There is an adage that the fruits of scientific achievement applicable to real-world settings tend to blossom with the fertilization of time and trends. Therein lies considerable truth, as the past few decades have shown iterative innovations that result in ever newer tools and capabilities... Some fifteen years ago, in response to a broad agency announcement (BAA) issued by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), our research group proposed a novel system of real-time remote biosensing, which we called the tiered integrative tracking and analysis network (TITAN) to enable feed-forward mediation of deployed warfighters’ responses, resistance and/or resilience to in-theater biological burdens, risks and threats. Like so many such proposals, the idea certainly was valid, and had potential value, but gaps in technological capability (e.g.- sensing, communications, computational efficiency and reliability, etc.) constrained its viability.
Fast forward to the present. The Special Operations Forces deployment of an advanced wearable physiological monitoring system developed by LifeLens Technologies and integrated within the Wearable All-hazard Remote-monitoring Program (WARP) affords further progress toward realization of human-machine integration in military operations (i.e.- what has been called the “Cyborg Soldier” construct).
The Current Paradigm: Real-Time Physiological Intelligence
In the main, such biotechnologically-oriented approaches entail two dimensions of interfacing, assessment technologies and interventional technologies, which can be used separately or concomitantly in reciprocity. The WARP system integrates 25 miniaturized sensors that are capable of continuous physiological monitoring and environmental threat detection, establishing the first comprehensive real-time biological intelligence network for the deployed warfighter. The continuous monitoring of heart rate, stress indicators, fatigue markers, and environmental exposures creates the foundational physiological mapping required for developing more advanced closed-loop, real time biological assessment-and-intervention systems. This technology, while nascent, should be seen as an essential first phase of cyborg integration.
Building Neurotechnological Bridges:
Vagus Nerve Stimulation: The Autonomic Control Interface
The logical progression from passive monitoring to active intervention becomes apparent via the integration potential of currently available neuromodulation technologies. Toward such ends, the use of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) technology with the current physiological monitoring framework is perhaps the most immediately feasible expansion of the WARP system toward the cyborg soldier concept. The vagus nerve is a principal pathway linking the brain to the heart, lungs, and digestive tract. As part of the parasympathetic nervous system, which maintains autonomic functions, the vagus nerve mediates control of heart rate, stress (i.e.-sympathetic nervous system) responses, homeostasis, inflammation, and cognitive processing.
The monitoring capabilities of the WARP system provide the precise biometrics necessary for closed-loop VNS interventions. When physiological markers indicate excessive sympathetic activation or inflammatory responses that can occur under stressful conditions (including combat, harsh environment and/or bio- or chemical agent exposure, etc.), linked automated VNS could restore physiological balance and improved cognitive function without conscious intervention by the warfighter.
Brain Modulation Integration.
The existing WARP network provides biometric indices that could also be used for targeted neuromodulatory interventions using transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) and/or transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). While both techniques are fieldable, the ease of tES (viz.- quick donning/doffing, and lightweight portable electrical generators) makes it more viable for use in austere, deployed settings. The accoutrements needed for TMS are less portable, but are still operationalizable in command post and rear-deployed settings. When coupled to real-time physiological data streams, these neuromodulatory approaches could be utilized to optimize cognitive performance parameters in response to detected stress, fatigue, or high information load settings. Consider the operational implications: a warfighter experiencing elevated stress and declining cognitive focus, as detected by the current WARP system, could receive immediate transcranial stimulation to enhance cognitive function and decision-making and action-executing capabilities. As well, environmental sensor integration becomes particularly crucial, as biothreat exposure warnings could trigger preventive neuromodulation protocols designed to enhance cognitive and physiological resistance, resilience, and/or recovery.
Closed-Loop Pharmacological Defense Systems
Environmental monitoring capabilities could also be paired with automated pharmacological countermeasure delivery systems. Chemical and biological threat detection sensors currently being integrated with the LifeLens platform provide the environmental intelligence necessary for predictive pharmaceutical interventions. For example, envision a system where detection of exposure to some bio/chemical weapon initiates rapid, automated delivery of specific antidotes through wearable drug delivery systems. The WARP monitoring component would provide real-time feedback on physiological state, effect of the threat agent(s), and effectiveness of countermeasures, which would facilitate dynamic adjustment of antidote dosing, as well as real-time relaying of warfighter information to prompt activation of rescue medical services (e.g.- medical supply drones) as needed. This closed-loop pharmaceutical system could be extended beyond defensive applications to include administration of cognitive and physiological performance optimizing agents, which are monitored and regulated by the integrative biosensing and intervention network. Innovations in distributed biomanufacturing could also come into play here, as a future capability for local production of therapeutics in the field.
Strategic Implications of Human-Machine Integration
The progression from the current WARP system to full cyborg integration is a major technological advancement, and fundamental transformation of the joint warfighter, and human warfighting capabilities. The integration of real-time physiological monitoring with active neuromodulation, autonomic regulation, and automated pharmaceutical interventions creates a warfighter whose biological and cognitive performance can be continuously and automatically optimized. This technological integration directly addresses three warfighter vulnerabilities: cognitive burden and limitations under stress, physiological degradation in adverse environments, and delayed response to biochemical threats. The WARP system provides a platform upon which to build and iteratively contribute to the cyborg soldier construct in ways that could mitigate these warfighter limitations and obtain performance optimization(s) through technological augmentation in ways that surpass the capabilities and benefits afforded by training or equipment alone.
Operational and Ethical Considerations
Operationally, such a system requires rigorous protection from digital intrusion or hacking, as well as from adversarial tracking in theater. Adversaries may not attempt to monitor data and health of operators, but could potentially manipulate such data to reflect inaccuracies to the user or the monitoring entity for malicious outcomes. And the evolution toward cyborg integration clearly fosters a number of ethical questions about balancing benefit, burden and risk for the warfighter, both on active duty and once separated from service; and the military, at-large. The automated nature of these interventions demands careful consideration of consent, reversibility, and long-term biological effects. The real-time transmission of detailed physiological data also creates vulnerabilities in the security of information that can be (1) manipulated for disruptive effects, and/or (2) usurped toward developing precision pathologies that target key military individuals or collectives in specifically disruptive or destructive ways.
As well, integration of these technologies can create new dimensions of military capability that could reshape international law and the conduct of warfare. For instance, the enhanced performance capabilities of cyborg-augmented forces may necessitate new frameworks for military engagement, conflict resolution, and the regard and treatment of (bio-enhanced) prisoners of war. So, while the current WARP platform provides a viable foundation for systematic progression toward comprehensive human-machine integration, any such progress should also entail creating failsafe mechanisms to prevent system compromise or malfunction, and developing doctrine, policy and ethical oversight.
The deployment of advanced physiological monitoring to Special Operations Forces demonstrates a notable step toward realizing the cyborg soldier. Clearly, moves toward increasingly integrating technology with the biology of the warfighter have begun, and perhaps with it, the next chapter in the bio-evolution of warfare itself. The task at hand is to gauge the pace and extent that such capabilities will be implemented, and to do so with insight to their benefits, burdens and risks, and foresight to establish ethics and policies to soundly guide and govern their development and use in practice.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this essay are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the United States government, Department of Defense, or the National Defense University.
Dr. James Giordano is Director of the Center for Disruptive Technology and Future Warfare of the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University.
Dr. Diane DiEuliis is Distinguished Research Fellow of the Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction of the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University.