Mad Scientist Laboratory

“It’s just crazy how we are supposed to be the greatest fighting force on Earth, and these third rate actors are running circles around us using mobile games.”  — SGM Lee, Task Force Wolf

[Editor’s Note:  Our adversaries continue to probe, watch, and learn… driven to rapidly innovate in their quest for asymmetric advantage.  Harnessing Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, they could converge the power and reach of gaming, the mass of like-minded “virtual nations” of individuals, and nefarious tactics like “Deep-Snapping,” “Spot-Blowing,” “Husking,” and Swatting to out-compete and out-influence the greatest global military power.

In today’s post and podcast, we feature the winning submission from our Back to the Future Writing Contest — Task Force Wolf — as a short audiobook and then interview its author — proclaimed Mad Scientist LTC Daniel Gomez — about his inspiration for the story, the impact of democratized technology and ubiquitous connectivity on the future of warfare, and why we should be experimenting with these commercially-available capabilities — Enjoy!]

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LTC Daniel Gomez currently serves in the U.S. Army Reserve as an Instructor of Innovation and Creativity at Joint Special Operations University, United States Special Operations Command. During his twenty years in service, LTC Gomez served two combat tours in Iraq, two Special Operations deployments to the Pacific Theater, and five years as an instructor, scenario designer, and course manager at the United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. LTC Gomez is the CEO of First Person Xperience LLC, an education and training company focused on teaching Creativity, Adaptability, and Human Dynamics to National Defense Professionals.

In our latest episode of The Convergence podcast, Army Mad Scientist asks proclaimed Mad Scientist LTC Daniel Gomez about his inspiration for his winning submission Task Force Wolf, the impact of democratized technology and ubiquitous connectivity on the future of warfare, and why we should be experimenting with these commercially-available capabilities.  The following bullet points highlight key insights from our conversation:

• • • In LTC Gomez’s story, JTF Wolf is designed to track and interrupt illicit operations in Eurasia, specifically Turkey and its northern neighbors. His re-imagined geo-political structure describes the New Soviet Union and T’China (Taiwan re-joined with mainland China) as global powers using irregular and liminal  warfare, regionally and internationally.

• • • Non-state actors have employed mobile video games, ubiquitous connectivity, and cryptocurrency to conduct multi-domain, synchronized operations across multiple geospatial regions while operating as independent and self-sustained, but distributed, joint teams. Built-in communications software was leveraged for real-time translation of over 100 different languages.

• • • These teams were able to access home camera video feeds and manipulate them with deepfakes (Deep-Snapping) and access car toll passes to search for less than reputable locations for blackmail (Spot-Blowing) to charge victims monthly fees to support their illicit business. They identified and exploited extremely vulnerable persons (Husking) to activate burner satellite phones that ran one-time use scripts to issue blackmail statements and then received payment in cryptocurrency that was washed in a cash-out marketplace.

• • • LTC Gomez believes that many technologies, their convergences, and associated Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) are being ignored or neglected by the defense community.  He wrote Task Force Wolf to highlight how these new technologies could be converged and implemented in unforeseen ways, affecting global security.

• • • LTC Gomez highlighted several hypothetical vulnerabilities to unarmed operators in permissive or semi-permissive environments who aren’t being targeted for kinetic effects, but are being attacked in other ways that significantly degrade their ability to conduct operations or deny them altogether.

• • • Many of the TTPs featured in the story were inspired by real capabilities from current video games and technology used by the author. They reflect potential ways current militaries could operate or wish to operate (real-time communications and translation, distributed teams across varying time zones, multi-domain operations) via extant capabilities from commercial entities, outside of conventional military acquisition supply chains.

• • • LTC Gomez makes the convincing case for BLUFOR teams experimenting with non-DoD technologies to explore their potential integration into military practice, fail in a safe environment, and exploit the commercial sector’s rapid and responsive development and acquisition cycles.

Stay tuned to the Mad Scientist Laboratory for our next episode of The Convergence on June 15, 2023, when we’ll talk with the Mad Scientist James Gang — Dr. James Giordano
and Dr. James Canton — two of our finest proclaimed Mad Scientists addressing the convergence of neuroscience and artificial intelligence, its impact on future warfare, and where the U.S. falls short in technology development relative to our competitors/adversaries.

If you enjoyed this post, check out the following related content:

Virtual Nations: An Emerging Supranational Cyber Trend, by proclaimed Mad Scientist Marie Murphy

Gaming Information Dominance and Russia-Ukraine Conflict: Sign Post to the Future (Part 1), by Kate Kilgore

The Exploitation of our Biases through Improved Technology, by Raechel Melling

What the Joint Force can learn from K-Pop “Stans” by Matthew Ader

Extremism on the Horizon: The Challenges of VEO Innovation, by Colonel Montgomery Erfourth and Dr. Aaron Bazin

Hybrid Threats and Liminal Warfare and associated podcast, with proclaimed Mad Scientist Dr. David Kilcullen

The Classified Mind – The Cyber Pearl Harbor of 2034, by proclaimed Mad Scientist  Dr. Jan Kallberg

Weaponized Information: What We’ve Learned So Far…, Insights from the Mad Scientist Weaponized Information Series of Virtual Events, and all of this series’ associated content and videos 

In It to Win It: Competition, Crisis, & Conflict

Is Ours a Nation at War? U.S. National Security in an Evolved — and Evolving — Operational Environment and the comprehensive publication from which it was excerpted — Is Ours a Nation at War? Proceedings for the TRADOC G-2 2021 “Role of America’s Army in National Defense, 2021-2030” Campaign of Learning, published by our colleagues at the Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Army Futures Command (AFC), or Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).

[Editor’s Note:  Army Mad Scientist teamed with the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy (SGM-A) at Ft. Bliss, Texas, in executing their annual writing contest for the fourth year in a row.  Mad Scientist Laboratory is pleased to feature the SGM-A Class 73’s winning submission by Master Sergeant Greg A. McGowan as today’s guest blog post.  Exploring the convergence of several themes familiar to our regular readers, MSG McGowan posits a future where the pursuit of Soldier overmatch may lead the Army to harness nanotechnology, neurotechnology, and Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) to ensure continued warfighter dominance and enhance recruiting and retention.  While some may recoil at the associated ethical challenges that the transhumanist aspects of these technologies may portend, consider this — an asymmetry of ethics exists, where our autocratic adversaries’ whole-of-government commitment to modernization and the development of disruptive technologies will remain a key component of the Operational Environment for the foreseeable future.  We can either engage in the pursuit of these capabilities (albeit within the confines of our ethical values and legal norms), or be relegated to a disadvantageous global position in the decades ahead — Read on!]

