make mission effectiveness more viable
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increasingly we're looking to do is try to figure out how the neurocognitive systems in other words how that thing in
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your head is important to be able to then drive the thoughts emotions and actions that
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produce good leadership number one and number two what it's going to take to lead ever more in an international community
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in which the actual battlescape in other words the field of engagement is the brain and its functions vis-a-vis
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the mind my ongoing work over the past 20 years has had the generous support of a number of different institutions organizations
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as well as the federal government and i acknowledge each and all of them here as well i think it's important to understand that
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what i'm presenting to here represents my work doesn't necessarily reflect the views or perspectives or opinions of
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those organizations and institutions that have provided their generous funding nor does it provide those perspectives necessarily of the
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united states department of defense the intelligence community defense advanced research project agency or the naval war college
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that said let's start a deep dive and let me take you through this step by step because i think it'll become ever more
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important not only for what i'm presenting here today but if in fact we're going to open the lens and examine
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if and how the brain sciences can be used to affect viably good performance good leadership
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and also what leadership means increasingly in a global stage that's built upon a
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heightened understanding and capability to access and affect the brain simply put the mere fact that you can
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hear me right now means your brain is working but i'm not talking to a bunch of quivering brains i'm talking to brains
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that are embodied in individuals or embedded nested within a variety of different ecologies
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their environments professional environments cultural environments demanding environments
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what the fields of neuroscience and its incumbent techniques and technologies what is colloquially referred to as neuro snt
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have done is they've essentially put the brain at our fingertips they've given us the capability to harness and engage a
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variety of different convergent scientific and technological tools and methods to be able to study access
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and affect human thought emotions and behaviors inclusive of those
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that are intrinsic and fundamental to leadership enter performance in military
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intelligence and warfighter environments the capability to do this is certainly
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applicable across a broad range of use patterns and use communities within the military and i hope to
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illustrate some of those but more and more or understanding is that the lines that we draw between them are what have been referred to as fuzzy
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boundaries what constitutes medicine what constitutes engagement what constitutes training
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what constitutes treatment what constitutes enhancement and how far do we go
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furthermore the ability to utilize the brain sciences and its technologies allows us the
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capability to affect human activities and assess human activities across a variety of
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levels individually groups teams perhaps even entire populations
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and big data ever more is becoming a force multiplier and vital tool that allows
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those assessments and real-time access to multi-levels of massive data that not
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only enable what the brain sciences are capable of doing but also enable its translation to a variety
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of use scenarios and what are those use scenarios well let's play connect the dots
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if i can assess what's going on in that gray stuff in your head to be able to produce the great stuff
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of your thoughts your emotions and your behaviors well then clearly i gained some insight into what making you tick
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on the level that goes all the way from the cells to the social from the personal to the political and
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if i can go one step further i can use those assessments if you will as something of a reconnaissance mission
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then the question here is what am i reconnoitering well i tell you what i'm reckon ordering i'm recognizing possible
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targets for interaction on a range of levels from the non-invasive low-tech to the highly
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invasive high-tech but not necessarily invasive in a surgical way invasive in a penetrant way in a
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ubiquitous way that allows us to get into the brain without utilizing the grossly invasive
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techniques of surgery by harnessing other techniques and technologies such as nanotechnology
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various aspects of guided electromagnetic current and displacement that then allows us to influence the
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brain in a range of different levels certainly through machine computational and brain
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interfacing but ever more through the use of electromagnetics onboard clouding satellite technology
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the very same thing that operates your cell phone is providing us not only windows to the brain but vectors to the brain that
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allow us to read information in real time from brain nodes networks
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circuits whole brain systems remotely and also to remotely affect those brains
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more on that in a moment what this represents is a rising tide
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obviously i'm talking to a group of naval officers so the idea of understanding the tides is very very important to understand how you navigate
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here too back in 2008 the national academies of science and the national research council took a look at brain
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science viability and what we call nsid national security intelligence and defense agendas and deemed at that time
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although the science was certainly valid certainly it represented a positively valid trend
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in where it was going and how it was going there they determined that it wasn't quite ready for prime time
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within military operations due to issues of tech readiness scalability and field ability
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i had the honor and pleasure of participating in part of that report and i must tell you that i and several
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others didn't agree with that conclusion in in some yeah perhaps there were parts
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of it that were clearly relevant and correct but the entirety of it didn't give a good flavor if you will
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for the rising tide and the wave of brain sciences that were occurring
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not only in the united states and with our international allies but worldwide with our pure competitors and potential
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adversaries a number of reports in the interim some of the work we had done for example at the strategic multi-layer assessment
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group the joint staff of the pentagon and had the great pleasure of working with doc caballon now working with
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former captain todd vesey and united states navy special operations seal also with dr diane duelist dr jason spit
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a letter dr bill casebeer dr nicholas wright all of our colleagues back in the early
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part of the the 2000s from 2006 78 up to 2010
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leading up to the national academies report kept our finger on the pulse of the brain sciences
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both intramurally within the sciences and extramural in terms of what was going on in the social community how
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brain sciences are being utilized for military intelligence and political agendas
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our reports from 2009 through 2012 suggested a very very different capability possibility and
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probability that indeed the brain sciences were being harnessed had high utility and as
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a result that value was a driver in increasing their consideration and in some cases
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context for their use within various militaries worldwide we weren't alone in that the nuffield
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council report in 2013 validated that and rose some of the ethical issues that might be important to understand
