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Date: Aug. 13, 2008
Contacts: Rebecca Alvania, Media Relations Officer
Luwam Yeibio, Media Relations Assistant
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; e-mail <news@nas.edu>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
National Security Intelligence Organizations Should Monitor Advances
In Cognitive Neuroscience Research
The intelligence community has had a long-standing interest in monitoring global technology trends that could affect
A 2005 National Research Council report described a methodology for gauging the implications of new technologies and assessing whether they pose a threat to national security. In this new report, the committee applied the methodology to the neuroscience field and identified several research areas that could be of interest to the intelligence community: neurophysiological advances in detecting and measuring indicators of psychological states and intentions of individuals, the development of drugs or technologies that can alter human physical or cognitive abilities, advances in real-time brain imaging, and breakthroughs in high-performance computing and neuronal modeling that could allow researchers to develop systems which mimic functions of the human brain, particularly the ability to organize disparate forms of data.
Research in these areas is progressing rapidly both nationally and internationally within the private, government, and academic sectors. Technologies such as brain imaging and cognitive or physical enhancers are important to the health industry and desired by the public; such forces act as strong market incentives for development. As these fields continue to grow, said the committee, it will be imperative that the intelligence community be able to identify scientific advances relevant to national security when they occur. To do so will require adequate funding, intelligence analysts with advanced training in science and technology, and increased collaboration with the scientific community, particularly academia.
The study was sponsored by the Defense Intelligence Agency. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering,
Copies of Emerging Cognitive Neuroscience and Related Technologies are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above).
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[This news release and report are available at http://national-academies.org ]
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
Standing Committee for Technology Insight - Gauge, Evaluate, and Review
and
Division of Behavorial and Social Sciences and Education
Board on Behavorial, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences
Committee on Military and Intelligence Methodology for Emergent Neurophysiological and Cognitive/ Neural Science Research in the Next Two Decades
Christopher C. Green (chair)
Assistant Dean
Professor, and
Chair
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
James J. Blascovich
Professor of Psychology
Senior Research Scientist
Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
John Gannon
Vice President for Global Analysis
BAE Systems Information Technology
Director
Distinguished Professor
Department of Psychology and Social Behavior,
Department of Criminology, Law, and Society, and
Department of Cognitive Sciences
Fellow
Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
Gregory J. Moore
Professor and Director
Behavorial Neuroimaging Research Division
Jonathan D. Moreno 2
David and
John R. Rasure
President and CEO
Mind Research Network
Head
Computational Biology Department
Sandia National Laboratories
Nathan Schwade
Chemical and Biological Program Manager for Threat Reduction
Ronald L. Smith
Assistant Clinical Professor
Internal Medicine
Karen S. Walch
Associate Professor and Consultant
Alice M. Young
Professor of Psychology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience
RESEARCH COUNCIL STAFF
Carter Ford
Study Director
1 Member,