Dual-use technology
In politics, diplomacy and export control, dual-use items refer to goods, software and technology that can be used for both civilian and military applications.[1]
More generally speaking, dual-use can also refer to any goods or technology which can satisfy more than one goal at any given time. Thus, expensive technologies that would otherwise benefit only civilian commercial interests can also be used to serve military purposes if they are not otherwise engaged, such as the Global Positioning System.
The "dual-use dilemma" was first noted with the discovery of the process for synthesizing and mass-producing
Drones
UAVs are considered to be a challenge for military.
Missiles
Originally developed as weapons during the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union spent billions of dollars developing rocket technology which could carry humans into space (and eventually to the Moon). The development of this peaceful rocket technology paralleled the development of intercontinental ballistic missile technology; and was a way of demonstrating to the other side the potential of one's own rockets.
Those who seek to develop ballistic missiles may claim that their rockets are for peaceful purposes; for example, for commercial satellite launching or scientific purposes. However, even genuinely peaceful rockets may be converted into weapons and provide the technological basis to do so.
Within peaceful rocket programs, different peaceful applications can be seen as having parallel military roles. For example, the return of scientific payloads safely to earth from orbit would indicate re-entry vehicle capability and demonstrating the ability to launch multiple satellites with a single launch vehicle can be seen in a military context as having the potential to deploy multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles.
Nuclear
Dual-use nuclear technology refers to the possibility of military use of civilian
Many UN and US agencies warn that building more nuclear reactors unavoidably increases nuclear proliferation risks.[9] A fundamental goal for American and global security is to minimize the proliferation risks associated with the expansion of nuclear power. If this development is "poorly managed or efforts to contain risks are unsuccessful, the nuclear future will be dangerous".[8] For nuclear power programs to be developed and managed safely and securely, it is important that countries have domestic “good governance” characteristics that will encourage proper nuclear operations and management:[8]
These characteristics include low degrees of corruption (to avoid officials selling materials and technology for their own personal gain as occurred with the
A.Q. Khan smuggling network in Pakistan), high degrees of political stability (defined by the World Bank as “likelihood that the government will be destabilized or overthrown by unconstitutional or violent means, including politically-motivated violence and terrorism”), high governmental effectiveness scores (a World Bank aggregate measure of “the quality of the civil service and the degree of its independence from political pressures [and] the quality of policy formulation and implementation”), and a strong degree of regulatory competence.[8]
Artificial intelligence
As more advances are made towards artificial intelligence (AI), it garners more and more attention on its capability as a dual-use technology and the security risks it may pose.[10] Artificial intelligence can be applied within many different fields and can be easily integrated throughout current technology's cyberspace.[10][11] With the use of AI, technology has become capable of running multiple algorithms that could solve difficult problems, from detecting anomalies in samples during MRI scans,[11] to providing surveillance of an entire country's residents.[11] Within China's mass surveillance, the government uses AI in order to distinguish citizens with less than satisfactory records among crowds.[12] Every new invention or application made with AI comes with its own set of positive and negative effects.[10] Some claim that, as potential uses for AI grow in number, nations need to start regulating it as a dual-use technology.[10]
Chemical
The modern history of
Biological
That the July 2007
Reports from the project on building a sustainable culture in dual-use bioethics suggest that, as a result of perceived changes in both science and security over the past decade, several states and multilateral bodies have underlined the importance of making life scientists aware of concerns over dual-use and the legal obligations underpinning the prevention of biological weapons. One of the key mechanisms that have been identified to achieve this is through the education of life science students, with the objective of building what has been termed a “culture of responsibility”.