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what that now means being able to affect the brain in those ways that are viable not only for the
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training and performance of one's own military and intelligence personnel but how that might be
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leveraged to gain purchase over the capabilities thoughts and behaviors of what might be hostile or adversary or
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competitive personnel well the nice part about the national academies is they're certainly flexible in 2014 they reconvened
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and the national academy of report came to the conclusion that some of these other groups i just mentioned also did that their initial scope was not
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broad enough or deep enough to actually capture the momentum the juggernaut effect of what the
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neurosciences were becoming not only nationally but internationally it didn't actually capture if you will
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the pendulum swing the speed the depth the extent of that progression
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to tech readiness levels that would then allow military readiness levels by 2014 there were mandated reports
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stated that it was increasing research development test evaluation use rdt emu of brain sciences for consideration in
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military intelligence operations and directly for military operations now obviously the united states and our
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international allies most notably are not eyes with eight with nato engage in brain scientific research and
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orientations towards its translation in military and or potential intelligence political context
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in accordance with dual use research of concern biological toxin weapons and chemical
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weapons conventions however that also establishes something
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of a dilemma well that certainly fortifies and creates parameters if not
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constraints for participatory states conduct in the united states it's allies that are signatory to these treaties and
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these conventions what it essentially does is also declare allowed if you will
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what we will not do and the caveat here is that not every nation
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signs those treaties not every nation that signs those treaties ratifies those treaties but more than that and somewhat
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more benignly the cultures the histories the needs the values
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and the political and economic infrastructure of other nations is not identical to that which we have here in
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the united states and in many cases those differences in infrastructure and infra function on a variety of levels
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from the political all the way to the populational from the academic all the way to the applied provide
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something of a leg up if you will to be able to expand what's capable in research and its translation directly as well as
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dually into military operations so what are those domains of military
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use of brain science and its technologies well clearly military medicine is one and we could argue as i do often that
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that's the low-hanging fruit i mean many of the very exciting agendas that were funded through the brain
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initiative the brain research to advancing innovative neurotechnologies initiative in 2013 were dedicated in first-year allocation
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to darpa the department of defense's advanced research project agency why for applications within military
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medicine being sensitive and in this way responsive to the burden of the human predicament
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that's been incurred through long-standing conflicts overseas and the nature of our wounded warriors
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and personnel who come home with a variety of neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions that heretofore have been problematic to
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diagnose and treat so of course military medicine with the lowest hanging of the low-hanging fruit
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being neurology neurosurgery psychiatry pain medicine rehabilitative medicine
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absolutely true however let me throw something out there to you how would we define military
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occupational medicine and if we go one step further
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how would we define and operationalize the scope and conduct toolkit of preventive occupational
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medicine for the military now what we're talking about is doing certain things
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to our operators our sailors our soldiers our airmen our marines that enable them to have a preventive
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edge in those areas of their professional occupation whether it's trigger pullers
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truck drivers deck pounders that afford them the capability to remain healthy on the job
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therefore missionally ready on the job to be protected in a range of their occupational and operational skill sets
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environments ecologies and stressors and in some cases to maximize their capability and performance
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clearly what occupational medicine is designed to do but what does that actually obtain and
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entail well if we take a look at the neurocognitive sciences the issue there is well what we need to do is keep it
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healthy and buff it up is that treatment there's nothing wrong with these people per se
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i mean let's face it not getting an a on every exam doesn't render you pathologically stupid
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it simply means that you're somewhere along the viable human performance curve but what if we were looking to maximize
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that curve what if we were looking to in fact steepen the curve increase the slope
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and move those personnel who we acquire within our military services and intelligence communities
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a little closer to the mean or perhaps shift that mean right wood and as a
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result shift everything rightward and this way we could facilitate selection
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training and education sustainability force readiness what is that is that training
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or is that enhancement and the question is both rhetorical and practical
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because if we can use it in these ways in occupational and preventive military medicine the orientation here is to keep
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our people as good as they can possibly be good gooder good s
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if you will super sailors super soldiers super spooks and what might we be able
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to do to enhance for example intelligence accommodative assets making them more accommodative to provide us the information we need
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and i venture into that latter domain simply because that's a prime consideration for some of our international peer competitors but once
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i begin to think about how i can utilize any form of science and technology to contend against others i recognize
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that i'm dealing with a dual-sided blade one side of the blade is what can i do to my own people to
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make them better and in some cases there may be ethical prohibitions prescriptions
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various improbities that exist on a variety of levels from the civilian all the way to the professional from the
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professional all the way up to the political and certainly we deal with them here in
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the united states and among our allies we want to fight for right and freedom while keeping our
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honor clean and in some cases keeping our honor clean means there are going to be certain constraints and prescriptions
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what it is that we might be able to or we even consider doing but let talking back to my earlier statement keeping honor clean is
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relative based upon how one defines goods and honor and what one can do in the context of military intelligence to be able to
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lessen the escalation to combat to war to make military intelligence personnel more effective
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and or to decrement the capability of peer adversaries and competitors to want
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to fight to engage the fight or to be capable in those things that lead to the battlescape
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as soon as we talk about contending against others that's a formalized definition of a weapon
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so clearly what we see is that the extant ethical foci those things that we're concerned about
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ethically if we're looking at how we're going to lead not only military medicine but also those who are the responsible subjects
