Vanguard Magazine

technoLogY www.vanguardcanada.com FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 21 t awareness can act as a barrier between in- tervening forces and local populations. We think the interaction of this literature with research on human performance enhance- ment is a necessary next step. In short, we need to move from a focus on burden, to a focus on barriers. The successful deploy- ment of cutting-edge technology must take account of specific cultural and social contexts in order to enhance performance as intended. During the war in Afghanistan, for exam- ple, soldiers sometimes felt that their body armour, helmet and sunglasses imposed an unnecessary distance between themselves and the locals they needed to interact with. This kind of anecdotal evidence is impor- tant because we can invest millions of dol- lars into updating equipment that will then just be taken off, in certain contexts. The point is not to halt the development of innovative technologies that can improve the soldier's capabilities or force protec- tion, but to be mindful of the efficacy of such technology in different contexts, in order to preempt any counterproductive effects. In many cases, we argue that it is the soldier who will have to make that call. Therefore, it is not enough to hand out high-tech kit: members of the armed forces also have to be educated about the interaction of that technology with the so- cial and cultural context. While the development of human per- formance enhancement technology has been primarily focused on easing the bur- den placed on soldiers, there are other burdens that can sometimes be less visible. One such example relates to how burdens are experienced differently by men and women. Body armour and much of mili- tary equipment has been designed with one body type in mind: the average male body. For women, the burden of using ill-fitting equipment represents an actual barrier to their effective integration into the fighting force. This underscores the point, from a different angle, that tech- nological improvements are introduced in specific social contexts and that these must be anticipated by both the organi- zation and individual service members. Indeed, the aforementioned develop- ments towards redesigning body armour to account for this is an example of what a more holistic take on performance en- hancement looks like. What we are arguing for is to bring a holistic understanding to the research and products that are developed under the banner of human performance enhance- ment. It is a note of caution, of sorts, to make sure that proper cultural and social analyses are at the heart of these devel- opments, as a first stage, but also central to how technology is then being inte- grated into the performance of missions and tasks. Technology on its own is not a panacea, so we have to think about the cultural and social barriers concurrently with physical and psychological burdens. In previous research, we have high- lighted the need to favour non-invasive over invasive technology in order to pre- serve a healthy soldier-society connection. To achieve this balance, we contend that innovations in science and technology should keep pace with the cultural and social context. The argument here takes this logic a step further, by suggesting that cultural and social variables can profound- ly influence how we can use this emerging technology and that failure to account for this point could lead to major acquisition blunders. These are blunders that will not only undermine capability, but ultimately cost soldiers' their lives, either on the bat- tlefield or once they get home. Stéfanie von Hlatky is an assistant profes- sor in the Department of Political Studies at Queen's University and Director of the Centre for International and Defence Pol- icy (CIDP). The CIDP is hosting the 2017 Kingston Conference on International Se- curity on the theme "Developing Super Sol- diers: Enhancing Military Performance" on 12-14 June 2017. She has published three books, including American Allies in Times of War: The Great Asymmetry, published by Oxford University Press in 2013. She obtained her PhD in political science from the Université de Montreal where she was also executive director for the Centre for International Peace and Security Studies. She can be reached at svh@queensu.ca H. Christian Breede* holds a PhD in War Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada and is an Assistant Profes- sor of Political Science at The Royal Mili- tary College of Canada and Deputy Direc- tor of the Centre for International and Defence Policy at Queen's University, both in Kingston, Canada. He can be reached at hans.christian.breede@rmc.ca. *The opinions and analysis expressed in this article are based on his own research and in no way reflects official policy of the Govern- ment of Canada. While the development of human performance enhancement technology has been primarily focused on easing the burden placed on soldiers, there are other burdens that can sometimes be less visible.

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