The Men Who Stare at Goats

MWSAG had a 'nice' (read 'new age'), albeit outdated message and 'interesting' (read 'Hollywood') depictions of government research into psychological operations and non-lethal weapons technologies, but it lacked any serious 'future' considerations of how such 'psyop' is increasingly becoming 'neurowarfare'.

The pseudoscience of Remote Viewing, MKULTRA, etc. was focused on two things: (1) 'enhancing' select special operations soldier performance, and (2) alternative means of interrogation. This was trial and error pseudoscience (read 'science motivated by subjective self-reports') with ad hoc and flawed research methodology, which, of course, resulted in large margins of error (read lack of ability to reproduce results on cue). One step further, the electronic warfare age non-lethal weapons thrust of the 90s looked at innovative ways to psychophysiologically affect targets (Long Range Acoustical Devices, Extremely Low Frequency Radiation, etc.).

The first iteration of the neuro stuff, which The Men Who Stare at Goats did not touch upon, is about process improvement (i.e. augmented cognition, neurotechnology for intelligence analysts).Logically and truly, the next iteration is for neuro to re-penetrate the subjective element, such as in neurotechnologies (drugs, diagnostics, and devices) for improving warfighter performance. That these technologies are a priority is evidenced by Opportunities in Neuroscience for Future Army Applications (NAP, 2009). I speculate that a new iteration of how neuro- will be used to help tag, track, locate, target, (TTLT) and, ultimately, 'kill' targets. The TTLT part of it is reflected in the rise of brain-based credibility assessment methodologies (i.e. brain fingerprinting). The kill aspect could be soft kill (i.e. conversion, de-motivation) or hard kill (i.e. lethal neural agents, neurodegenerative diseases).

The national security implications due to these emerging technologies are real. For instance, radicals can utilize sophisticated 'neuromarketing' methodologies to fine tune terrorist recruiting processes [process improvement]; use neuropharmaceuticals to dope up their own 'armies' [subjective enhancement]; use mind-machine interfaces to launch soft power (i.e. manipulation of media)  campaigns; and/or develop neurodegenerative agents to kill [object-oriented]. These are easily accessible technologies, which, unlike nuclear proliferation, do not require acquisition of hard to obtain materials (i.e. refined uranium), and do not require hard to find specialists (i.e. anonymous nuclear scientists). This is an area that the DIA TWD (Defense Intelligence Agency Technology Warning Division) is very interested in, as evidenced in the book Emerging Cognitive Neuroscience and Related Technologies (NAP, 2008).