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of military medicine in other words our personnel how do we deal with that
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well if we're just dealing in clinical issues this is much of what we deal with in dmacc the defense
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medical ethics center of which i have the honor and privilege of serving with my colleagues josh guertin polixene
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coons joe procaccino colonel fred lau and megan applewhite and our role there is to appreciate
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engage respond to and be sensitive to the unique ethical issues that arise
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in military medicine many of them are similar to civilian medicine but some of them aren't because of the collective nature of the military and the need for
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forced preservation but immediately as soon as we talk about forced preservation we talk about performance optimization
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readiness of force maximization of capability and now we're into the whole area once again
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of what are the ethical issues and technical issues of how far we might be able to take the brain sciences to make our people better
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particularly in ways that affect their cognitive and motor performances and then the issue comes well if we're
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drawing a line about what things we can do to our own might we then consider about what we
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might do to others or perhaps in a reactive and reflective stance what might our
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peer competitors kum adversaries be doing to their own that we would then need to at least
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be prepared if not responsive to deal with on a leadership level that runs all the way from the
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non-kinetic to the fully kinetic and this then clearly brings us into unique realm
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this creates the brain as a viable battlescape a battlescape in terms of the
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performance of our own personnel engaging in those activities that are intrinsic and inherent
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to their military and intelligence missions and also the way we engage with others on that battlescape who are
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competitive who are in conflict and who are adversaries and as soon as we begin to realize that we can do to our own we can
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also do certain things in contrast to others to decrement their performance while in fact getting force advantage to
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ourselves you get down to the simple equation of pre-bellicosity and bellicosity i mean
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you're looking for advantage on your side you're looking to exploit disadvantage or to
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create disadvantage on the other side so as to maintain a balance of power and either do that through a show of
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force or perhaps actually engagement of force this is a weapon
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but here we have to be very very specific in our definition of what constitutes a weapon
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i harken back here to the oxford english dictionary a weapon is nothing more than means of contending against
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others it need not be violent it need not be destructive but by definition it's going to be
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disruptive disruptive if in no other way than by
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diverting their original intent towards malice and harm into an intent that
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mitigates or prevents said malice and set on it's the phrase that had been repeated
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multiple times by lincoln quoting the buddha if i can take my enemy and make them my
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friend ergo i have an enemy no longer but what about that what if i cannot
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just affect hearts and minds but what if i can affect minds to change hearts and spirits and actions
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what if i can mitigate aggression foster thoughts of feelings of affiliation and passivity in those
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individuals who my competitors come adversaries what if i can make a happy battlescape
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a happy smiley place where everybody's holding hands and wants to sing kumbaya is there something wrong with that
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is that perhaps in some way more acceptable than utilizing neuroscience and technology
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as a more frank hard weapon bombs bullets tanks and ships but certainly we have to also consider
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that the brain sciences can be leveraged in those ways as hard weaponology here we're talking about drugs bugs
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toxins and devices if we take a look at the age of weaponology what we see is almost a
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vertical slope as we move to the 20th century why because if we look at the 18th and
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19th centuries as the century of massive scientific development inclusive of governmental initiation support and
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agendizement of science and technology by the time we get to the 20th century arguably that is the century of tech
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a century of tools mechanized warfare on a large scale but it's the mechanization of that
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warfare that becomes ever more important to consider because that mechanization need not just be
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bigger it's not just a question of getting a bigger aircraft carrier or a bigger submarine or a bigger capable multi-engine jet
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aircraft it's better but where does the better lie does the better lie in the machinery the
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widgets if you will or as so many of our military leaders have advocated over the past decades
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that the actual capability of the force is intrinsic to its people
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forces a focus of the lens on those individuals themselves if nothing else to make them more compatible more
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capable with the advanced technologies that we're providing to them on a variety of scales from things that
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are manned to things that are unmanned the things that involve literally moving levers to those things that involve large-scale use of cloud
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computational systems so if we take a look at the way the brain sciences can be leveraged in those
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ways yeah we can buff our own people up but there are also plenty of things we can use to decrement the performance of others
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on a variety of scales from the cellular all the way to the social political i think we're most familiar
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with weapons being somewhat hard weapons in other words physical influence and deterrence tools and again when we're talking about the
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brain sciences like any one of the biochemical sciences here we're talking about drugs chemicals in a variety of agents
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biologicals bugs microbes and toxins and devices and increasingly data bio
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data working with my colleagues dr diane deulas and charles lutz at the national defense university we've taken a real
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healthy look at the need for increasing bio data security bio cyber security and the
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prolongability of these data that are available for example an individual's personnel jackets their medical records and
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increasingly their interaction with commercial entities that are saying well let me just take some of your genomes so
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we can see what your family history is like the questionnaire is who owns those data where do those data go
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how might we be able to use those data working with our research affiliate research associate joe defranco one of
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the things we pointed to is that neurodata can be particularly vulnerable why because so much of what is
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neurocognitive is not objective or we can say well here's something that goes bang in your brain but rather the bumps and the bangs in
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your brains are manifest in things like your thoughts emotions and behaviors and you know as well as i do that any
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manipulation of that data any prolongement of that data can be used in a variety of ways one way is to simply insert or delete
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certain things in a medical file that deal with somebody's neurocognitive fitness boom there goes their clearance boom
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there goes their fitness for duty boom there goes their overall capability and more than that they're being treated
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and regarded in a particular way based upon that diagnosis there's nothing wrong with them it says
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so on paper says so in their record but let's go one step further
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could i also use that information to create precision pathologies the more i know about you the more i can
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affect you i'm not about to start singing show tunes getting to know you but hey getting to know you