At the 2008 Meeting of States Parties to the
The World Health Organization in 2010 developed a "guidance document" for what it called "Dual Use Research of Concern" (DURC) in the life sciences, regarding “research that is intended [to] benefit, but which might easily be misapplied to do harm".[17]
Along with several similar stipulations from other states and regional organisations, biosecurity education has become more important. Unfortunately, both the policy and academic literature show that life scientists across the globe are frequently uninformed or underinformed about biosecurity, dual-use, the BTWC and national legislation outlawing biological weapons.[18][19] Moreover, despite numerous declarations by states and multilateral organisations, the extent to which statements at the international level have trickled down to multifaceted activity at the level of scientists remains limited.[20][21]
The US federal government (USG) developed at least two policy document in light of the WHO guidance document on DURC. In March 2012, The "United States Government Policy for Oversight of Life Sciences Dual use Research of Concern" was published, in order to establish regular review by oversight bodies into USG-funded DURC. In September 2014, the "United States Government Policy for Institutional Oversight of Life Sciences Dual Use Research of Concern" was published, in order to identify DURC and mitigate it "at the institutional level" such as universities.[22]
Night vision and thermal imaging
These precision components, such as the
Night scenes of wild elephants and rhinos in the
In the United States, civilians are free to buy and sell American-made night vision and thermal systems, such as those manufactured by defense contractors
Export of American image intensifiers is selectively permitted under license by the
Competing international manufacturers (European defense contractor Exosens Group, Japanese scientific instrument giant Hamamatsu Photonics, and Russian state-financed laboratory JSC Katod) have entered the American market through licensed importers. In spite of their foreign origin, re-export of these components outside of the United States is restricted similarly to domestic components.
A 2012 assessment of the sector by the
Other technologies
In addition to obvious and headline-grabbing dual-use technologies there are some less obvious ones, in that many erstwhile peaceful technologies can be used in weapons. One example during the First and Second World War is the role of German toy manufacturers: Germany was one of the leading nations in the production of wind-up toys, and the ability to produce large numbers of small and reliable clockwork motors was converted into the ability to produce shell and bomb fuzes. During its early stages of release, the PlayStation 2 was considered to be a dual-use technology.[27] The gaming console had to receive special import regulations before being shipped towards the U.S. and European markets.[27] This is due to the console's and its included GPU's capability to process high quality images at high speeds, a shared trait with missile guidance systems.[27]
HoloLens 2
Early 2019, Microsoft announced the HoloLens 2, smart glasses that will allow consumers to experience augmented reality within the real world.[28] However, it was revealed Microsoft made a 479 million dollar deal with the U.S. government.[28][29][30] This contract would have Microsoft create and supply the U.S. Army a separate version of the HoloLens smart glasses called the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS).[28][29][30] The IVAS would be used to train soldiers, as well as field medics with battlefield experience within a virtual environment.[28][29][30] This version of the HoloLens allowed the soldiers to have a virtual map of their current environment, friendly units' locations, and much more.[28] An anonymous Microsoft employee published an open letter demanding that Microsoft terminate the IVAS contract.[28][29][30] Microsoft president Brad Smith had previously made a public blog post[31] outlining the company's stance on "how technology companies should work with the government, and specifically whether companies should supply digital technology to the military."
Control
Most industrial countries have export controls on certain types of designated dual-use technologies, and they are required by a number of treaties as well. These controls restrict the export of certain commodities and technologies without the permission of the government.
In the context of sanctions regimes, dual-use can be construed broadly because there are few things which do not have the potential for both military and civilian uses.[32]
United States
The principal agency for investigating violations of dual-use export controls in the United States is the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Office of Export Enforcement (OEE).[33] Interagency coordination of export control cases are conducted through the Export Enforcement Coordination Center (E2C2). The International Traffic in Arms Regulations is the US regime that the BIS OEE enforces.
Canada
The Canadian legislation to govern the trade in dual-use technology is known as the
European Union
The European Union governs dual-use technology through the Control List of Dual Use Items.[34]
International regimes
There are several international arrangements among countries which seek to harmonize lists of dual-use (and military) technologies to control. These include the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group, which looks at chemical and biological technologies, the Missile Technology Control Regime, which covers delivery systems for weapons of mass destruction, and the Wassenaar Arrangement, which covers conventional arms and dual-use technologies.
See also
References
- ^ Exporting dual-use goods. European Commission (accessed Aug 2022)
- ^ Webb, Amy (14 February 2022). "The Next Pandemic Could Start With a Terrorist Attack". The Atlantic. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
- ^ Sedletska, Natalie; Savchuk, Maksym; Ovsyaniy, Kyrylo; Schreck, Carl (2022-11-04). "How Western Tech In Iranian Drones Is Helping Russia Wage War On Ukraine". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
- ^ "Drones, Ukraine, Russia, Iran, Western technology | Homeland Security Newswire". www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com. 2022-11-05. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
- ^ "Weaponized drones". American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
- ^ Bajema, Natasha. "To Protect Against Weaponized Drones, We Must Understand Their Key Strengths - IEEE Spectrum". spectrum.ieee.org. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
- ^ Booth, Rebecca Wright,Ivan Watson,Olha Konovalova,Tom (2023-03-16). "Exclusive: Chinese-made drone, retrofitted and weaponized, downed in eastern Ukraine". CNN. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ S2CID 57568427.
