Why Fight the Enemy That You Can Reprogram

Abstract

A special operations team captures a local. With only one-week of language training, the local is told, in fluent grammar, to watch a small screen with pictures on a hand-held device while another soldier holds a probe by the locals head. As the pictures change to scenes related to a suspected terrorist training camp, the probe blinks green. The local is taken back to base camp and through a series of tests reveals the location of the terrorist camp and confirms the individuals that have trained there. The local is then injected with a drug that short circuits the long-term memory creation process. When he wakes up, he has a bad headache and has a memory of falling down a hill and bumping his head. Year: 2035. Location: anywhere in the world In future wars, the ability to directly influence the enemys mind will be a reality. With technological breakthroughs, the reality of understanding the human brain has increased dramatically over the past 20 years, and amazing advances are being made daily. These changes are accelerating the creation of a whole new venue for peace and war. The weapons of the mind that were only dreamed about in previous conflicts will become operational. While these weapons will not entirely replace the classical method of fighting, there will be niche capabilities that will introduce significant threats for the United States

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 17, 2010
Accession Number
AD1018596

Entities

People

  • Douglas J. Mellars

Organizations

  • Air War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Brain Injuries
  • Computers
  • Governments
  • Health Services
  • Medical Personnel
  • Mental Health
  • Military Personnel
  • Neuroimaging
  • Parkinson'S Disease
  • Students
  • Training
  • United States
  • United States Government
  • War Colleges
  • Websites

Readers

  • Educational Psychology
  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Systems Analysis and Design