The overlapping stakes of security, defence and international responsibility in the field of convergent NBIC-type technologies (1)

Nanoscience and nanotechnology: accelerated development

Nanoscience and nanotechnology (N&N) constitute new approaches to research and development (R&D), studying phenomena and human manipulation of matter at atomic, molecular and macromolecular level, at which the matter displays very different properties from those observed at larger scales. R&D and innovation in the field of N&N are at the origin of progress in a wide range of sectors. This progress may provide a response to the needs of citizens and make a contribution to the competitiveness and to the sustainable development objectives of the Union, and further a great many of its policies, such as public health, health and safety at work, the information society, energy, transport, security and space.

This is particularly true of an area which is still little-known but emerging at a steady pace, from cross-fertilisation in research carried out in the areas of nanoscience, nanotechnology, biotechnology, life sciences, information technology, communications technology and cognitive science: the scope par excellence of the 'converging technologies', still known as NBIC (the acronym which now denotes the scientific area which involves nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science).

The uncertainties entailed in the exponential development of the scientific activities, innovations and usages involved in this field are now central to long-term international reflection, particularly in the United States and Europe.
"While N&N is bringing about important advantages and benefits for our society that improve our quality of life, some risk is inherent, as for any technology, and this should be openly acknowledged and investigated upfront (...) health, safety and environmental risks that may be associated with products and applications of N&N need to be addressed upfront and throughout their life cycle". (Cf. The Communication COM(2005) 243 of 7 June 2005 of the European Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee entitled "Towards a European Strategy for Nanotechnology: European Action Plan for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (2005 - 2009)").

With regard more specifically to security defined in terms of the security of people and of heritage- individual and collective- and of fundamental freedoms -public and private- although nanotechnology helps reinforce the means to fight against crime, terrorism and other acute forms of criminality, at the same time it arms those who intend to commit crimes of this kind and/or denials of democracy, seriously infringing fundamental freedoms. However, although the authorities responsible for the protection and controls in this field are able to manage visible processes, they have little power over the invisible or intangible processes, particularly those which could seriously damage fundamental freedoms.

With the coming of N&N generally, therefore, and more specifically with the emergence of converging new technologies working towards a hybridisation between the natural and the artificial, there is also an increased and very real risk (and not just deviance) for security as well as for fundamental freedoms.

The emergence of nanotechnology, and the associated risks and threats, in fact reveals a disharmony, a phase difference between, on the one hand, truth as portrayed by science, keeping the greatest possible distance from ideology and dogma and, on the other, the ideals of progress, development, freedom, equality, solidarity, security and justice, but also of power, born of a collective conscience and a cultural and political dynamic ceaselessly at work.

The coming of the Internet, as a result of electronic microchips and then nanochips, played its part in turning international relations and the instruments of international regulation upside down and, consequently, the foreign and security policies of the States, their mechanisms and their instruments. David Howell (former British Energy and Transport Minister) said: "From the mid-1970s on, a succession of events made the old international agenda obsolete. The Cold War is now a memory even if its traumatic scars linger, and a mosaic of ethnic and nationalistic quarrels has long since replaced its old ideological divide. Power has shifted between capitals but has also been dispersed into internet linkages which have empowered almost half the human race, with still more communications innovations just ahead. These developments have shaken the international institutions of the 20th century to their foundations. The United Nations, the Bretton Woods Institutions, the World Trade Organisation, NATO and the nuclear non-proliferation regime, to name only the most prominent, have all come under intense scrutiny as to their purpose, structure and relevance. Neither the EU nor the political structures within its member states, have escaped the waves of questioning now reaching into almost every corner of human affairs and governance. This massive fluidity in international affairs confronts policymakers and those who would build more secure global structures with a set of entirely new complexities. For the EU, searching for a more focussed global and better co-ordinated role while at the same time trying to settle its own future, the situation presents challenges that are particularly acute". (See his article "How the microchip is changing the face of foreign policy", which is published at www.europesworld.org).

Extremely rapid development in a great many segments of human activity in nanotechnology and its uses, and the rapid development of converging NBIC technologies comes into this new context, symptomatic of the state of the world, and of international relations as things stand and are likely to remain during the first decades of the 21st century.