Universal Soldier

Imagination is the only limit to the development of future weapons used in warfare. Technological advancements on the battlefield play an instrumental role in determining global dominance. As weapons continue to merge with unimaginable technology, it is only a matter of time before Soldiers are forced to do the same to survive on future battlefields. Future steps in human evolution will require blending humankind with technology to develop a warfighter capable of surviving in futuristic wars. To advance the capabilities of future Soldiers, the U.S. Government should explore the implementation of nanotechnology, neurotechnology, and Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) in our warfighters. Creating an advanced super Soldier is only a matter of time. Providing these advanced technologies in the U.S. Army will provide vast improvements in the recruitment and retention of Soldiers. According to O’Hanion (2018), military technology will advance faster over the next twenty years than in past decades. It is essential to find technological enablers that will allow for radical change. The U.S. military should take the lead in these developments to offer our warfighters the most advanced capabilities in the history of humankind. To remain dominant in global conflicts and maintain geopolitical influence, the U.S. should develop and integrate advanced scientific solutions to improve the warfighter’s intelligence, strength, and capacity to win the Nation’s wars.

Nanotechnology

As the military continues developing scientific solutions for current, future, and unforeseen problems, nanotechnology is a primary area to explore. Nanotechnology can improve military equipment and medical treatment, allowing for advanced Soldier readiness. According to the National Nanotechnology Initiative (n.d.), nanotechnology consists of research, application, and engineering conducted at the nanoscale of 1 to 100 nanometers. For reference, a single grain of sand is about 500,000 nanometers in diameter, and a strand of human deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is 2.5 nanometers. Nanoscience creates the ability to see and manipulate individual atoms and molecules which make up all matter (National Nanotechnology Initiative, n.d.). Applying this technology to improve Soldiers’ health and readiness is a force multiplier. Nanotechnology in medicine allows for early diagnosis of diseases, targeted drug delivery, tissue regeneration, and the ability to personalize medication to the individual Soldier. According to Percan et al. (2013), the ability to engineer tissue through nanoscience is a promising alternative for organ transplantation and treating burns to restore full vascular function. An additional medical benefit that will improve Soldiers’ health is the ability of nano medication to target specific locations. According to Rizvi and Saleh (2018), nanoparticle medication facilitates drug transportation through membranes and cellular walls within the body, targeting specific areas of need. Most current medications flood the whole body, treating areas that do not have symptoms and creating side effects that nanomedicines prevent.

In addition to the medical advancements that nanotechnology provides Soldiers, equipment improvements using the same science will improve tactical mobility and lethality. Nanomaterials have shown tremendous strength and energy absorption that future Soldiers could wear in combat. Nanomaterials are incredibly light, allowing for greater mobility and improved protection. To elaborate, technology in nanomaterials is the ability to manipulate fibers at a nano level into the shape of cylindrical tubes. According to Shuangyuan et al. (2022), using nanotechnology to create body armor using materials shaped in pentagonal and hexagonal rings bonded at atomic sizes strengthens the material by 45% over conventional body armor. Nanotechnology used for designing and shaping materials at the nano level can also improve the strength and lower the weight of ballistic helmets and combat vehicles. Nanomaterials not only reduce weight but will improve bullet and shrapnel protection. In the not-so-distant future, nanotechnology will reach the point that the combat uniform, when made with a perfect blend of material and atomic formation, will provide enough ballistic capabilities that body armor is no longer necessary.

Another advantage future Soldiers will require is the capacity for improved energy storage. As Soldiers spend more days away from sustainment in an expeditionary environment, their equipment becomes useless when conventional batteries drain. Nanotechnology is currently addressing this problem by changing energy storage capabilities. According to Deng et al. (2016), using unique self-assembling nanomembranes in three-dimensional formations will advance energy storage, becoming a renewable energy source. The implication for this is that future Soldiers will have batteries that power their communication devices for weeks rather than days, at reduced weight and size. Another power generation advantage is the ability to store weeks of electricity in a battery no larger than a typical suitcase, negating the need to pull additional trailers with large generators. Now that future U.S. Soldiers have the advantage of energy storage, protective equipment, and medical treatment through nanotechnology, they will become even smarter using neurotechnology.

Neurotechnology

To fight and win wars of the future when faced with unimaginable weapons, artificial intelligence can augment and increase human intelligence. Soldiers need the intellectual capacity to create advanced solutions to ill-structured problems in ways the current human brain cannot produce in a timely manner. The speed at which a country and its Soldiers analyze data and react optimally will factor heavily into future battlefield outcomes. Neurotechnology can provide U.S. Soldiers with this advantage. According to Muller and Rotter (2017), neurotechnology is the ability to link computers, mechanical components, and intelligent prostheses with the human nervous system. In short, neurotechnology will create hybrid Soldiers capable of computing information at lightning-fast speeds. Typically, this will require brain implants, currently in production and testing phases at companies such as Neuralink. According to Neuralink.com (2023), their device is an implantable brain-computer that allows a human to manipulate software and body movements through electrical impulses.

Current capabilities enable paralyzed people to perform essential functions such as controlling the mouse on a computer screen and opening and closing a prosthetic hand using brain waves or thinking about desired actions (Neuralink.com, 2023). Future implications of neurotechnology include integrating a fully implemented computer into the human brain. Instant access to advanced knowledge through thought will replace internet searching for information. Unimaginable intellectual advancements will occur when Neuralink-type implants connect to internet capabilities through satellites over the battlefield. The human brain could process information faster than currently available technologies, unlocking the capacity to commit new information to memory with astonishing recall accuracy. Mistakes and miscalculations during planning and decision-making processes may decrease to near zero. As developed nations implement neurotechnology into a human interface, wars will evolve into hacking minds to disrupt thought capabilities, ushering in a new era of cyberwarfare.

Neurotechnology is not without ethical concerns. However, this is the natural path of evolution that humankind has set. Younger generations will not hesitate when presented with the opportunity to have computer-interfaced brain implants. According to Vergun (2021), the younger generation in the digital age is comfortable operating technically complex systems and will continue to grow technologically savvy. It is important to note that Soldiers of the future who do not adopt this technology will have a significant disadvantage in the world. Like students worldwide who cannot afford a computer or smartphone, or businesses that failed to adopt the internet and went bankrupt, early adopters will benefit the most. Interfacing neurotechnology and humans becomes as powerful as the source of information available. The better the artificial intelligence, the better the human. Early developments in artificial intelligence have already become available to general consumers.

