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1 Framing the Issues
Pages 15-44

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From page 15...
... In the words of the National Security Strategy 2010, "We are strengthening our military to ensure that it can prevail in today's wars; to prevent and deter threats against the United States, its interests, and our allies and partners; and prepare to defend the United States in a wide range of contingencies against state and nonstate actors."1 In the event that deterrence fails, the United States structures and equips its armed forces with the personnel and tools they need to defeat adversary threats, although U.S. policy calls for a military approach only when other approaches, such as diplomacy, are unsuccessful in resolving disagreements between nations or controlling threats to U.S.
From page 16...
... (By contrast, the U.S. approach to armed conflict during World War II generally placed much greater emphasis on the large-scale production of weapons rather than technological superiority.)
From page 17...
... • Development is defined as "systematic application of knowledge or understanding, directed toward the production of useful materials, devices, and systems or methods, including design, development, and improvement of prototypes and new processes to meet specific requirements." An example is technical work needed to meet a particular range requirement for a particular remotely piloted aircraft. The categories of activity described above speak to how the DOD may invest in S&T research, from which may emerge findings and results that can lead to military applications.
From page 18...
... Law can thus be an expression of both ethical and societal concerns, but it is not always so. By contrast, ethical and societal considerations are not bounded by their expressions in law; indeed, some are not captured by law at all, 3 The acronym ELSI stands for "ethical, legal, and societal issues" and is strictly speaking a noun.
From page 19...
... • The interpretation of established law may depend on the particular facts and circumstances of any research problem. For example, a law may prohibit the use of human subjects under conditions that expose those subjects to significant danger.
From page 20...
... ) ,5 in part for ethical reasons.6 The BWC bans "the development, production, stockpiling, acquisition and retention of microbial or other biological agents or toxins, in types and in quantities that have no justification for prophylactic, protective or other peaceful purposes," and "weapons, equipment or means of delivery designed to use such agents or toxins for hostile purposes or in armed conflict." The actual use of biological weapons is prohibited by the 1925 Geneva Protocol.7 • In 1979, the Belmont report of the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research presented three basic ethical principles regarding the conduct of biomedical research involving human subjects: respect for persons (e.g., research subjects should be treated as autonomous)
From page 21...
... To help explore the ethical, legal, and societal issues associated with nanotechnology research, NNI agencies support two centers for nanotechnology in society, at Arizona State University and the University of California, Santa Barbara, and also incorporate ELSI components in their new nanotechnology R&D programs. Nongovernmental organizations and individuals have also mounted important efforts, which include the following: • In 1955, the Russell-Einstein manifesto addressed the dangers of nuclear war, arguing that the use of nuclear weapons threatened the continued existence of mankind.
From page 22...
... A well-known example is the story of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Recombinant DNA Advi 10 See Carl Mitcham, Encyclopedia of Science Technology and Ethics, Macmillan Reference, Detroit, Mich., 2005, p.
From page 23...
... Largely in response to this letter, the NIH in 1974 established the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee to address public concerns regarding the safety of manipulating genetic material through the use of recombinant DNA techniques.15 In 1975 and with the support of the NIH and others, the Asilomar conference hosted many of the world's leading researchers on recombinant DNA to consider the hazards of such research. One key outcome of the conference was the establishment of voluntary guidelines to improve the safety of recombinant DNA technology.16 1.3  ELSI CONSIDERATIONS FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN A NATIONAL SECURITY CONTEXT The development of any new science or technology often raises ELSI concerns.
From page 24...
... In the wake of World War I, the London Naval Treaty of 1930 outlawed unrestricted submarine warfare, a practice that allowed submarines to sink civilian ships without warning or providing for the safety of their crews.19 As a more recent example of ELSI concerns regarding science and technology for military and national security use, it is instructive to consider revelations of Senate committee hearings in the 1970s. These hearings revealed that the CIA had been conducting experiments involving the administration of hallucinogenic drugs to nonconsenting subjects who were U.S.
From page 25...
... These experimental programs originally included testing of drugs involving witting human subjects, and culminated in tests using unwitting, nonvolunteer human subjects. These tests were designed to determine the potential effects of chemical or biological agents when used operationally against individuals unaware that they had received a drug.
From page 26...
... The use of many military technologies can result in civilian deaths (e.g., "collateral damage" from military operations) , and at times civilian casualties may outnumber military casualties.
From page 27...
... In the current "war on terrorism," legal matters are further complicated by a lack of consensus as to whether countering terrorism is subject to the international law of armed conflict (LOAC) , international humanitarian law, or domestic law enforcement principles -- or some combination thereof.
From page 28...
