Neurotechnology and the Transformation of War’s Human Domain

Neurotechnologies—tools that can read and influence brain activity—are advancing rapidly and moving from medical settings into commercial and potential military use. Their dual-use nature creates significant opportunities as well as serious risks. 

The latest United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDR) report, titled “Innovations Dialogue 2025: Neurotechnologies and their Implications for International Peace and Security,” outlines these growing opportunities and risks, as well as policy recommendations to harness the good and diminish the bad.

We’ve summarized them here. Our takeaways follow.

Why Neurotech Matters:

• Implicates a new domain of competition: cognitive warfare
• Blurs lines between human intent and machine action
• Creates exploitable vulnerabilities in neurodata and neural systems

Risks:

• Erosion of mental privacy and autonomy
• Legal gaps in accountability under international humanitarian law
• Escalatory dynamics driven by enhancement asymmetries

Recommended Actions:

• Treat neurodata as a protected national security asset
• Integrate neurotechnology into existing arms control and AI governance discussions
• Mandate early legal and ethical review in R&D pipelines
• Invest in cybersecurity for neural systems
• Expand international dialogue to avoid fragmented or unequal governance

What We Think About It: 

First, policy frameworks are lagging behind technological development. That’s for sure. 

Second, it is important to underline implications for the cognitive domain. Unlike traditional digital tools, neurotechnologies can access deeply sensitive information, including cognitive and emotional states, generating what the report identifies as highly valuable and vulnerable “neurodata.” This creates new challenges around privacy, surveillance, data ownership, and bias, while also raising fundamental human rights concerns related to mental autonomy, freedom of thought, and personal dignity.

As a result, these technologies could reshape warfare by shifting focus toward cognition itself, enabling (and aggravating) what we call cognitive warfare. However, these developments introduce substantial risks. They complicate legal accountability, blur the line between human intent and machine action, and create new vulnerabilities such as the possibility of neural system exploitation or “brain hacking.” At the same time, unequal access to enhancement technologies could drive new forms of strategic imbalance and escalation.

 

Take advantage of our deep repository of articles on the cognitive domain. Here are some to start: 

“Assessing “Cognitive Warfare,” by Dr. Frank Hoffman

“Cognitive Warfare: An Allied Blueprint and a Pentagon Opportunity,” by Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Charles T. Cleveland, USN (Ret.) Daniel Brookes and Col. (Ret.) David S. Maxwell

“The Challenge of AI-Enhanced Cognitive Warfare: A Call to Arms for a Cognitive Defense,” by IO (Ret.) Douglas S. Wilbur, Ph.D.

The post Neurotechnology and the Transformation of War’s Human Domain appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.