ChatGPT, an artificially intelligent technology with natural language processing tools, is capable of humanlike conversations and advanced problem-solving. According to Delaney (2023), ChatGPT, when evaluated, has passed numerous medical, law, and business exams in multiple-choice and essay-style testing. Combining this technology with a Neuralink device, the human Soldier may never require formal education. Additionally, the Army could use this future technology to make their Soldiers skilled in multiple languages and cultures. With advancements in nanotechnology and neurotechnology, advanced physical capabilities are the only component left to create a universal Soldier. Gene editing will account for this in future warfighters.

Gene Editing

One of the most significant reasons Soldiers cannot deploy to combat results from medical issues, including behavioral health issues and physical limitations. According to Ferdinando (2018), over 280,000 service members are nondeployable at any given time, 13% of the total military. Non-deployability reduces readiness and puts additional strain on units to accomplish their mission with fewer personnel. To compound personnel shortage issues, recruiting is difficult, considering less than 30% of Americans meet the qualifications to serve (Myers, 2017). The future of physically and mentally stronger Soldiers may lie in the power of gene editing. Gene editing can be accomplished via  Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, or CRISPR. According to the National Library of Medicine (2022), CRISPR gene editing technology can alter DNA by removing undesirable traits and adding healthier, ideal genomes. Doctors and scientists using gene editing technology can treat and prevent diseases from cancer to mental illness and improve human characteristics such as athletic traits and cardiovascular function. Gene editing technology is in the early stages of development, but as recently as 2021 helped a blind woman see. According to Shwartz (2018), gene editing is like discovering and fixing a typo in a book, except it is in DNA, and the discrepancies consist of incorrect DNA sequences.

An additional way that gene editing can benefit future Soldiers is through its preventive medicine capabilities. Gene editing opens a new field of debate for the future of biological warfare. According to Lau (2021), CRISPR technology allows bioterrorists to create extremely deadly biological weapons capable of quickly spreading diseases or altering human behavior. However, the same CRISPR technology can prevent illnesses resulting from biological weapons. Through gene editing and CRISPR technology, future Soldiers do not have to suffer from bioweapons due to their immunity. The ability to keep warfighters on the front line under biological contamination is a great benefit to continue advancing attacks. But potentially more impressive is the amount of money the U.S. Government would save in disability claims and the ability to extend the career of Soldiers lost due to illness and disease. Gene editing could provide Soldiers with healthier, fitter lives and prolong their peak fitness levels that typically degrade with age, resulting in a small number of Soldiers having the ability to serve twenty years or longer. According to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation (2022), the U.S. Government uses approximately 3% of the federal budget on veteran programs for a total of $234 billion in 2021, half of which result from a service-connected disability. As the cost of CRISPR technology becomes more affordable, the savings in health service costs become too great to ignore. In short, gene editing may open the pool of potential recruits, extend the expected capability to serve, allow Soldiers to stay on the front lines longer, and eliminate mental health issues in future Soldiers. Imagination is the only limit to the capabilities future technologies may provide warfighters.

Imagine the Possibilities

A genetically and technologically advanced civilization is the natural course in the evolution of humankind. For centuries, advancements in humans have vastly improved knowledge, physical strength, and life expectancy. In the not-so-distant future, it is not only Soldiers who will have access to these evolutionary advancements. Naturally, early adopters of future technologies will begin with high-income civilians. As future technologies’ prices decrease and become attainable for the general consumer, the military will not have the luxury of waiting on the sideline to adopt nanotechnology, neurotechnology, and gene editing.

Through refined and updated versions of neural implants, educational institutions will meet the same fate as record players and drive-in movie theaters. Few colleges will exist as nothing more than nostalgic relics available as an alternative means to learn. In the future, for a relative price in attaining a degree today, humans will download their chosen profession directly into their minds, with available updates as knowledge advances in their field of work. According to Inafuku et al. (n.d.), the human mind is a complicated computer that functions on an electrochemical foundation and it is a matter of time before neural structures fully integrate into modern-day computing capabilities. Incentivizing human scientific advancements will vastly improve U.S. Army recruitment and retention.

Recruitment and Retention Implications

Access to future technologies will remain too expensive for most working-class individuals. The military may have the opportunity to recruit talented citizens by offering skills and military occupational specialties that will download directly into a Soldier’ implanted device. Immediate access to job knowledge will reduce the time needed for initial entry training, placing Soldiers in their units almost immediately. Skill levels will remain consistent with the time in grade and experience in the Army. For instance, a mechanic who applies satisfactory skills at ten-level duties and achieves three successful years in the Army will gain access to skill level two knowledge through a software download. Slowly developing and allotting downloadable knowledge will afford career growth while limiting the costs of Soldiers that do not stay beyond their initial contract. In the future, as neurotechnology phases out the need for colleges, recruiting the most capable officers will follow in a similar style. However, selecting officer candidates may primarily result from behavioral testing before commissioning and granting access to advanced secret or top-secret information and skill sets. Recruitment may also improve, allowing civilians who previously failed to meet health requirements to serve after gene modifications, such as curing asthma. Applying gene editing advancements to cure common diseases or disabilities will open a broader range of candidates for enlistment. Gene editing procedures would work as enlistment bonuses for highly qualified candidates selecting high-priority occupational specialties.

Retention rates will climb with Soldiers who value world-class healthcare. According to Miller (2018), a survey showed that six out of ten employees in the U.S. said that liking their health coverage is a critical factor when deciding to stay at their current job. Offering a gene editing, quality of life opportunity to Soldiers who make a career decision to enlist indefinitely will retain talent. For example, restoring vision loss or treating degenerative disc disease as a reenlistment option will improve job satisfaction and retention. Suppose the Army offers neurotechnology, nanotechnology, and gene editing packages as recruitment and reenlistment bonuses — this could yield an abundance of applicants, enabling the Army to choose only the highest quality candidates to serve.

Conclusion

As the future of warfighting continues to gain perspective, it becomes more evident that the evolution of warfighters becomes more substantial and more intelligent through technological advancements to win future wars. Nanotechnology could provide light, mobile equipment to advance power storage, ballistic protection, and medical advancements tailored to the individual. Neurotechnology could promote the intellectual capacity of Soldiers to that of advanced artificial intelligence. Additionally, neurotechnology could provide a more outstanding quality of life for veterans injured in war with mind-controlled prostheses. Lastly, gene editing and CRISPR technologies could open the doors for sustained combat operations through bacterial and biological immunity and cure previously untreatable diseases resulting in the ability for the average Soldier to serve years longer than previously possible. Technological advancement in the knowledge, skills, and health of Soldiers could enhance recruitment and retention efforts. The future of warfare is uncertain. What is certain is the requirement to act in the evolution of the future warfighter, blending technology and humankind. Science holds the key to human advancement. Failure to lead in the sciences of nanotechnology, neurotechnology, and gene editing may result in the loss of major wars and geopolitical influence. What seems like science fiction today could be common practice tomorrow. Future generations may not hesitate when offered advanced technological capabilities of physical and mental strength, regardless of what ethical pundits believe.

