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1 1 (December 21, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govegqe0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Servic Informning the IegsIitive debate since 1914 Defense Primer: Emerging Techn Both the 2018 National Defense Strategy and senior U.S. defense and intelligence officials have identified a number of emerging technologies that could have a disruptive impact on U.S. national security in the years to come. These technologies include artificial intelligence, lethal autonomous weapons, hypersonic weapons, directed energy weapons, biotechnology, and quantum technology. As these technologies continue to mature, they could hold significant implications for congressional oversight, U.S. defense authorizations and appropriations, military concepts of operations, and the future of war. Artificial Intelligence..... Although there is no official U.S. government definition of artificial intelligence (AI), Al generally refers to a computer system capable of executing tasks requiring human-level cognition. Al is currently being incorporated into a number of military applications, including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; logistics; cyber operations; command and control; and semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles. As it develops, Al could enable new concepts of operations, such as swarming (i.e., cooperative behavior in which uninhabited vehicles autonomously coordinate to achieve a task), that could present both challenges and opportunities for the U.S. military. Recent news reports and analyses have highlighted the role of Al in enabling increasingly realistic photo, audio, and video digital forgeries, popularly known as deep fakes. Adversaries could potentially deploy this Al capability as part of their information operations in a gray zone conflict. Deep fake technology could be used against the United States and its allies to generate false news reports, influence public discourse, erode public trust, and attempt to blackmail diplomats. Some have suggested that Al could be used to create full digital patterns-of-life, in which an individual's digital footprint is mapped against other personal information, such as spending habits and job history, to create comprehensive behavioral profiles of servicemembers, suspected intelligence officers, government officials, and private citizens. Similar to deep fakes, this information could, in turn, be used for targeted influence operations or blackmail. In June 2018, the Pentagon established the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC, pronounced jake) to coordinate defense-wide Al efforts. Effective February 1, 2022, the position of Chief Digital and Al Officer (CDAO) is to be established, reporting directly to the Deputy ologies Updated December 21, 2021 0 0 0 0 0 0 Secretary of Defense. The CDAO is to serve as the Department's senior official responsible for strengthening and integrating data, artificial intelligence, and digital solutions in the department, with the Office of the CDAO serving as the successor organization to the JAIC. In addition, the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 115-232, §1051) established a National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence to assess U.S. competitiveness in Al and offer recommendations to Congress. The commission concluded in October 2021. Lethal Autonomous Weapons Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS) are a class of weapon systems capable of independently identifying a target and employing an onboard weapon system to engage and destroy the target without manual human control. LAWS require computer algorithms and sensor suites to classify an object as hostile, make an engagement decision, and guide a weapon to the target. This capability would enable the system to operate in communications-degraded or -denied environments where traditional systems may not be able to operate. LAWS are not yet in widespread development, and some senior military and defense leaders have expressed concerns about the ethics of ever fielding such systems. For example, in 2017 testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, then-Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Paul Selva stated, I do not think it is reasonable for us to put robots in charge of whether or not we take a human life. Currently, there are no domestic or international legal prohibitions on the development of LAWS; however, an international group of government experts has begun to discuss the issue. Approximately 30 countries have called for a preemptive ban on the systems due to ethical considerations, while others have called for formal regulation or guidelines for development and use. DOD Directive 3000.09 establishes department guidelines for the development and fielding of LAWS to ensure that they comply with the law of war, applicable treaties, weapon system safety rules, and applicable rules of engagement. Hypersonic Weapons Hypersonic weapons-which fly at speeds of at least Mach 5-are in development in a number of countries, including the United States. There are two categories of hypersonic weapons: Hypersonic glide vehicles (HGV) are launched from a rocket before gliding to a target. (When HGVs are mated with their rocket booster, the resulting weapon system is often referred to as a hypersonic boost-glide weapon.)

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