CRISPR Soldiers – Genetic Engineering

“U.S. intelligence shows that China has even conducted human testing on members of the People’s Liberation Army in hope of developing soldiers with biologically enhanced capabilities… There are no ethical boundaries to Beijing’s pursuit of power.” John Ratcliffe, U.S. Director of National Intelligence in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, December 3rd.

Hollywood has had a field day over the years with fictional tales of genetically engineered soldiers and law enforcement officers. Some of these enhanced combatants are depicted as the product of genetics combined with special prosthetics used by reason of horrific injuries, human bodies reengineered into a new life and a new purpose. Some are shown as super-soldiers genetically designed in utero to have superhuman strength, senses and abilities. It seemed to be something relegated to filmic and written literature. And then came CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats), the recognition of genetic sequencing which resulted in the ability to edit and re-sequence or remove RNA and DNA genomic elements to reprogram human bodies.

The thought of being able to cure genetic disorders or vulnerabilities to certain diseases, by reprograming an individual’s anomalous genes, was all over the headlines just after the turn of the millennium. Defects be gone! So was the thought of reengineering children before birth. This was even more exciting than the cloning stories that emanated with the birth of Dolly, the cloned sheep, in 1996. But could we create biologically superior soldiers, human beings designed specifically to be soldiers, raised and trained by the government from birth? Forced into a dangerous occupation without any semblance of consent? Ethically, it couldn’t happen here, right? But what if our enemies routinely used these genetic soldiers against us? Shouldn’t we be able to counter them with comparable capacities?

Welcome to the real world, where authoritarian regimes are not limited by legal or ethical considerations. Are we? And as the above quote from DNI Ratcliffe says, that is precisely what is happening in the Peoples’ Republic of China… and who knows where else? What if these future fighters could see in the dark without night vision goggles? Or could see twice as afar as the rest of us? Perhaps they could days go without sleep or be endowed with unbelievable strength or running speed? What if they engaged in competitive sports? Or what if such soldiers were altered so as not to question orders or evidence any sympathy for their targets?

Last year American researchers Elsa Kania (an expert on Chinese defense technology at the Center for a New American Security) and Wilson VornDick (a former US Naval Officer), published a paper (China’s Military Biotech Frontier: CRISPR, Military-Civil Fusion, and the New Revolution in Military Affairs; Publication: China Brief Volume: 19 Issue: 18; October 8, 2019) for the Jamestown Foundation, examining the Chinese military’s biotechnology studies, including the use of a gene-editing tool known as CRISPR… to genetically enhance soldiers. They wrote:

“While the potential leveraging of CRISPR to increase human capabilities on the future battlefield remains only a hypothetical possibility at the present, there are indications that Chinese military researchers are starting to explore its potential. Of course, genetic engineering has numerous military applications in materials science, such as those that can involve maritime and aerospace applications…

“The Central Military Commission (CMC) Science and Technology Commission is also supporting research in human performance enhancement and ‘new concept’ biotechnology, the potential intersections of these interests merit concern and consideration. For instance, a doctoral dissertation titled ‘Evaluation and Research on Human Performance Enhancement Technology,’ published in 2016, envisions CRISPR as one of three primary ‘human performance enhancement technologies’ … that can be utilized to boost personnel combat effectiveness. The researcher argues that because CRISPR holds such ‘great potential’ as a ‘disruptive’ technology, China must ‘seize the initiative.’”

But apparently, the Chinese effort has moved beyond traditional research. While the PRC arrested (the convicted) at least on scientist who, in 2018, performed unauthorized gene replacement therapy on twin human test subjects (regarding HIV immunity), do we really know the extent of authorized experiments? Clearly, the US government knows something.

In a world of disinformation, unbridled hacking, torture recast as “enhanced interrogation techniques,” massive data harvesting by governmental entities analyzed using artificial intelligence and using US military forces to move peaceful civilians out of the way for a presidential phone op, who enforces expected ethical restraints that most of us expect? Or is there anybody? I’m Peter Dekom, and as we develop new and terrifying capabilities, it is time to develop internationally-accepted standards to insure these inventions and processes are being used responsibly.