By George Lewis

Andrew Marshall,
Director of Net Assessment, Office of the Secretary of Defense

Marshall said that through the use of behavior-modifying drugs that are being developed, American fighting men and women could be tailored to specific military tasks.

July 11, 2002– (Lexington, Ky.) – Wars in the future could be fought by bioengineered soldiers, said Andrew Marshall, strategic adviser to the Rumsfeld Defense Department.

Speaking today at a University of Kentucky Patterson School of Diplomacy symposium on the future of the military as it relates to the research university, Marshall said that through the use of behavior-modifying drugs that are being developed, American fighting men and women could be tailored to specific military tasks.

“The drugs would affect specific receptors and would act just like the internal chemistry (of the brain),” Marshall said. “We could create fearless soldiers, soldiers that would stay awake longer or be quicker and more alert.”

“These new types of drugs or biochemical agents could create a new model of man,” he said.

But the defense adviser stopped short of saying that any such plans have been presented to the Pentagon.

Marshall, director of Net Assessment in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, predicted that undersea tactics will take on new importance during future global conflicts.

“The whole character of undersea warfare is likely to change,” he said. “There’s more and more activity on the seabed.”

Marshall said a scarcity of water in the world would lead to distilling of seawater, which would require large pipeline configurations near coastlines.

“This means more stuff to attack – and to defend,” he said.

Marshall said the perfection of long-range precision strike weapons that enable armies to fight from great distances is another likely component of the revolution he says is under way in the nation’s military.

But Marshall said by perfecting these precision weapons, America is forcing its enemies to rely on terrorist activities that are difficult to target.