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getting to know all about you getting to like you and hoping that you like me and if you don't
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i can fix that i can get into your brain through either narratives and information or perhaps even directly in some way or another and
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i can affect your stance your posture your thoughts your emotions and your behaviors no
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science fiction folks is a science fact now i can do that in ways that are soft
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leveraging or i can use economic leverage this gets back to what's called the golden rule
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who has all the gold rules and increasingly what we see on the world stage is that the united states
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and its allies are losing a bit of traction here that by expression and intent our trans-pacific competitors are gaining a
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major foothold in science and technology through a variety of applications in their four year plans such that by the
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year 2035 with an eye on 2049 they're looking for global hegemony in many spaces
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inclusive of the neurosciences and technologies let's think here
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you're dealing with a country that has a seamless triple helix of government research and commercialization direct
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uptake into military and intelligence operations is a given more than that however this is 175
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billion currency units a year in viable economic leverage i come to any bargaining table and i'm
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creating a maximum share suddenly i have credit and clout but not
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just there what i'm also able to do is to attract individuals into my country to do research
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to do certain things in my country even on the medical side that i can then promulgate worldwide and that creates dependencies
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dependencies not only among developed peer competitor nations but also dependencies and inter reliances upon
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developing and developed nations for a variety of different hegemonic and power balance disruptions
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i can certainly also use the brain sciences for intelligence and psychological operations a case in point here are some of the
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work that we're doing with our colleague at the johns hopkins applied physics laboratory dr jason spidoletta who's looking very closely at how neural
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basis of cognitive function can affect individuals and groups which harkens back to an older project that was
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initiated by our colleague dr bill casebeer when he was still at darpa called narrative networks and i had the pleasure of working with bill
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and the neural narratives component of that the more i understand how somebody's brain works it makes him jolly what makes him not so
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jolly what jousts them and makes them sad makes them upset what triggers their volatility and vulnerability to violence the more i may
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be able to utilize a variety of stimuli implicit as well as explicit to change their feelings and changing the feelings
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that can change their behaviors so if we're going to use neuroscience and technology in
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national security intelligence and defense agendas and operations what am i doing with it well essentially
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we're engaging what are sometimes referred to as the three a's assess access and effect but i want to
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be more specific in this context we're talking about affecting the brain we're talking about
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targeting the brain targeting the brain to target individuals targeting individuals on our end to make
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them better targeting individuals who may be competitors from adversaries so as to then decrement certain aspects
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of their thought emotions and behaviors so as to create a tech readiness military advantage on our side
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and if i can target key nodes and networks in the brain i may be able to do so in ways that are not explicitly injurious to the
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outside of that individual but certainly modify their thoughts emotions and their actions in ways are
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going to be more amenable to the way i want them to think i want them to emote i want them to act
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so what do we have in our tool kit right now well we have in our toolkit a whole host of assessment technologies
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imaging physiological recording genomic and genetic assessments biomarker and proteomic assessments and
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a lot of neurodata and of course each and all of those assessment approaches are facilitated by
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big data as a force multiplier and more and more those data are coming into the fore when we consider who we should select
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how we should train and ultimately how we're going to engage our personnel on a variety of different
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levels to make sure they're performing at peak cognitively emotionally behaviorally in their missional spaces
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but it's not just a question of getting the assessment to say all right we see how their brain is functioning when they're doing what it is they're
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doing and how they're doing it well that's a good step that's an important step you want to make a win-win
31:44
don't just understand what it takes to be an effective leader in all of the variety of domains and disciplines that affect
31:52
viable optimized and mission effective military intelligence operations
31:57
what if i could actually tweak it what if i could use some combination of low-tech means and high-tech means
32:04
to assess the brains of those who are the best of the best and compare the brains of the best of
32:10
the best to those who are good those who are not so good and those who just quite aren't part of the curve and if i
32:17
could shift the slope of that curve to make those who aren't quite so good good those who are good better those who are
32:23
best best of the best and keep the best of the best where they are well
32:28
certainly there are things we could do to be able to facilitate that we can utilize for example a whole host
32:34
of novel pharmaceuticals but drugs are dirty they really are even the best of drugs going to give you something of a
32:40
buckshot approach and i can tell you this from my own experience i mean i say that as if i'm using a psychedelic drug user i can tell you that from my own
32:45
experience being a neuropharmacologist we can develop some very specific drugs but the specificity means are going to
32:51
work specifically at places in the brain where that specificity is warranted unless we just deliver
32:57
low low volumes of drug which is possible to keep brain areas we're always going to get sort of a water of the lawn
33:04
effect a buck shot rather than a strap shot effect but not necessarily if we link drugs to
33:11
certain microbiological structures certain types of we call phages certain
33:16
types of bacteria we can get very very low quantities of drug into directed spaces
33:21
we can also utilize nanotechnologies and those nanotechnologies can then create
33:26
platforms to deliver drugs utilizing electrical and magnetic current to key areas in the brain
33:32
we can also utilize a variety of neurotoxins some that are organic and some that are inorganic
33:38
and again a host of different technologies that we can use to change brain structures and functions
33:43
both external to the skull as well as indwelling and increasingly those indwelling things
33:48
are moving to less and less and less surgically invasive methods for their implantation
33:54
so if we stop for a moment catch our breath and put it all together what we're seeing is that the neurocognitive
33:59
sciences afford power and capability power and capability to affect our own people to make them better at what
34:06
they're doing in national security intelligence and defense agendas and missions and operations making leaders more effective
34:11
understanding the neurocognitive dynamics of leadership and then through that understanding of understanding what's going on literally
34:17
the structural functions relations of the brain targeting that in ways that maximize personalizing
34:23
make precision our selection our education our training and our sustainability for
34:28
force readiness the flip side of that is if we can make our folks better can you make their
34:34
folks whoever their folks are not so good decremented mitigated
34:40
prevented in some cases highly compromised and the answer increasingly is yes
34:46
and there are some real worrisome areas here once again because please understand it's not just us who
34:51
are doing this the neurosciences are an international multinational enterprise
34:56
and with internationality multinationality comes multiculturality which comes multiple values multiple philosophies
35:03
multiple needs and multiple aims if we take a look at what's happening on
35:08
the battle space once again a key area that's important to leadership is what we call neural enablement
35:14
taking our operators and warfighters and utilizing drugs computational brain machine interfaces neurosensory
35:20
augmentation devices to make them better at what it is they're doing make them better leaders on a variety of
35:26
of levels from the the small group the squad all the way up to the squadron
35:32
and there's a variety of ways we can do that essentially here we're working within military medicine to affect the
35:37
brain to quote mold the mind and all that the mind does mind is that
35:43
source that affects how we perceive how we orient how we decide and how we act affecting the brain if you will to