- ^ Kristin Shrader-Frechette (19 August 2011). "Cheaper, safer alternatives than nuclear fission". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Archived from the original on 2012-01-21.
- ^ a b c d Pandya, Jayshree. "The Dual-Use Dilemma Of Artificial Intelligence". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
- ^ a b c Feldstein, Steven. "We Need to Get Smart About How Governments Use AI". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
- ^ "Uses, Benefits, and Safety of Chlorine | Chemical Safety Facts". ChemicalSafetyFacts.org. 2014-05-01. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
- ^ Taylor, Adam (2018-04-11). "Analysis | Chlorine, sarin or something else? The big questions in the alleged Syrian chemical weapons attack". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
- ^
Daniel Cressey (17 August 2007). "Not so secure after all". PMID 17700663.
- ^ UN (2008) "Report of the Meeting of States Parties", BWC/MSP/2008/5, 12 December 2008.
- ^ "Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC)". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- ^ Mancini. G & Revill. J (2008) Fostering the Biosecurity Norm: Biosecurity Education for the Next Generation of Life Scientists, November 2008. "Centrovolta.it - Informazioni Turistiche" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
- ^ Minehata. M and D. Friedman (2009) Biosecurity Education in Israeli Research Universities. Research Report for the Wellcome Trust Project on Building a Sustainable Capacity in Dual Use Bioethics. http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/sbtwc/dube/publications/Israel_BioSecReport_Final.pdf
- ^ Revill, James; Mancini, G.; Minehata, Masamichi; Shinomiya, N. (2009-11-18). "Biosecurity education: surveys from Europe and Japan". Conference: Inter Academy Panel Workshop on Promoting Education on Dual Use Issues in the Life Sciences.
- ^ Revill, James (January 2009). "Biosecurity and Bioethics Education: A Case Study of the UK Context". Conference: Research Report for the Wellcome Trust Project on `Building a Sustainable Capacity in Dual Use Bioethics.
- ^ "Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC)". The Regents of the University of California. University of California Irvine Office of Research. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- ^ "Meet the BBC Natural History Unit's kit-hacking specialists". Wired UK. 2014-02-06. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
- ^ "FAQ". Tactical Night Vision Company. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
- ^ "Critical Technology Assessment: Night Vision Focal Plane Arrays, Sensors, and Cameras". bis.doc.gov. US Department of Commerce. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
- ^ "Export Control Reform Comes to USML Category XII". Export Law Blog. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
- ^ a b c "Sony's High-Tech Playstation2 Will Require Military Export License". Los Angeles Times. 2000-04-17. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
- ^ a b c d e f Haselton, Todd (2019-04-06). "How the Army plans to use Microsoft's high-tech HoloLens goggles on the battlefield". CNBC. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
- ^ a b c d Charles Riley and Samuel Burke (25 February 2019). "Microsoft CEO defends US military contract that some employees say crosses a line". CNN. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
- ^ a b c d News), NBC News (NBC. "Microsoft HoloLens Letter". www.documentcloud.org. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
- ^ "Technology and the US military". 26 October 2018.
- OCLC 1345216431.
- ^ "OEE Home Page".
- ^ Servunts, Levon (25 October 2020). "Bombardier Recreational Products suspends delivery of aircraft engines used on military drones". CBC.
External links
- "Biosecurity 101". National Academy of Sciences.
- U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security
- Militarily Critical Technologies List (MCTL) from the US Government's Defense Technical Information Center
- Federation of American Scientists Case Studies in Dual-Use Research
- University of Bradford Disarmament Research Centre Dual Use Bioethics Homepage.
- European Commission, List of Dual-use items and technologies
- Commission updates EU control list on dual use items (22 October 2014)
- European Parliament Rapporteur Marietje Schaake on Dual-Use / Surveillance Technology