NBIC-type technology itself is therefore becoming a factor of power and of strategic competition, which makes it likely to rear its head in proliferation, whilst the risks and threats that go with it, the nature of which may vary enormously, are not merely a matter for defence and security professionals, but are also of relevance to, more globally, the populations themselves, the species, life and, more broadly, nature in its biodiversity.

Recent progress in the knowledge of human psychic, neuronal and immune processes, together with advances in genomics, prototype weaponry using converging nanotechnologies (or, at the very least, technologies involving either characteristics of nanometrics and biology, or characteristics of nanometrics and information technology) already favour the emergence of new opportunities, whilst at the same time giving rise to fears of the emergence and multiplication of risks and threats of another kind, which could jeopardise the security and defence systems of the States. The prospective development of autonomous military robots sheds much light on these fears.

The ultra-miniaturisation of smart embedded electronic systems already allows the design, development, production and use, under operational conditions, of miniature drones with artificial intelligence- the size of an insect- and intelligent, communicating sensors, meaning that their servers do not need to be physically present in situ, whilst also allowing them to benefit from unparalleled agility and stealth, due to this miniaturisation taken to extremes, allowing high levels of agility, penetration and invulnerability. In addition, synthetic biology will give anyone able to master simulations and the scientific calculation of high-performance (vital) the potential to develop nano-biological threats which are as violent as they are unsuspected, in spite of the treaties in force. When integrated into ultra-mobile systems such as missiles, their effects on peace and security will be 'deterritorialised' (which will mean that everywhere in the world, any individual, any heritage, any sanctuary will be a potential target) and, at the same time, increased to planetary level by proliferation which knows no geographical borders and does not recognise the intangible borders of the restrictions of international law.

These few examples shed some light on a number of future characteristics of the strategic and security environment as could result from a hazardous development of converging technologies; hazardous because insufficiently prepared, accompanied, piloted, mastered, regulated and/or controlled by the international institutions responsible for maintaining international peace and security, NATO (transformation process), and bodies within the European Union dedicated to the development of technological policy, and foreign and security policy- including weaponry capability.

One might go so far as to say we are observing nothing less than the emergence of a new factor in military power and economic domination, equivalent to control over fire, the discovery of iron, the development of sailing ships, the invention of the internal combustion engine, machine-tools, nuclear energy and information and communication technologies in their time. We must now acknowledge that a hegemonic player will never have just one strategy, to go as far as possible and hold everybody else back, at the risk of seriously damaging safety and security.

Given the unprecedented opening-up of a new technology on offer which is as abundant as it is unregulated, a technology which is increasingly available as access to the most revolutionary innovations has become commonplace. Ease of access has become amplified by economic and commercial competition surrounding products with an extremely high technological density. Controlling this access (to say nothing of the problem of equal access), and the issues of its use how this use is controlled are on the table.

Wisdom dictates that one should not allow oneself to be overtaken by the unbridled progress of science and technology pushed by speculative movements of complex causes and uncertain goals, whilst at the same time striving not to open Pandora's box or unchaining Prometheus! However, the collective awareness of all or part of the potential challenges, both in terms of opportunities and of risks or threats, of this kind of technological effervescence is only recent, and has been little diffused within political, administrative, economic, financial, scientific, civilian or military elites. This is starting to develop within certain international organisations and fora (UN, UNESCO, World Health Organisation (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the European Union, the World Economic Forum in DAVOS).

It remains to be verified whether this awareness has penetrated the fora and other bodies working for the establishment, implementation and monitoring compliance with international conventions on bans or limitations on the design, development, production, use or transfer of certain categories of weapons, goods, materials and technologies which are particularly critical in this regard (particularly in the chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear fields- CBRN) and of the associated legal acts in place. Indeed, the unique properties attached to the physics and chemistry of materials at nanometric scale could bring in case studies of a new type which has not yet been covered, or not covered enough, by the various regimes and treaties in force.

Regulatory stakes in relation to the converging NBIC-type technologies

Today, the issue of whether or not there is a need for rules and regulations is increasingly relevant: the prospects are worrying enough to justify a normative effort, at the risk of a greater or lesser delay in the dissemination of innovations, to limit and/or control access to or the use of these, even though there is by no means unanimous agreement over the need for recourse to a system of governance.