35:49
affect individuals proverbial uda loop observations orientations decisions and
35:55
actions can we improve ooda loop specificity our group over the past few years and
36:00
hear a deep nod of homage to my colleague former captain rick bremseth the united states navy seal certainly to diane
36:06
d'ules and our crew over at ndu and a big thanks here to the united states air force who funded this initial
36:12
project several years ago have engaged in what we call neuro hope
36:18
utilizing neurocognitive sciences to maintain our military's personnel's health
36:23
operational performance and protection and enhancing their capability in other words working left of bang
36:30
where bang is some traumatic or insultive event perhaps even just going off to battle
36:35
it may be a real injury whether that injury is physical or psychological but what can we do left of bang what can
36:42
we do in a proactive way versus a reactive way and can that also then be classified as
36:48
some domain of military medicine the answer to those questions are yeah it can be
36:53
that's military occupational preventive medicine the question then becomes how much left of bank should we work and
37:00
the other issue is who's doing what internationally left of bang and if what we're doing left to
37:05
bang is literally making super sailor super soldiers and super spooks do we then need to regard that
37:11
individual who has been so optimized who has been so task performancely capabilized
37:18
as a biological weapon themselves that's not speculative
37:24
there's some really interesting work that's going on in that domain my my colleague ryan levoya has looked at
37:29
ways that we can capable as war fighters trigger pullers very often and has suggested might we need to
37:35
actually look at that individual as a bio weapon a weaponized individual particularly when they're then linked to a variety of different
37:41
computational and or weapon systems well one of the things i'm working with some of my colleagues
37:48
internationally is moving from theory of how brain works and understanding of how brain works to
37:53
real tools this is what we refer to as a neurocognitive test and toolkit system and as some of you know i've been
37:59
talking about the viability of perhaps even employing this on an academic level could we run a test flight if you will to
38:05
determine just how viably functional this is empirically in education and training of our future
38:11
military leaders utilizing a training regimen with a variety of task monitors that we yoke to synthetic environments
38:17
that put them in key demands of leadership skills and knowledge sets utilizing processes and cognitive
38:23
sensors that are sent back to databases and then utilizing some of our techniques of neuromodulation
38:29
transcranial electrical stimulation transcranial magnetic stimulation verbal nerve stimulation to feed into a
38:36
processor that then feeds back to that individual to figure out what nodes and networks are working in their brain when they're
38:42
at peak performance when they're at medium performance and when they're subpar
38:47
to figure out patterns of neurological node and network activity that are representative of cognitive
38:53
emotional and motoric peak performance that's representative of good leadership and not just then understanding what's
39:00
happening and where it's happening in individual brains and groups of brains but then use that understanding as the
39:06
reconnaissance mission to then actually affect the way those nodes and networks are functioning
39:12
during selection during training during performance and sustainability as the individual acquires more and more
39:18
missional experience and is exposed to more and more missional stressors inclusive of new technologies that come into the
39:24
field of military operation essentially can we keep the curve
39:29
essentially rightwardly shifted with a very very strong high point left
39:34
left slope so in other words get people better earlier and keep them better longer
39:39
the answer to the question clearly is yes some ongoing work that's been done at 7-eleven squadron in the united states air force
39:45
some of the work that's been done by the united states navy office of naval research some of the work that's been done at the marine warfighter laboratory
39:52
has suggested that indeed all these things are not only possible but they are probable what we're looking to do is to take that
39:58
to the cutting edge and there are a variety of other things that we can use the neurosciences for
40:04
for example we can use the neurosciences in military intelligence we can assess a
40:09
variety of neuropsychosocial factors that are present in individual and group narratives and expressions in their
40:15
activities and we can also utilize that to extract information we can use patterns of brain imaging and
40:22
or physiological recording to determine when an individual might be tending towards deception
40:27
now again there's some problems with that in courts of law and here what we're really dealing with
40:33
is not only the civilian courts of law but perhaps international courts of law as well here in the united states there's a
40:39
particular standard that's used for maximizing certain types of
40:44
subject matter expertise both in terms of who is the subject matter expert and how we then utilize the information
40:50
this is called the dalbert standard but the dalbert standard is modified by the nature the type the extent and the
40:56
reliability of information that's being fed into it that's a nice way of saying what does international law ask of the brain
41:03
sciences such as the brain sciences can deliver tools and techniques that are then admissible and viable within the scope
41:09
of international law and increasingly we're moving in that direction so my own work with a brilliant student
41:15
of mine and calvin kraft have really examined that interface and
41:20
moreover some of the work that we've done in our group at georgetown that's in the o'neill pellegrino center for brain science and global law and health
41:27
and policy have examined what that interface is between what's viable and military and intelligence operations
41:34
under local and international courts and those ways that the brain sciences might best accommodate that
41:40
so as to provide a toolkit that is useful in creating cognitive engagement
41:46
assessment perhaps enhancement and in some cases even tracking the question then becomes if we
41:53
have the tools should we use them what are the ethical issues that arise from the legal issues that arise
41:59
and what does that then mean for navy leadership but more than that one of the things
42:05
that becomes important for the leader to recognize is what are the burdens risks and threats
42:10
that are clear and present that will affect not only the conduct of the mission and the force but also will affect the
42:15
individuals who participate this is why it becomes so important to understand the novelty and the viability of
42:22
neuroscience as being leveraged as weapons drugs bugs toxins and devices
42:28
i don't have time to go down the rabbit hole on this but there are plenty they're enclosed pharmaceuticals and organic toxins can be used at very very
42:34
low doses not as instruments of mass destruction but rather as instruments and agents of
42:42
multiple levels of mass disruption from the cellular all the way to the social political by
42:49
affecting an individual's conduct who may be a charismatic social powerful military leader
42:55
i essentially affect their conduct with those who are following them and i can create disruptions that have ripple effects
43:01
across a range of different levels i can also utilize things that affect literally biosecurity through
43:07
microbiological agents all we need to do is take a look at the past nine months
43:13
let me reinforce what i know there's nothing that would suggest that sars kovi the agent that causes cobia 19
43:19
is an intentionally developed biological weapon nothing to suggest that but who cares
43:24
look what it did look at the potency of a microbe let loose on the world stage for which there
43:31
is no known antidote or treatment that is effective given the resources in place
43:37
why is this problematic in 2010 we conducted an exercise with nato in moldova it was part of the
43:43
the nato science for peace exercise that was run by my colleague ashok vashastha dr ashraf vishal
43:49
then at the department of state and one of the things we look to do is to model the viability of utilizing
43:54
cutting edge neuroscience and technology and one area we're looking at is toxins drugs and perhaps microbes
44:00
could we create some micro based upon something that's already out there perhaps create something brand new that
44:06
mimics neurological and psychiatric effects and in so doing has a tremendous morbidity impact for example if i let it loose in a fleet
44:13
if i let it loose in a deployed squadron if i let it loose on a mu or a meth and then suddenly all these individuals
44:18
are taking sick i need not necessarily kill them i don't even want to kill them i want to make them sick so what i'm then doing is
44:24
i'm maximizing the resources necessary to keep them healthy return them to health to care for them i'm draining resources from
44:31
various places and thereby hobbling the force efficiency on the whole well you know in that little exercise we
44:38
did in 2010 we were able to hobble the u.s public health system about 43 days 43 days to take a look at what sars kovi
44:46
and what kobit has done there's a mirror there by the thing by the time the thing hit our shores in
44:52
march by april it was running rampant such that our public health system couldn't really handle what does it tell you
44:57
about biosecurity and although there are certainly identified agents microbes viruses that will attack the
45:04
nervous system and cause a variety of neurological and psychiatric effects many of them morbid some of the mortal
45:10
the real threat here is the facility by which existing agents that are relatively benign can be modified
45:16
using newly available gene editing techniques and if we keep going on the range of technology that's available to
45:22
us we then have the use of nanoparticulate agents aerosolizable nanomaterials that can be breathed in
45:28
and disrupt blood flow and neurological network activity that can be used as an enclosed weapon or perhaps that can be used as a more broad weapon
45:35
of disruption into a destruction we also have the capability to utilize nanomaterials to get electrodes into a
45:42
head and to create a vast array of viable sensors and transmitters that's currently on the drawing board
45:48
for a developmental tech readiness level within five years this is darpa's n-cubed program next
45:53
generation non-invasive neural modulation utilizing these techniques and technologies to create vast arrays of implantable
46:00
electrodes that need not be put into the brain surgically that are then able to read from the brain and write into the brain remotely
46:07
in real time and we are not alone in our pursuits of this clearly there are a whole host of other