If you enjoyed this post, check out the following related content:

The Intelligent Battlefield of the Future and associated podcast, with proclaimed Mad Scientist Dr. Alexander Kott

Cyborg Soldier 2050: Human/Machine Fusion and the Implications for the Future of the DOD and its associated report from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Chemical Biological Center

China’s Brain Trust: Will the U.S. Have the Nerve to Compete? by proclaimed Mad Scientist Dr. James Giordano, as well as his Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and the Future of War and Neuroscience and the Weapons of War podcasts, hosted by our colleagues at the Modern Warfare Institute

Linking Brains to Machines, and Use of Neurotechnology to the Cultural and Ethical Perspectives of the Current Global Stage and Designer Genes: Made in China? by proclaimed Mad Scientist Dr. James Giordano and Joseph DeFranco 

Battle of the Brain

Old Human vs. New Human

Unplanned Obsolescence, by Eric X. Hammes

Dead Deer, and Mad Cows, and Humans (?) … Oh My! by proclaimed Mad Scientists LtCol Jennifer Snow and Dr. James Giordano, and  Joseph DeFranco

Chatty Cathy, Open the Pod Bay Doors: An Interview with ChatGPT and associated podcast, with  Chatty Cathy, an instance of ChatGPT by OpenAI

Recruiting the All-Volunteer Force of the Future, by proclaimed Mad Scientist Caroline Duckworth

Sine Pari, Keeping the Edge, CRISPR Convergence, and Great Power Conflict: 2040, by proclaimed Mad Scientist Howard R. Simkin

 Connected Warfare by COL James K. Greer (USA-Ret.)

Ethics, Morals, and Legal Implications; Ethical Dilemmas of Future Warfare; and The Ethics and the Future of War panel discussion, facilitated by LTG Jim Dubik (USA-Ret.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Army Futures Command (AFC), or Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).

References

Delaney, M. (2023). AI language bot chatgpt can pass parts of business, law, and medical exams. Washington Times. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/jan/29/chatgpt-ai-language-bot-can-pass-business-law-and-/

Deng, J., Lu, X., Zhang, L., & Schmidt, O. (2016). Introducing rolled-up nanotechnology for advanced energy storage devices. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/aenm.201600797

Ferdinando, L. (2018). Pentagon releases new policy on nondeployable members. DOD News. https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/1443092/pentagon-releases-new-policy-on-nondeployable-members/#:~:text=On%20any%20given

Inafuku, J., Lampert, K., Lawson, B., Stehly, S., & Vaccaro, A. (n.d.). Downloading consciousness. Stanford University.

Lau, P. (2021). Gene editing used as a weapon, and what to do about it. Phys.org. https://phys.org/news/2021-11-gene-weapon.html

Miller, S. (2018). Employees are more likely to stay if they like their health plan. SHRM.org https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/benefits/pages/health-benefits-foster-retention.aspx

Myers, M. (2017). Top recruiter: Just 136,000 out of 33 million young Americans would join the Army. Army Times. https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2017/10/12/top-recruiter-just-136000-out-of-33-million-young-americans-would-join-the-army

National Library of Medicine. (2022). What are genome editing and crispr-cas9?       https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/genomicresearch/genomeediting/

Neuralink.com (2023). Engineering with the brain. https://neuralink.com/applications/

O’Hanion, E. (2018). Forecasting change in military technology, 2020-2040. Brookings University. https://www.brookings.edu/research/forecasting-change-in-military-

Peran, M., Garcia, M., Lopez-Ruiz, E., Jimenez, G., & Marchal, J. (2013). How can nanotechnology help to repair the body? Advances in cardiac, skin, bone, cartilage, and nerve tissue regeneration. National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5452318/

Peter G. Peterson Foundation. (2022). Spending on veterans in the budget. https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2022/08/spending-on-veterans-in-thebudget#:~:text=Spending

Rizvi, S., & Saleh, A. (2018). Applications of nanoparticle systems in drug delivery technology. National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5783816/

Shuangyan, Wu., Sikdar, P., & Bhat, G. (2022). Recent progress in developing ballistic and anti-impact materials: nanotechnology and main approaches.  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214914722001386

Shwartz, M. (2018). Target, delete, repair. Crispr is a revolutionary gene-editing tool, but it’s not without risk. Stanford Magazine. https://stanmed.stanford.edu/crispr-for-gene-editing-is-revolutionary-but-it-comes-with-risks/

Vergun. D. (2021). Leaders discuss future warfighting on an unpredictable battlespace.  U.S. Department of Defense. https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/2672412/leaders-discuss-future-warfighting-on-an-unpredictable-

 

“The Convergence of AI, robotics, and cyber-warfare could create new and highly complex military capabilities such as autonomous weapons systems that can make decisions in real time” — ChatGPT

[Editor’s Note:  As described in the previous episode of The Convergence podcast, large language models like ChatGPT — democratizing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) — will potentially revolutionize (and disrupt!) how people around the globe access, process, and generate information from the wealth of online data — per TechCrunch, “estimated at 97 zettabytes (10²¹ bytes) created or replicated in 2022 alone!  To put that number into perspective, to store 97 zettabytes on 1 terabyte hard disks, you’d have to stack the disks 27 million times—equal to roughly 15 round trips between the Earth and the Moon.”  Big Data indeed!  As the Internet transformed our lives some three decades ago, allowing us to harness and access this mass of online information, so too will democratized AI transform and augment how we learn, work, create, and — most importantly to the U.S. Army — compete and fight… and not just in the Cyber Domain!

Our adversaries understand the game-changing power of AI.  President Vladimir Putin virtually addressed over one million Russian school children and teachers at 16,000 schools on September 1, 2017, stating,  “Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind.  It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict.  Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.”  Just as ominously, in addressing the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on October 16, 2022, China’s President Xi Jinping stated that quickly elevating the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to a world-class army is a strategic requirement, and that China would adhere to the integrated development of the PLA through the concept of “three-izations” (三化) — mechanization, informatization, and intelligentization — the latter being China’s concept for integrating AI’s machine speed and processing power to military planning, operational command, and decision support.  Xi further stated that these three-izations are not to be achieved in stages but are to be pursued simultaneously and in parallel.  