... Thus, it becomes imperative for a State utilizing military force to justify and legitimize its actions as either a lawful right to self-defense or engagement in an armed conflict. See Molly McNab and Megan Matthews, "Clarifying the Law Relating to Unmanned Drones and the Use of Force: The Relationships Between Human Rights, Self-Defense, Armed Conflict, and International Humanitarian Law," Denver Journal of International Law and Policy 39(4, Fall)
From page 29...
... The bottom line is that both non-industrialized states and certain nonstate actors now have significantly greater access to ERA technologies, and these technologies can be used in ways that are contrary to U.S. national security interests.
From page 30...
... , what emerges from applied research may already be very close to an artifact with operational utility. The model embodying a sharp distinction between basic and applied research captures some elements of scientific progress in some fields, but it is particularly inapplicable to ERA technologies.
From page 31...
... IT is the foundational and enabling technology underlying two application domains discussed in this report, autonomous military systems and cyber weapons. IT is also fundamental to various intelligence applications, such as predictive analysis.30 • Synthetic biology.
From page 32...
... Other nations have invested 31 The Chemical Weapons Convention constrains the use of chemical nonlethal weapons in a military context. However, certain kinds of directed-energy weapons might be developed for the purpose of affecting neurological function in some (nonlethal)
From page 33...
... In this environment, policy makers feel strong pressures to shorten the time from government-supported research to useful applications -- and such pressures reduce the time available for thoughtful consideration of how these applications might fit into a larger societal context. Furthermore, much of the progress in certain ERA technologies -- information technology stands out as a notable example -- is the result of private-sector activity.
From page 34...
... 1.5  ETHICS OF ARMED CONFLICT The conduct of war has always raised ethical and societal concerns -- and to the extent that technology is an instrument of war, the use of military technologies raises such concerns as well. For example, international law (the law of armed conflict as expressed in the UN Charter and the Hague and Geneva Conventions as well as a number of other treaties)
From page 35...
... that may be associated with armed conflict, and fewer civilians know others who have served in the armed forces. Thus, many do not have a basis for making informed ELSI judgments about technologies that may be useful in modern warfare.
From page 36...
... ELSI concerns relating to the conduct of research focus primarily on the impact of doing the research on the subjects that may be involved, whether by choice or by chance. "Subjects" here are defined broadly -- communities, animals, individuals concerned about the environment, and workers in addition to those parties that are explicitly acknowledged as being research subjects.38 (ELSI concerns related to acknowledged research subjects are important, but there is today a well-developed infrastructure to address such concerns.)
From page 37...
... ELSI concerns related to technologies that can be used for both military and civilian purposes are an important subset of the second category. A decision to pursue one technology for an application in one context (a military context)
From page 38...
... • A RUSI publication, circa 2008,43 which addressed the ethics and legal implications of military unmanned vehicles. • A framework outlined by the Consortium for Emerging Technologies, Military Operations and National Security (CETMONS)
From page 39...
... Chapters 2 through 5 of this report address the first aspect, namely, the identification and articulation of possibly competing ethical perspectives. To properly consider ethical, legal, and societal issues, decision makers must begin by understanding the scope and nature of those issues.
From page 40...
... The second aspect of addressing differing ethical perspectives is just as important. Once competing ethical perspectives have been identified, how should they be weighed and who should weigh them?
From page 41...
... will be less a matter of imposing one's will and more a function of shaping behavior -- of friends, adversaries, and most importantly, the people in between."2 • Presumptions of technological superiority may deflect attention from con sideration of ethical, legal, and moral issues associated with military applications of technology. The prospect of reciprocal use has historically been a spur for reflection on the ethical implications of military applications of technologies, whereas asym metric advantage has historically had the effect of deferring and diffusing ethical deliberation.
From page 42...
... There are of course ethical, legal, and societal issues associated with these arrangements (e.g., a given arrangement may or may not raise ELSI concerns) , but because these arrangements cannot be anticipated at the research stage, addressing the ethical, legal, and societal issues associated with operational programs is not within the scope of this report.
From page 43...
... 47 Chapter 2 addresses the first three, which are foundational sciences and technologies that enable progress and applications in a variety of problem domains. Chapter 3 address the last four, which are application domains associated with specific operational military problems.
From page 44...
... The chapter explores deliberative processes as a way to expand the scope of ELSI insights that might be relevant, and an adaptive approach to planning that can mitigate some of the ELSI uncertainties that can accompany any given development. Chapter 7 describes various mechanisms that have been used to address ethical, legal, and societal issues arising from S&T endeavors, as well as considerations for the use of such mechanisms in a military context.


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