46:12
things that can be weaponized i'll just touch upon the fact that various forms of directed energy are capable of
46:17
having effects upon the brain and certainly we've already talked about data and the vulnerability that big data
46:24
then renders as well as its capability to in fact engage neuroscience
46:29
many of these things can also be used non-kinetically for example we can get proximate effects
46:34
intermediate effects and distal effects for strategically latent disruptive effects where white can use
46:39
data to create precision pathologies and to just affect individuals reality in other words if i mess with your data
46:45
particularly your neuro site data it can really mess with the way people regard you and treat you on a whole host
46:51
of levels from the interpersonal all the way to the professional from the social all the way to security clearances and
46:57
why is this so important because neuro is easy to get a lot of the stuff we can get right off the shelf
47:03
there are also indeed dedicated efforts by a number of countries worldwide inclusive of our transatlantic and
47:08
trans-pacific peer competitors and there are independent actors who are working as proxies
47:14
and or who are working as agents themselves to able to utilize do-it-yourself forms of neuroscience within
47:19
certain serenities that can affect military and intelligence operations domestically i've given you
47:27
a host of these applications and interestingly one of the things that we've noted is
47:32
that the lack of commitment to engage in understanding of neuroscience and technology in these ways by
47:38
one group can very often create an opportunistic window for others and in some cases failure to
47:45
commit on my part may augment your capability on others and its difficulty in terms of being
47:52
able to guard against these things because it is a global event
47:57
surveillance is needed oversight is needed but certainly preparation is needed how global is it i don't want to get
48:04
into the the specifics of what's called the neural bioeconomy i hear a deep nod again of homage to joe defranco
48:11
who's working with our group and dr maureen riemann we just have a paper come out in the journal health security that looks at neurobioeconomy and
48:19
and one of the issues here as we said earlier is the economics of it but more than the economics its product
48:26
its method and its tool infiltration a variety of levels
48:31
the public to the population the individual all the way to the military integrating
48:37
these products and integrating their control produces particular vulnerabilities and susceptibilities
48:43
but more than that if we just take a look at who's doing this stuff worldwide and what their committed efforts are right now in
48:50
2020 you can see that peer competitors potential adversaries are getting a leg up in this area and
48:57
the use of the neurocognitive sciences to facilitate the performance and leaderships of one's own military
49:02
intelligence personnel can also be leveraged in those ways that are going to decrement the capabilities
49:07
performance and therefore power of others so in sum what i'm going to tell you is
49:13
that neuroscience and technology national security intelligence defense operations certainly affords the ability to win
49:20
minds and hearts to affect minds to win over hearts and dictate human motion thoughts and
49:25
behaviors in those ways that can maximize the performance of our own and in those ways that can minimize
49:30
degrade in some cases actually negate the performance and capabilities of others
49:36
what we can do here is provocative what we should do with it remains an issue is somewhat contentious
49:42
my argument is that right now in 2020 we've already entered into a neuroscientific neurotechnological
49:48
speedway it's an international speedway multiple lanes many countries multiple
49:53
vehicles multiple techniques and technologies that are being used within military intelligence operations to facilitate leadership as well as to
49:59
facilitate real word followship and there is a rapid pace
50:04
the prizes are big economically in terms of power as well but there are risks and hazards yeah
50:11
there are conventions that are out there but the question then arises are these conventions not just necessary but are they
50:16
sufficient some of the work with my colleague dr dan gerstein as well as my colleague dr leanne d'ules
50:22
in examining the fine print of these international signatory treaties has suggested that no they're not
50:27
they're really not keeping their finger on the pulse of the rapid development of brain sciences not only within the united states and its allied
50:34
nations but internationally and sometimes in programs that utilize commercial veiling
50:39
to be able to then hide behind in terms of what's being made available to make their military intelligence personnel better
50:44
and to develop a whole arsenal of weapons both kinetically and non-kinetically that can then decrement
50:50
the performance of competitors and adversaries it's not to say there aren't ethical legal issues there are some are
50:55
technologically focal some are derivative as we then let this thing loosen to the social milieu not only just within the military but
51:02
also given the fact that we're in an open society and there needs to be some transparency to the public
51:07
our group has developed something called on-ramp an operational neurotechnology risk assessment and mitigation paradigm
51:14
four steps evaluate the science and capabilities evaluate the parameters of its use assess benefit risk and harm parameters
51:20
and then frame within context of applications that sounds pretty good but it has to
51:27
establish particular contingencies what is the technical rightness of utilizing any neuroscience in tech in
51:32
military intelligence operations how do we balance transparency and secrecy
51:37
how do we evaluate and revise ethical concepts to guide its use and obviously we have to be focal here
51:43
we're talking about situational use within the military therefore military ethics certainly
51:48
applies but there are also boundary issues given the fact that the united states is an open society
51:53
and there is levels of transparency in public communication in that the military serves politics that serves the polis
51:59
but more than that that military must remain prepared and ready so an understanding of what's going on
52:05
with our competitors come adversaries on the global stage is essential for navy leadership
52:11
military leadership in these domains in these dimensions whatever ethics we use
52:17
must be relevant to the goals and values of the community at use in this case it's the military it has to
52:22
ask what ends what are the means and clearly the contextuality of this is to those operations in which we're going
52:28
to employ it we've asked some key questions is a greater or lesser harm by using these
52:33
techniques are there certain circumstances that would prompt or or mitigate its use
52:38
what do the limits how do we determine those limits how can said limits be enforced there
52:44
have been a number of possible responses to the use of the brain sciences and national security intelligence and defense whether it's for leadership whether it's trigger
52:51
pulling airplane flying or whether it's to alter the behaviors of competitors and adversaries one is a frank restriction and good
52:58
enough in theory i mean realistically we should use science and technology for peace but what about the idea of use contrabellum
53:06
in other words justification for use to prevent war what does that entail that's a tricky one i don't have the
53:12
time to go down that rabbit hole here but very often that is a justifying response
53:17
it's also very difficult to create universal bands based upon many of the cultural philosophical commercial and
53:23
political variances that occur on the global stage what we find is that we have to then
53:30
engage some social impact of what use or misuse of this science might be within the military
53:36
engage some level of deliberation within the military and say yes we're going to use these things in these ways
53:41
and then also have some transparency to the public and also maintains a level of commitment
53:46
but we also have to be contextually precise we need to remain prepared yeah they're
53:52
going to be risks there may be burdens but that need not stifle the quest for novel and improved
53:57
tools and methods to be able to facilitate and optimize the performance of our leaders
54:03
our individuals our military personnel and to be sensitive to the fact that there are competitors from
54:09
adversaries who may be looking to do not only the same but maybe looking to decrement and in some cases negate what we are capable of
54:16
doing to do this effectively we have required
54:22
four thrust strategy emerging technologies and threats forefoss strategy here again a deep nod to my colleague captain rick bremseth
54:28
this fourth thruster interrelated increased awareness as to what's going out there it was one of the recommendations of our cyborg soldier
54:34
2050 report quantify the actual threat what's real what isn't
54:39
what's ready to go what's on a lower tech readiness level how can we counter that threat or meet that threat and ultimately how can we gain tactical and
54:46
strategic advantage and clearly what we're saying is that whole of government is not enough
54:52
as we've seen evidence in the covid crisis it's not just enough to have a
54:58
coordinated government response and we can see what happens when we lack that to be able to manifest preparedness
55:03
within military intelligence operations for the rising tide of neurocognitive sciences and technologies
55:09
that are able to facilitate effective naval and military and intelligence leadership and followership
55:15
as well as to be able to in some ways affect and militate the conduct of adversaries and competitors it's
55:21
going to take a whole of nation approach in some what i'm here to tell you is
55:27
that right now as we approach 2021 there's a neurocognitive scientist who's been
55:32
functionally working in the field for the past four decade i can tell you that neuroscience and neurotechnology are not only under consideration
55:39
they are contextually being applied in a variety of national intelligence security and defense agendas
55:44
worldwide clearly there's an interface there with this field called neuroethics
55:50
how do we fight for right and freedom utilizing these tools and technologies at the same time keep our honor
55:55
clean but what does that also mean with regard to our stance for preparedness as we increasingly have the demand for
56:01
leadership and encountering adversaries and competitors who are using their techniques to their advantage and our disadvantage with great
56:09
knowledge comes great capability with great capability comes great power and with great power comes great
56:15
responsibility hey look guerta said it aristotle said it and spider-man said it good enough for me
56:21
but as we take a path forward we have to take a look at the double-edged blade that we have
56:28