Recognizing that the AI Age is now upon us, the latest episode of The Convergence podcast features our interview with Chatty Cathy, an instance of ChatGPT by OpenAI, discussing the future of warfare, “her” thoughts on technology trends, and her responses to several questions from our Mad Scientist Community of Action — Read on!]

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OpenAI‘s ChatGPT is a large language model that is trained to follow an instruction in a text prompt and provide a detailed response.  It was trained using Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF), using supervised fine-tuning:  human AI trainers provided conversations in which they played both sides—the user and an AI assistant. OpenAI gave the trainers access to model-written suggestions to help them compose their responses. OpenAI mixed this new dialogue dataset with the InstructGPT dataset, which was transformed into a dialogue format. 

• • • ChatGPT 3.5 is a large language model created by OpenAI and designed to simulate human-like language abilities. The system is trained on a vast corpus of text data which includes books, articles, and webpages and allows the AI to answer in coherent and human-like text responses.  The system allows for continuous conversation, so the user can reference previous answers, or ask follow-up questions, and ChatGPT will stay engaged and follow along.

• • • ChatGPT is at its best when it synthesizes large amounts of data on complex subjects, summarizes important ideas, and communicates them in plain and understandable language.

• • • Another strength lies in the speed in which it can deliver a vast amount of information. If prompted to write an article or proposal, it can often return a usable solution in a matter of seconds, requiring the user to only polish it into a finished product. This can save an exceptional amount of time for writers, editors, and creators.

• • • Chatty Cathy’s observations on the future of warfare and the Operational Environment include:

• • • • The battlefield of 2050 will be highly digitized, networked, and unpredictable. Soldiers will have to rely heavily on AI, unmanned systems, and robotics. They will need to have a broad range of skills and competencies to succeed. The proliferation of sensors, data analytics, and other advanced technologies will likely provide Soldiers unprecedented situational awareness and decision-making capability.

• • • • Urban environments will become increasingly important as larger swaths of the global population flock to cities. This presents challenges for Soldiers who will have to be highly adaptable and capable of operating in complex terrain.

• • • • Cyber warfare and information operations will also likely be critical components of any future conflict, and as artificial intelligence continues to evolve and become more sophisticated, it is likely to play a central role. Cyber-attacks are becoming increasingly common and sophisticated, and the ability to launch successful attacks will become an important factor in future warfare.

• • • However, on broader and more open-ended inquiries, ChatGPT can be non-committal and over-general in its responses. It’s unable to take a firm stance on many military-themed topics and cites the difficulty inherent in answering questions about the future. It can often be repetitive to a fault when prefacing its responses with caveats.

• • • Navigating the conversation requires critical thinking and a fair amount of due diligence on the part of the user. ChatGPT can confidently deliver an incorrect response to a question, thus putting the onus on the user to verify the information received.

• • • A large language model like ChatGPT tailored to a certain business, sector, or company (e.g., the U.S. Army) could be trained on a specific data set and used to create policy, guidance, assessments, or even doctrine.

Stay tuned to the Mad Scientist Laboratory for our next episode of The Convergence on June 1, 2023, when we feature the winning submission from our Back to the Future Writing Contest.  writing contest — Task Force Wolf — as an audiobook and then interview its author, proclaimed Mad Scientist LTC Daniel Gomez, about his inspiration for the story, the impact of democratized technology and ubiquitous connectivity on the future of warfare, and his views on the National Security Community’s response to these emerging threats.

If you enjoyed this post, check out the following related content:

Hey, ChatGPT, Help Me Win this Contract! and associated podcast with LTC Robert Solano

Artificial Intelligence: An Emerging Game-changer

Takeaways Learned about the Future of the AI Battlefield and associated information paper

The Guy Behind the Guy: AI as the Indispensable Marshal, by Brady Moore and Chris Sauceda

Integrating Artificial Intelligence into Military Operations, by Dr. James Mancillas

“Own the Night” and the associated Modern War Institute podcast with proclaimed Mad Scientist Mr. Bob Work

AI Enhancing EI in War, by MAJ Vincent Dueñas

The Human Targeting Solution: An AI Story by CW3 Jesse R. Crifasi

Bias and Machine Learning

An Appropriate Level of Trust…

There Will Be Data and associated podcast, with Inderpal Bhandari

Integrated Sensors: The Critical Element in Future Complex Environment Warfare, by Dr. Richard Nabors

Dense Urban Environments (DUE): Now through 2050

Insights from the Mad Scientist Weaponized Information Series of Virtual Events

How does the Army – as part of the Joint force – Build and Employ Teams to Compete, Penetrate, Disintegrate, and Exploit our Adversaries in the Future?

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Army Futures Command (AFC), or Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).

 

[Editor’s Note:  Army Mad Scientist welcomes returning guest blogger Robert McCreight with today’s chilling post addressing the disruptive effects of Non-Kinetic Threats (NKT).  Overmatch in the Land, Air, Sea, Space, and Cyber Domains is irrelevant if our adversaries can harness and unleash the cognitively debilitating effects of neurowarfare capabilities.  In describing three scenarios where adversarial use of NKT can wreak strategic effects, Mr. McCreight’s submission is a clarion call to the U.S. defense establishment to recognize that NKT (and especially Neurostrike weapons) exist, incorporate this game-changing reality into our Joint doctrine, and devise deterrents and countermeasures to counter the threat of their use.  Read on!]

As one ponders the strategic impact of Non-Kinetic Threat (NKT) technologies when placed alongside robust cutting edge hypersonics, quantum, and AI-enabled systems, drone-based swarms, sophisticated missile and artillery systems, and advanced weapons platforms where the entire array of air, space, land, and sea kinetic technologies convey combined breathtaking power in conflict scenarios, military and civilian leaders are tempted to say—so what?  Most often NKT technologies employed in a hostile exchange of armaments between rival nations are frequently viewed as non-lethal, limited effects weapons which fall short of truly strategic value and impact. In the hybrid war, gray zone, JADC2 warfare environment, clandestine non-kinetic weapons are often ignored. The challenge is whether a determined and patient covert enemy can inflict strategic damage non-kinetically before we can recognize the attack, resist it, or recover from it.  In effect, do we really know our weaknesses and security gaps?

Most non-kinetic threat — or the NKT spectrum — consist of silent, largely undetectable technologies capable of inflicting damaging, debilitating, and degrading physical and neural effects on its unwitting targets.  This covert threat is best understood as something to be invoked via rapid surprise attack or as a stealthy forerunner to a massive kinetic follow-on attack. As such, it can gradually weaken, or soften up, targeted leaders of defensive systems and key infrastructure.  Worse, it can be individualized or magnified to adversely impact multiple persons or groups. More specifically, there is a distinct spectrum of NKT threats rooted in a variety of benign non-lethal technologies which deserve consideration for the potentially strategic effects they can engender.

