Military Review English Edition January-February 2015 | Page 99
ENHANCED SOLDIER
will be needed to confine the enemy enhanced prisoner
of war? How will friendly forces know their enemies
are enhanced? How will medical units treat enemy
prisoners of war during their drug withdrawal? Will our
medical units sustain ongoing drug treatments for enemy prisoners of war? How will facilities safely deactivate
neural implants or bionic or biological weapons in enemy
enhanced prisoners of war?
What are the ethics of fighting an enemy enhanced
soldier who does not feel pain? Will the only way to stop
that soldier in battle be to cause severe trauma or death?
Questions such as these concerning the enhanced soldier
and combat ethics seem to garner little discussion within
current military concepts and doctrine.
Examples of Technology Innovation
Without Ethical Discussion, Sharing,
and Planning
Two recent examples illustrate technological innovations can go wrong when implemented without
ethical discussion, sharing, and planning. These two
examples are drone strikes and National Security
Agency (NSA) privacy violations.
Drone strikes demonstrate the complexity of
technology, policy, war, and ethics. Drones provide
U.S. forces with persistent presence through longrange strikes at little or no risk to our operators.
Our enemies, neutral nations, and allies see a different view. From the international view, the use
of U.S. drones shows a disregard for other nations’
sovereignty, airspac