what do we do what should we not do how do we use the neurocognitive sciences to make our people optimized in their
56:33
leadership and their followership to increase our force capability and readiness and if nothing else how to remain
56:39
prepared and responsive for the fact that the brain sciences are being used in these initiatives worldwide by our competitors by
56:46
adversaries so i'll leave you with a word of wisdom that my father told me almost 60 years ago when i was a little
56:54
kid my dad and i used to build stuff together he was an engineer he was a nautical engineer worked for american electric boat for a long time designed
57:00
submarines and he liked to fiddle with things build things repair things i still like to do that and my dad was a good teacher he taught
57:06
me a lot about tools in fact every tuesday first tuesday of the month was new tool tuesday and i'd
57:11
get a new tool we'd spend a month working with it so you could imagine that by the time i got to be 10 years old my dad started
57:16
this when i was around five or six i got to have a pretty good utility belt so to speak and i thought i knew what i was doing with all the impulsiveness of
57:23
a 10 year old kid you know neuroscience and neurotechnology that's a relatively new
57:28
field and there's a relative impulsiveness that goes along with that and i remember one day my dad came home
57:34
it was new tool tuesday and he brought me a new tool i was really excited i remember i grabbed that thing and i went to go run downstairs to our workbench to
57:39
put it to use my dad put his hand on my shoulder and said jim measure twice
57:44
cut once sometimes there's no turning back use those tools wisely my son
57:51
yes ladies and gentlemen let's use these tools let's use them wisely let's be wise about the way they being
57:57
used let's chart a path forward and navigate that path with prudent and pragmatic leadership
58:03
utilizing these tools to facilitate our leadership and utilizing our leaders to facilitate our preparedness and readiness for the
58:10
use of these tools if you're interested in some of the stuff we've done over the past years here's some of our readings that we
58:16
provide for you that are available simply shoot me an email some additional information about some of the things i've talked about
58:22
a host of sma pentagon white papers here once again with a deep knot of homage to kabayan my colleague diane euless bill
58:29
casebeer jason spent a letter nick wright and here comes the unabashed self-promotional plug
58:35
if you're interested in taking a deeper dive as to how brain science is utilizing national security and defense i recommend this to you not because i
58:41
want to go out and buy a new mercedes-benz if you buy the book but because i'm proud of it i didn't write it although i have contributory
58:48
chapters it was a bit like herding cats we brought some of the best minds internationally in philosophy ethics
58:53
policy science military intelligence to provide their view their voice through this lens of how
59:00
brain science can and perhaps should be used in these initiatives agendas and operations and i
59:05
recommend it to you highly you want to get in touch with me this is how you can reach me you can reach me via my email that's james.georgiano
59:12
georgetown.edu once again james.giordano at georgetown.edu order right now and get a free brain
59:18
optimization performance kit for your very own no that's not true but if you want to get in touch with me that's the way we can do it and i
59:23
certainly have some time for your questions and thank you so very very much for your time and attention
59:29
well professor giordano thanks uh thanks very much for your time here today your presentation was uh
59:35
i thought fascinating enlightening and a little chilling at uh at times as well um these insights into
59:44
what clearly is going to be um a very important part of military affairs i think is very much appreciated
59:51
here at an institution that's uh that aims to create future warfighters for
59:56
our nation in the generation ahead so we have approximately 15 minutes or so for
1:00:02
question and answer we ask that you uh write it down and forward it in the chat function i'll then acknowledge you to uh to ask
1:00:09
the question directly so we can record it and have professor giordano's uh
1:00:15
answers so uh dr sean baker from the stockdale center if you're still on
1:00:20
please would you pose your question yeah thanks i'm hearing echo dave
1:00:26
james fascinating uh uh presentation as i was listening it made me think i don't know why it
1:00:33
popped into my head but there's a parasite that lives in the gut of cats it's called
1:00:39
toxoplasma yeah yeah and the interesting thing about it is there's a very specific neurological effect on
1:00:46
mice and makes them unafraid of the cats so a nightmare scenario came to mind for
1:00:51
me is adversaries with less moral scruples and perhaps we'd have what do you think
1:00:59
is the likelihood that they are working on things like that to
1:01:06
inflict upon us uh as as weapons uh
1:01:13
relatively high uh in terms of the specificity and the advancement of such
1:01:18
projects i think there have been certain things for example in gene editing tools and other molecular biological tools
1:01:24
that have sort of pumped up the volume on the pace i also think that what tends to happen as we gain a better understanding of the
1:01:30
mechanism how something like toxoplasmosis or toxoplasma in the gut of a cat can then in fact affect it's prey so to
1:01:37
speak and what what influences they might have in other words what is that instead of interactions mechanistically
1:01:43
and can that then be harnessed if not adapted in certain ways to create agents that might be viable in humans
1:01:50
the answer there is yes as you saw that i was talking about the idea of designer or precision
1:01:56
pathogens that's just what i was talking about if i sort of know what makes you tick
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can i then develop something that's going to affect your ticking and talking in such a way that's going to make it more amenable
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to my will my intent my outcomes over thank you thank you very much yes
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sir dr joe thomas director of the stockdale center
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i'd like to also extend my thanks dr giordano a terrific presentation a really nice compliment to
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the type of things we've gotten before and i think are going to get in the future from the neuro leadership institute which is a non-military
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application no context of uh the military applications of any of that so this was really uh you know fills a
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nice void in the types of things we've been looking at before i'm particularly interested in one of
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your slides had mentioned a neurocognitive test and tool kit system and i thought you mentioned that it was being worked
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out at darpa um let me just let you just interject that is not
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darpa again there's there's a bit of the proprietary here and i don't want to advocate
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um a particular group that i'm working with but that actually is our research group working
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with our colleagues at neurogen and that is something that we're looking to pilot we've done some of the initial pilot
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work whereby it's proof of concept and proof of principle and result and now we're looking to engage that in a variety of
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circumstances training education situational involvement with a variety of forces special operations forces and
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there's been some real interest in early stage education of naval leaders if that's something you'd be interested in we can certainly
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talk offline sir i i would love to hear more about that actually yeah
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that seems like it has direct application to some of the work we've been at least interested in touching on uh
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that is that is fully ready to go i know you have uh something of a physiology and or behavioral test platform
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availability at the academy um and that is something that is literally ready to go that's ready right
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out of the box and we can get the gears rolling on that as soon as we run it through
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i guess your your intramural review board your irb you get that cleared uh the procedures and protocols are rather
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straightforward and what we find is deliverables that are available every six calendar months based upon the progress of the work so
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i'd be happy to talk to you about that great yeah i'd love to learn more thanks yes sir
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professor if i might ask a question to you it regards the uh ethical framework and the development
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of ethical thought on warfare and the neurocognitive domain uh
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and i've noted that you're working on on several ethics panels here that go along with your work in the in the defense
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establishment have has the has the literature within ethics in this
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developed to the point where we we have uh bumpers on either side as to what clearly is out of
1:04:48
ethical bounds and what is in and could you maybe flesh out that discussion a little bit more
1:04:54
sure i mean i'd be happy to actually come back and really take a deep dive in the ethics because
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it warrants a considerable amount of flapjaw um the first there are two things that
1:05:05
must be born into into mind number one the ethics has to be about the effort of the enterprise in
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other words what we're talking about here is the use of any science and technology or articulation of any acts
1:05:15
that has to be specific and germane to the effort in which those acts are then entailed this is military this is
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intelligence we can't talk about business ethics yeah we can engage medical ethics
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because there's a biomedical and scientific component to this but the application the context of use is critical
