Abstract:

The use of sarin gas in Syria and the nerve agent VX to assassinate Kim Jong-nam, and ongoing efforts in brain science by both nations and non-state actors (inclusive of a growing community of do-it-yourself/biohacker scientists) prompt renewed interest in the current and near-term possibilities of developing and employing neuroweapons. Discourse at the most recent meeting of Biological, Toxin, and Weapons Convention (BTWC), and ongoing efforts of a Working Group of the European Union Human Brain Project reinforced the need to more rigorously address research and use of weaponizable brain science.

In this briefing, neuroscientist and neuroethicist Dr. James Giordano of Georgetown University Medical Center discusses how new developments in brain science afford potential utility in military, intelligence and warfare operations, addresses implications of neuroweapons, and details the need for improved identification, surveillance, guidance and governance of brain science that can be used in military and warfare applications, and thus pose defined risk and threat to security interests.

Dr. James Giordano is Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Biochemistry, Chief of the Neuroethics Studies Program, and Co-director of the O'Neill-Pellegrino Program in Brain Science and Global Health Law and Policy at the Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC. He is a Senior Researcher and Task Leader of the Working Group on Dual-Use of the EU Human Brain Project, and has served as a Senior Science Advisory Fellow of the Strategic Multilayer Assessment group of the Joint Staff of the Pentagon.