How Should we View Non-Kinetic Threats?

If we accept that NKT systems pose potential strategic threats, why are they so often dismissed?  Maybe when various NKT threat technologies are compared with kinetic systems, it is fairly obvious — kinetic systems kill, destroy, maim, and obliterate.  Whereas non-kinetic platforms prevail best in areas of presumptively sub-strategic value like lasers, cyber, directed energy, and related technologies.

We know certain non-kinetic systems can have unintended kinetic effects, such as overpowered lasers or misused electronic warfare systems.  However, the non-kinetic risk facing modern militaries is whether NKT enables at least three kinds of strategic effects. These three are:  1) a lightning decapitation strike; 2) a covert undetected surprise attack disabling leadership; and 3) insidious covert ongoing attacks which degrade leadership analysis, defensive systems’ operational integrity, and strategic warning.  These reflect the infamous Sun Tzu quote “the acme of skill is to win a war without firing a shot.” Evidence enough that NKT is a neglected domain when Pentagon strategists only concentrate on the Air, Land, Sea, Space, and Cyber domains.  The sixth domain — more specifically the targeting of human neurobiological and biophysical vulnerability — contains strategic scenarios as formidable alternatives to avenues to ‘right of bang’ defeat.

NKT:  A Defining Challenge

Strategic shock and surprise is poison to defense planners.  Pearl Harbor, the 1959 Sputnik launch, and the 9-11 attacks illustrate that our blind spots, arrogance, and hubris are grist for the enemy to exploit.  Here strategic warning took a vacation, and we witnessed the carnage and loss of  geopolitical prestige as we slept or dreamed. Enemies with a keen knowledge of our weaknesses and flawed smugness or misplaced confidence can out-maneuver our defense lapses. Being vigilant against emerging threats is the watchword.  But does that afford protection enough against full spectrum non-kinetic threats?  Are NKT issues of a comprehensive and diverse nature built into our future threat radar?

A decapitation scenario involving non-kinetics is not hard to imagine, especially if one considers our national reliance on crucial energy systems, satellites, IT communications, and other networked security systems. Claiming with misplaced confidence that every conceivable  attack scenario against national security infrastructure is hardened  seems compelling.  But a well-orchestrated NKT lightning decapitation scenario against leadership and infrastructure is the essence of Sun Tzu’s winning without firing a shot.

Secondarily, a covert undetected surprise attack disabling leadership scenario includes a neurological attack targeting leadership. It undermines strategic warning, situational awareness, analysis of options, evaluation of defensive alternatives, development of courses of action, and strategic response. Silent focused attacks targeting leader neurological vulnerability devastate OODA loop thought and related cognitive functions, disconnecting command from its daily management of defense systems and silently nullifying  all electronic, IT, communication, satellite, cyber and interlinked systems.  Scenario #2 entails the phased erosion of key infrastructures, including civilian sources of information, information credibility, data reliability and access nullifying social media platforms and civilian communication networks. Absent strategic warning, NKT is the death blow.

Finally, the third scenario is more gradual, subtle, and insidious in its long-term effects which target key elements of the population—including its civilian and military leaders. Scenario #3 takes full advantage of leaders’ inability to identify they have been attacked or compromised.

Scenario #3 features an unfolding series of attacks that is so subtle and gradual that its victims have trouble reporting that they are targets of an attack at all.  Further, the nebulous neurological symptoms they complain about cannot be uniformly evaluated by experienced neuroscientists because this set of symptoms has never been seen before.  This is distinguishable from scenario #2 in operational terms because it is an explicit prelude to a massed kinetic attack wave staged gradually in deliberate phases, thereby allowing it to be overlooked in strategic significance.

This is not science fiction, nor should NKT be relegated to some amorphous future technology threat decades away in purely speculative terms.   NKT are an unrecognized and unvalidated core of tomorrow’s strategic calculus.  Enemies with NKT systems can target our neurobiological and physiological vulnerability and their principal bullseye is our civilian and military leadership. This tactic enables the waging of an invisible war on the ground, disabling and degrading key infrastructure and military and societal leadership for net strategic effect  The three basic scenarios feature the same dynamic threat variables listed here:   [1] we need NKT early warning capabilities; [2] we need reliable NKT threat defense and alert sensor detection systems; [3] we need robust deterrent technology against all possible NKT threats; [4] we need a NKT technical verification and attribution capability; and [5] we need significant R&D development/deployment of proven NKT counter-measures. Co-mingled as NKT often is within other convergent AI, quantum, nanotech, robotics, genomics, and autonomous systems and technologies, it is a deadly and vague distraction from imagining how targeted neurobiological attacks can happen at all.

Upgraded future soldiers reliant on exoskeletons, modified diet, cyborg add-ons, special biophysical interventions, AI augmentation, and other technologies depict a robust confident force.  However, a determined and skillful enemy can unleash an entire spectrum of technologies designed expressly to penetrate, weaken, offset, or overcome those enhancements. NKT technologies can nullify many of those presumptive upgrades in warfighter protection and agility or covertly dilute warfighter resilience reducing  those extra enhancements and rendering our troops defenseless. What does warfighter resilience mean then? The key challenge of acquiring genuine resilience and force protection is to offset unexpected, unknown, or unimaginable vulnerabilities rooted in NKT.  These are absent from warfighter planning…

This is sheer Sixth Dimension Warfare existing well apart from the Land, Sea, Air, Cyber, and Space Domains — the human mind and body lack an operator’s manual and strategic doctrine.  Full spectrum NKT technologies exploiting cyberspace, nanospace, genomic space, outer space, and neurospace will require tested technology, unique capabilities, and validated operational systems.  Do we grasp that sixth domain warfare is fully understood in parallel alongside classical kinetic combat?  Do we have NKT embedded in our defense?

NKT after 2022—Definitional Boundaries and Deterrence Endgame

By accounting for the sixth dimension—the human one—we understand that JADC2, OODA loop thinking, and situational awareness are in jeopardy along with the imperative to derive a common operational picture.  Inside JADC2, where the aim is visualization of complex data, easier communication, control, and coordination, along with full spectrum data sharing across a wide range of well know but incompatible systems, the latent and covert NKT challenge is insidious.  JADC2 still requires humans in the decision and analysis network to make operational judgements useful to battle commanders.  However, they are largely defenseless against many forms of NKT which impressively elude available deterrent and defensive systems not calibrated to account for NKT technologies.  Perhaps it reflects a strategic shortfall of major significance?  NKT technologies are not well understood or defined, which complicates the issue. The USAF describes the non-kinetic environment as: “…non-kinetic actions have a physical component, the effects they impose are mainly indirect — functional, systemic, psychological, or behavioral”. (AFDD 2, 2017)¹

Does that cover this issue adequately?