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in 2013-2014 uh when we stood up the neuroethical legal social issues advisory panel at darpa
1:05:40
through the the strong advocacy again of the principal program managers bill casebeer
1:05:45
it became apparent that what darpa was actually looking for is some ethical guidance in this realm working in concert with the american
1:05:51
medical association we tried to do is to create something of a paradigm we call six r's
1:05:56
in other words you have to go through this checklist of things that begin with an r responsibility for realistic assessment et cetera et cetera
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that then should be framed within six w questions what where when who that then have to be
1:06:09
contextualized within what we call six c's which are things like the actual capabilities
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consequences character continuity of clinical research and care that ultimately lead to the contingencies for
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consent and more recently we frame that in policy formulations that we call the six
1:06:27
p's so this provides that on-ramp that operational uh risk assessment mitigation paradigm
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but the question still is what ethical system do you use
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and there are many we advocate a structural functional approach where a structural deontology in other
1:06:46
words a dutiful ethics that is applicable within the military provides the structure of the basic parameters of pre and
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proscription and then you must use a a an engagement a progression
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to what's called rule utilitarianism what are the rules and here the rules need to appreciate
1:07:03
not only what's international but international in terms of rules of conduct engagement what represents just war what
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represents just conduct within war and the lesser augustinian maximum of what represents justifiable activities
1:07:16
to prevent war that then gets translated over into act utility that act utility then needs to be fed
1:07:22
through a communitarian ethic whereby what you're doing to the individual has to be good for the force what is good for the force preserves the
1:07:28
individual and then ultimately you get down to the command and control level which engages some set of agentic or
1:07:34
virtue ethics so we actually have a structural functional format for this that i'd be happy to engage with you
1:07:40
in more detail because as you can see it's not it's not straightforward but the other issue is not just about
1:07:45
the contextuality of the effort but if what ethics is about is if you're doing good
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who's good what rationality this is the question that's been raised
1:07:56
by the philosopher aleister mcintyre so in other words what we define to be good whoever we
1:08:02
may be working within the parameters that we have for defining these things might not be a universal and there might
1:08:09
be variances and diversities in subjective and objective characteristics of good
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that are not only definable that are wholly acceptable within a particular culture and society that then dictate
1:08:20
conduct that may be very very different from what we're going to do and being aware of those ethical diversities
1:08:27
philosophical diversities and the various advantages or disadvantages they can they confer
1:08:32
and how to then be prepared for that not only the ethical bargaining table in terms of how ethics should then inform policy and perhaps international
1:08:39
law but on a very practical level in terms of what things might pop up as you're playing both ethical
1:08:45
scientific or technical whack-a-mole with your adversaries and competitors that's a deeper discussion happy to come
1:08:51
back and talk to you about that either offline or online on a forum like this but um that's a
1:08:56
work in progress and there are certainly some things that we've done and i can provide those papers to you if you'd like
1:09:02
that have tried to explore what those ethical parameters may be and some of the difficulties over well we look forward to to that uh
1:09:08
subsequent discussion here uh brianne aiken has a question brian over to you
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hi um i'm lieutenant brianna again of the officers working at the sailing
1:09:21
center at the united states naval academy my question is uh because i've seen it
1:09:26
and we've all seen it with other developmental tools that have been released that there are repercussions on
1:09:31
our sailors psychologically and physically in regards to their health so i'm wondering as we're developing new
1:09:39
neurobiological tools uh to what extent are psychologists or therapists
1:09:44
involved in that process so that when we release those tools we're already prepared as leaders or
1:09:50
support personnel to kind of anticipate those struggles that they're going to go through and make it a smooth transition
1:09:57
excellent question um there needs to be a larger level of what i'll call community engagement um again in my
1:10:05
background aerospace physiology research physiology and psychology i don't think those things
1:10:10
are are separable i don't think those things are in any way extricable what we're doing to sort of maximize physiological and
1:10:16
cognitive performance in certain aspects and what we need to be aware of is what our people may face with regard to not
1:10:22
only optimized competitors and adversaries but what they may face in terms of decrements of their own performance in
1:10:28
the battlescape need to be dealt with in a way that is biopsychosocial and what i mean by social is social
1:10:33
within the context of not only the military but status post military within the va within civil society
1:10:39
one of the things we were very aware of is something that our group referred to as peds post enhancement distress syndrome if we
1:10:45
take our people and we make them superman and superwoman what happens when they go back to being clark kent and lois lane
1:10:51
and or we really don't have the longitudinality of understanding the effects of these
1:10:57
things and individuals who are in these environments for 30 or 40 years and we're doing this to fairly young people so what are the obligate
1:11:04
responsibilities to care for those individuals that continue research to be able to understand it not
1:11:09
only when they're in when they're still in uniform when they're out and then what does that then be speak with regard to the continuity
1:11:15
of services that are engaged between the military and the va and the military and va and the society
1:11:20
at large and i can tell you right now that based upon some of the work that i've done with my colleague professor
1:11:26
john shook in many ways civic institutions are not prepared for that and that's a discourse that needs to
1:11:32
happen your point is stellar i'd be happy to help you with that if you'd like ma'am
1:11:38
professor thank you very much we have uh uh this final question here
1:11:45
uh this uh naval academy here is an undergraduate uh institution
1:11:50
uh based upon what you said today about this looming importance of relatively new
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domain of warfare how might we here in annapolis better prepare our
1:12:01
future military officers for engaging and succeeding in this new battle space
1:12:08
i mean that's a fairly easy question actually i think like anything else we're talking about science technology and engineering and
1:12:14
so making our future leaders making our military office whether it be navy whether it be army whether it be air force marine corps aware
1:12:21
of those technologies that are out there and their various applications and capabilities both in the proximate as
1:12:26
well as intermediate term that's going to define their career becomes important the first step of of
1:12:32
any one of these multiple thrust approaches for readiness and preparedness is awareness i can guarantee i can pretty much walk
1:12:37
up and down the hall at annapolis same way as i do the naval war college and say hey what do you know about neural weapons and neural performance enhancement and i get to look at
1:12:44
i get when i talk to my dog and say do you want a cracker so it's just not out there or what's ending up happening
1:12:49
is it's surrounded by a lot of either hype or dystopian ideation both of that is
1:12:54
wrong we need to cut through this any analysis begins from fact
1:13:00
what can we really do and what i mean by we we as humanity what can be done in science and technology that can be
1:13:06
translatable into these environments perhaps on our sides of the pond and perhaps unquote their sides of the pond
1:13:13
and what will that then infer and what are the implications for effective military intelligence
1:13:18
leadership during the scope of these undergraduates military career whether that's short term or long term
1:13:24
so making them aware that the fact that the science and technology is out there and that certainly it has viable
1:13:30
benefits to those whom is rendered for performance optimization health readiness
1:13:35
capabilization but also that it carries some burdens in those regards and in some cases risks
1:13:43
threats and harms when leveraged as potential weapons or when we get a group of individuals
1:13:48
who have been so enhanced creates the realities of the future battlescape that our military leaders
1:13:54
must deal with so i think awareness is a first step quantification is the second step and that can be done through curricular
1:14:00
infusion making them aware that these things are out there and part of the real tool kit for national security intelligence
1:14:05
intelligence and defense agendas is just as important as teaching them about a new torpedo a new submarine
1:14:11
a new aircraft or some form of cyber over well professor thanks uh thanks very
1:14:18
much we could we could spend the entire day on this but unfortunately our time has come to an end uh professor james giordano from
1:14:24
georgetown university and his talk today battlescape brain leading and leadership and preparedness and use
1:14:31
of neurocognitive science and in military and intelligence operations we look forward to continuing this uh
1:14:37
conversation uh in the months and years ahead we hope that you'll be part of it
1:14:42
professor giordano and the stockdale center will uh pledge to continue to offer further
1:14:48
uh topics in this broad subject of brain science and effective leadership so everyone who
1:14:55
tuned in we hope that you'll continue to engage in this discussion with the stockdale center for ethical leadership
1:15:00
from uh from annapolis maryland and loose hall the stockdale center for ethical leadership we thank you and we'll see
1:15:07
you next time thank you