The international community must show great vigilance and, by means of national legislation and international law, prevent, without disproportionately hindering the functioning of international commerce and the transfer of technologies which is vital to a globalised economy, the design, development, production, sales and transfer of articles, matter, substances, goods and technologies which may be used to create technologies which give rise to fears of proliferation, as is currently the case in the registers.

As Alain Joxe said in his publication entitled "La globalisation stratégique": "The erosion of all nation-States by the assaults of neo-liberal deregulation leaves the interdependence of the bulk violence of the new armaments and the mathematicised economy exposed. A new anthropology of the interaction of collective identities within conflictual, economic and military relations is needed" (our translation).

The French President Nicolas Sarkozy has on several occasions stressed the need and the urgency to carry out a full renovation of the global system of governance with regard to the overall objectives laid down by the political decision-makers regarding international governance and regulation: "what is radically new about our time is that in spite of our different traditions and cultures, in spite of the reaffirmations of individual identities, the world has created its unity, our humanity is now one. The threats it is faced with are global. The responses will be global. The questions being put to the leaders of our time are weighty ones: will we, collectively, be able to give the responses needed to avoid the declines which would be fatal and continue humanity's march onward (...). We can no longer accept that programmes paid for by some are effectively dismantled by the decisions of others, due to a lack of coordination, or even disagreement, over the objectives" (our translation). (Conference of the ambassadors of 26 August 2009).

This need and this urgency are keenly felt in the field of new nanometric technologies, as regards considerations which affect both security and defence issues. The objective of regulating the converging technologies is to create conditions in order to inspire "sustainable confidence" regarding the general safety of research and innovation activities in this sector, whose outlines are as fluid as they are extensive, and regarding the safety of derivative products and usages which could potentially feature in the fields of security and defence. This confidence is vital, not only to allow the international research and innovation movement to continue- a sine qua non condition for the creation of new knowledge and new sources of progress, growth, development and the economic and commercial competitiveness of goods and services with high levels of added value- but also for the credibility of the security strategies and systems deployed by the States.

We have also to agree on the fields which may be covered by regulation of this kind, which must, of necessity, vary between the States and regions of the world.

However, we must note that ideas are opposed to the terms and conditions of regulation of this kind, from the most restricted to the most permissive, and including self-regulation. Some countries will be more inclined to use laws and regulations, others prefer standards, others again will be open to proposals of international governance from institutions following the ranges of activities and finally, yet other, more "liberal" countries, will go no further than to implement codes of conduct and similar formulae, which are not, by their nature, legally binding.

To this end, it has become vital to seek initially to create the conditions for the most realistic possible bottom line in terms of the 'risks' and 'benefits' of this development of the world, based around the coming nanometric dimension and, secondly, the conditions for regulation in line with the security and defence objectives previously laid down at the various relevant levels (international/multilateral, regional/European, national).

... / ... (cf. The overlapping stakes of security, defence and international responsibility in the field of convergent NBIC-type technologies (2) )

Dossier published by Agence Europe : EUROPE/Documents No. 2525 : The overlapping stakes of security, defence and international responsibility in the field of convergent NBIC-type technologies

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Other papers about this issue (only in french language) :

* Nouvelles sciences et technologies : enjeux de sécurité et problématique de responsabilité internationale
* L'évaluation des risques nanotechnologiques / Assessing the risks in nanotechnology
* A la recherche d'une pensée et d'une action politiques à la hauteur des défis globaux !
* Du besoin de gouvernance des activités bio et nanotechnologiques convergentes
* UNESCO / : Commission Mondiale d'Ethique des Connaissances Scientifiques et des Technologies : Rapport sur l'Ethique des Sciences
* Risky business ? The EU, China and dual-use technology, by May-Britt Stumbaum (EUISS)
* Débat public sur les options générales en matière de développement et de régulation des nanotechnologies

#Recherches - technologies et entreprises en action, #Comprendre les enjeux des nouvelles technologies, #Réfléchir au monde dans lequel nous voulons vivre