Further complicating the issue of broad NKT as described here is the lack of a uniform or widely accepted definition.  It can be defined broadly as “use of informational, psychological, diplomatic, economic, social, and technological tools of statecraft to achieve national interests and objectives by either acquiescing or impairing the national will of the adversary.” Non-kinetic engagements can create unique uncertainties prior to and/or outside of traditional warfare, precisely because they have qualitatively and quantitatively “fuzzy boundaries” as blatant acts of war.  Non-kinetic engagements often utilize non-military means to expand the effect-space beyond the conventional battlefield.²

Consider for a moment some disruptive and strategic effects of NKT in the future battlefield.  Just visualize the loss of situational awareness, OODA loop analysis, blurring of the commander’s estimate of the battlefront, foggy interpretation of theater intelligence, and other sacred pillars on which conventional military decision-making rests.  NeuroStrike jeopardizes them all. Worse, it is fair to ask whether aspects of JADC2 is likewise in trouble for the same reasons. NKT create a silent covert ambiguous threat dwelling ‘left of bang’ which nonetheless produce sub-strategic effects.

This brings into focus the set of technological challenges in deterring NKT technologies after 2023 which are, and will continue to be, used against U.S. and allied military leadership with impunity unless stopped.  NKT should be viewed seriously as having a primary focus on degrading the operational performance and decision-making of civilian leaders in key national security, homeland security, and infrastructural management positions.  Deterrence against full spectrum NKT has now become the paramount strategic objective after 2022.  But what are its fundamental requirements, characteristics, and deployable capabilities?  These questions largely still remain unanswered.

What about the vaunted Multi Domain Task Force (MDTF), designed to employ an array of long-range precision effects against enemy anti-access/area denial networks and employ its own non-kinetic capabilities — such as cyber, electronic warfare, intelligence, and long-range fires — to augment the Joint Force’s existing lethal capabilities?  The MDTF claims it can use non-kinetic effects to “electromagnetically isolate” those threats, giving Joint Force commanders the option to wage a kinetic attack against the vulnerable threat.³

The central dilemma here is whether the MDTF is enough by itself to nullify full spectrum NKT or only those threats known to U.S. forces?

Nominal Neuroweapons and NKT Technologies

Awareness of insidious and nascent NKT must go back at least a decade. If we accept the fact that NeuroStrike capabilities target the vulnerabilities of our Central Nervous System (CNS), our neuromechanics, and vestibular systems, the threat is seen more clearly. This covert, silent, and undetected invasive degradation of cognitive functions, perception, brain functions, reasoning, judgement, and decision-making is essentially what I have termed NeuroStrike — it is effective and debilitating, leaving its victims unable to perform normal brain functions for many years.⁴

The mere existence of engineered neuroweapons deserves special mention as part of the overall NKT spectrum.  An influential and well researched book on the subject by Krishnan carefully describes the arena of neurowarfare as including “systematic efforts by international actors to utilize neuro S&T for the purpose of gaining military or political advantage in a conflict by influencing enemy minds.”⁵

He cites my research into the issue where I observe that neuroweapons defy easily agreed upon definition, yet clearly they symbolize a serious future threat.⁶

My emphasis on neuroweapons and the essential engineered threats of persistent NeuroStrike attacks were meant to sound an alarm years ago. NeuroStrike will exert profound implications on wargames, planning conflicts, maneuver operations, and assessing enemy military capabilities.  U.S. senior leader training should focus on NKT issues and ensure that NATO is similarly attuned to these threats.  If future NeuroStrike technology expansion in scope and effect exceeds individual attacks to impair dozens or hundreds of victims neurologically, the enemy has a concrete strategic edge.  A robust confirmatory analysis of this technology to devise deterrents and countermeasures must be underway to offset the threat of their continued covert use and attacks.  Finding a deterrent and countermeasure solution is a prime security goal.

Final Observations

NKT technologies are truly game changing, instrumentally redefining our understanding of strategic leverage and dominance. The use of NKT  technologies as a covert prelude to kinetic hostilities, or as a silent companion to prolonged long-term erosion of strategic infrastructure and defense systems’ operational integrity, is both valid and disturbing. It represents a paradigm shift away from successively more complex, costly, and sophisticated kinetic systems.  If U.S. leadership ignores its strategic effect on future warfare, we find a fatal error.

We know far less than we should about NKT technologies, which enemy and hostile nations possess them, what covert engineering efforts are underway to enhance and magnify their effects, and what can be devised to nullify, offset, and deter their future use against U.S. personnel and our allies.  Continued forms and variations of neurowarfare will challenge us unless an effective showstopper is found.  New definitions of strategic endgame will emerge where the combined impact of mixed kinetic and NKT systems are employed skillfully in conflict.  Overall, we must visualize new endgame conditions which confer an NKT strategic advantage to enemies of the United States.  Joint domain doctrine which does not explicitly incorporate NKT undermines warfare readiness. The battlefield has changed and includes variables that can exert strategic effects in ways not readily seen or discerned in a ‘left of bang’ world. NKT technologies merit serious attention right now.

If you enjoyed this post, check out Robert McCreight‘s previous blog post Quantum Conundrum: Multi-domain Threats, Convergent Technology & Hybrid Strategy

… as well as the following related content:

Non-Kinetic War, by COL Stefan J. Banach (USA-Ret.)

In the Cognitive War – The Weapon is You! by Dr. Zac Rogers

Hybrid Threats and Liminal Warfare and associated podcast, with proclaimed Mad Scientist Dr. David Kilcullen

The Classified Mind – The Cyber Pearl Harbor of 2034, by proclaimed Mad Scientist Dr. Jan Kallberg

Cyborg Soldier 2050: Human/Machine Fusion and the Implications for the Future of the DOD and its associated report 

China’s Brain Trust: Will the U.S. Have the Nerve to Compete? by proclaimed Mad Scientist Dr. James Giordano, as well as his Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and the Future of War and Neuroscience and the Weapons of War podcasts, hosted by our colleagues at the Modern Warfare Institute

Robert McCreight is a retired national security expert, former U.S. Army Special Ops officer who teaches graduate school, conducts research on future defense issues and consults periodically on foreign policy, intelligence, and global security matters. His publications on these subjects can be found in various professional journals.

Disclaimer: All views expressed here are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Army Futures Command (AFC), or Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).

