Current joint warfighters are no longer merely trained — in many ways, they are increasingly bioengineered. Within the contemporary warfighting paradigms, the body becomes a domain of technological inscription, where interventions collapse the boundary between therapy and enhancement, transforming organic bodies into operational platforms fortified for tactical efficiency and strategic imperatives. This transformation is not neutral; it is intentional, and thus, the warfighter becomes a node in a cybernetic network whereby the enhanced warfighter is not just more capable, but more compliant, less interruptible, and increasingly interwoven with the ethics of technology. In this light, we propose a framework for military neuroethics that is attuned to the ontological realities and relational consequences of bioenhancement. It acknowledges the ideology of optimization and remains attentive to the contingencies of human involvement in the exigencies of warfighting. Cognizant of a future of conflict that is increasingly automated, it asserts that the human, while biotechnologically altered, is not obsolete; and with this recognition, this article addresses both the need for tactical advantage and the strategic imperatives for the human remaining in command and control.

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Elise Annett is an Institutional Research Associate in the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy at the National Defense University. Dr. John Shook is a Non-Resident Research Fellow in the Center for Disruptive Technology and Future Warfare, Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), at the National Defense University. Dr. James Giordano is the Director of the Center for Disruptive Technology and Future Warfare, Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), at the National Defense University.