Complex and deadly “brain weapons” capable of attacking or altering human consciousness, perception, memory or behavior are no longer the stuff of science fiction, two British scientists say.
Michael Crowley and Malcolm Dando from the University of Bradford talk about publish a book which they believe should be a wake-up call to the world.
This weekend they are going to The Hague for a key meeting of statesarguing that human intelligence is the new frontier in warfare and urgent global action is needed to prevent neuroscience from being weaponized.
“It really does look like science fiction,” Crowley said. “The danger is that it becomes scientific fact.”
The book, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, explores how advances in neuroscience, pharmacology and artificial intelligence are coming together to create a new threat.
“We are entering an era where the brain itself can become a battlefield,” Crowley said. “Tools for manipulating the central nervous system—to sedate, confuse, or even coerce—are becoming more precise, more accessible, and more attractive to states.”
The book traces the fascinating, if horrific, history of government-funded research into chemicals that act on the central nervous system (CNS).
During and after the Cold War, the United States, the Soviet Union and China “actively sought” to develop weapons that act on the central nervous system, Crowley said. Their goal was to cause long-term incapacity in people, including “loss of consciousness, or sedation, or hallucinations, or incoherence, or paralysis, or disorientation.”
The only time CNS weapons were used on a large scale was in the Russian Federation in 2002. put an end to the siege of the Moscow theater. Security forces used fentanyl derivatives to end the siege in which armed Chechen fighters took 900 spectators hostage.
Most of the hostages were freed, but more than 120 died from exposure to the chemicals, and an unknown number suffered long-term damage or died prematurely.
Since then, research has made significant progress. Scientists say it is possible to create much more “sophisticated and targeted” weapons that were once unimaginable.
Dando said: “The same knowledge that helps us treat neurological disorders could be used to impair cognitive function, induce compliance or even, in the future, turn people into unsuspecting agents.”
The threat is “real and growing,” but there are gaps in international arms control treaties that prevent it from being dealt with effectively, they say.
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Dando is Emeritus Professor of International Security at the University of Bradford and a leading expert on biological and chemical weapons control. Crowley is an Honorary Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Bradford Peace and International Development Research Unit.
This weekend they will travel to The Hague, where an international body called the Conference of States Parties (CSP) will meet for its 30th session. CSP controls implementation Chemical Weapons Convention.
The book argues for the need to create a new system of “comprehensive arms control” rather than relying on existing arms control treaties. It sets out a number of practical steps that can be taken, including the establishment of a working group on CNS agents and the wider range of incapacitating agents. Other proposals relate to training, monitoring and definitions.
“We need to move from reactive management to proactive management,” Dando said.
Both men acknowledge that we are learning more about the brain and central nervous system, and this is beneficial for humanity. They said they were not trying to stifle scientific progress, but rather to prevent malicious intent.
Crowley said: “This is a wake-up call. We must act now to protect the integrity of science and the sanctity of the human mind.”