¹ (PDF) Non-kinetic Warfare – The new game changer in the battle space 316 Non-kinetic Warfare -The new game changer in the battle space. Available from: [accessed Jan 02 2023].Non-Kinetic Warfare: Defense And Strategy In Political War, Canadian NATO Association newsletter Posted on August 9, 2017
² Ibid, Non-Kinetic Warfare
³ MDTFAUSA NEWS: Army Harnessing Non-Kinetic Effects for Multi-Domain Ops in Indo-Pacific10/12 2022 Ara Mikaia Easly Defense Magazine
⁴ Neurocogntive Warfare-Inflicting Strategic Impact via Non-Kinetic threats, Small Wars Journal, R.McCreight//Sept 16, 2022. and Brain Brinksmanship Devising Neuroweapons Looking at Battlespace, Doctrine, and Strategy//in Neuroscience and National Security, CRC Press, 2014
⁵ Military Neuroscience and the Coming Age of Neurowarfare, Armin Krishnan, Routlege 2017
⁶ Ibid, McCreight

“If the company can just ask ChatGPT or a similar language model, we can significantly lower the barrier of entry to working with the government.”

[Editor’s Note:  Large language models like ChatGPT — democratizing the power of artificial intelligence — have rocked industry and academia with their potential to revolutionize how humans process vast quantities of information and generate content.  Our Federal Government, including the Department of Defense (DoD) and its constituent Services, will similarly be transformed as myriad processes begin to harness this capability to augment traditionally human endeavors.  But this sea change will require work force flexibility and a willingness to learn and adapt to new ways of accomplishing mission requirements.  Changing culture is hard…

Army Mad Scientist is pleased to present our latest episode of The Convergence podcast, featuring LTC Robert Solano, Commander of the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) at Boeing in Mesa, Arizona, discussing what DCMA does, how language models like ChatGPT can help the Army and the Nation’s industrial base work together, and some of the challenges and barriers these language models may face when it comes to wide-spread adoption in the DoD — Enjoy!]

[If the podcast dashboard is not rendering correctly for you, please click here to listen to the podcast.]

LTC Robert Solano is an accomplished Army officer and the Commander of the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) at Boeing in Mesa, Arizona. With 19 years of experience under his belt, LTC Solano has a passion for delivering quality aircraft and parts to support Warfighters while making a difference in the acquisition community. As a senior Army Aviator and Acquisition Corps officer with multiple combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, LTC Solano has honed his skills in organizational leadership, program management, and government contracting. As an engineer, he is skilled in artificial intelligence, augmented reality, aviation systems, and advanced weapons systems development. His impressive career has taken him to work at the Army Artificial Intelligence Integration Center, Palantir Technologies, U.S. Special Operations Command, and other procurement and aviation units. LTC Solano holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, a Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Master’s Certificate in Aviation Doctoral Studies (ABD) from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

In today’s podcast, LTC Solano discusses what DCMA does, how language models like ChatGPT can help the Army and the Nation’s industrial base work together, and some of the challenges and barriers these language models may face when it comes to wide-spread adoption in the DoD. The following bullet points highlight key insights from our discussion:

• • • The Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) has over 11,000 personnel throughout the world. These personnel are on the factory floors, looking over the shoulders of the contractors who are designing and manufacturing materiel for the warfighter. They ensure end items are built to standard, at cost, and delivered on time.

• • • ChatGPT, and other large language models, are artificial intelligence (AI) programs that are fed a large body of data (books, Tweets, articles, etc.) from which they can derive meaning and draw conclusions. For example, you can ask ChatGPT, “Why is the sky blue?” and it will respond with the science behind light refracting through the atmosphere. These programs are so advanced that you can even follow up your original question by asking the system to elaborate in simpler terms. The system will remember what it told you and use simpler language and more illustrative analogies to further explain its responses.

• • • Large language models can be used to craft arguments for articles, blog posts, academic papers, and even the questions for this podcast. They are much more than just a data aggregator, as they are able to summarize important points; interpret policy, doctrine, or legal terminology; create original proposals; and communicate clearly with proper formatting, grammar, and tone.

• • • Using large language models can significantly increase productivity for a variety of jobs, skillsets, and Military Occupational Specialties (MOSs). ChatGPT, for example, can ease the burden for analysts, writers, contracting officers, and others by quickly completing certain tasks, freeing up the individual to do things that humans do best.

• • • These systems are user-friendly consumer products that don’t require any technical skill to operate (no special coding, programming, or AI knowledge is needed). Their interface responds to natural language inputs and replies in plain and understandable text. ChatGPT has been the fastest growing consumer product in history.

• • • Contracting is a vital component of acquisition, logistics, and support services for the Army. The contracting process involves industry responding to government requests for proposals, crafting submissions to specific performance work statement language, and competitive proposal evaluations. Using large language models could exponentially improve productivity for small businesses trying to work with the government who don’t have the same resources that larger defense contractors do — lowering the barrier for entry, leveling the playing field, and allowing more non-traditional vendors to compete.

• • • However, this may lead to an “arms race” where companies with the best large language model or AI system are marginalizing the competition and small businesses are once again facing a substantial barrier instead of the Government getting the best value.

Stay tuned to the Mad Scientist Laboratory for our next episode of The Convergence on 18 May 2023 where we interview “Chatty Cathy” (an instantiation of ChatGPT) about the future of warfare, how our adversaries are planning to compete and win in the operational environment, and how emergent technologies could converge to provide new capabilities!

If you enjoyed this post, check out the following related content:

Artificial Intelligence: An Emerging Game-changer

Takeaways Learned about the Future of the AI Battlefield

The Guy Behind the Guy: AI as the Indispensable Marshal, by Brady Moore and Chris Sauceda

There Will Be Data and associated podcast, with Inderpal Bhandari

Crossing the Valley of Death for Innovation and associated podcast, with Trish Martinelli and David Schiff

Achieving an AI-era Workforce by 2025:  A Modern, Scalable Approach to Retooling the United States (and its Army!) by Ted Hallum

Algorithms of Armageddon and associated podcast, with proclaimed Mad Scientist CAPT (Ret.) George Galdorisi

The Language of AI and associated podcast, with Michael Kanaan

AI Across the Enterprise and associated podcast, with Rob Albritton

Bringing AI to the Joint Force and associated podcast, with Jacqueline Tame, Alka Patel, and Dr. Jane Pinelis

Integrating Artificial Intelligence into Military Operations, by Dr. James Mancillas

“Own the Night” and the associated Modern War Institute podcast with proclaimed Mad Scientist Mr. Bob Work

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Army Futures Command (AFC), or Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).