Technology and the Soldier’s Will to Fight—How Can We Foster Courage in Our New Era?

Speakers: Dr. Reuven Gal (Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Resilience & Social Issues Section, Samuel Neaman Institute, Technion, Israel); Dr. Ben Connable (Nonresident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council; Adjunct Professor of Security Studies, Georgetown University); and Dr. Aaron Frank (Senior Information Scientist, RAND)

Date: 28 June 2022

Speaker Session Summary

SMA hosted a speaker session with Dr. Reuven Gal (Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Resilience & Social Issues Section, Samuel Neaman Institute, Technion, Israel), Dr. Ben Connable (Nonresident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council; Adjunct Professor of Security Studies, Georgetown University), and Dr. Aaron Frank (Senior Information Scientist, RAND) as part of its SMA Mind-Tech Nexus Speaker Series.

Military leaders have long sought to understand what enables soldiers to willingly engage in combat and other dangerous activities. New technologies relating to the mind-tech nexus may allow scholars and leaders to understand why soldiers decide to place themselves in harm’s way, and even encourage it. Dr. Gal commented that four drivers are responsible for most soldiers’ decision to engage in combat are a) self-preservation, b) unit cohesion, c) leadership, and d) commitment. Commitment can take several forms, including loyalty to a leading officer. Soldiers in Yom-Kippur (1973), for instance, had a stronger commitment to the officers leading them into battle. This was unilateral across military branches. Also, overall unit cohesion and relationships within the team were clearly connected to troops’ willingness to take risks.

It is unclear how technology can show if units are forming cohesive and meaningful bonds, however. Dr. Frank stated that a better understanding of how technology can help and a soldier cope on the battlefield must be examined through a group lens, which includes looking at the group’s diversity. Diversity will ensure that the group is prepared for most obstacles that they encounter. Moreover, issues and concepts relating to human behavior and technology are not well-defined, according to the panelists. Therefore, scholars and military leaders will need to create a shared understanding of the mind-tech nexus, individuals’ will to fight, overall human behavior, and the character of war to understand the implications of neurotechnology on combat, Dr. Connable stated. 

Speaker Session Recording

For access to the recording of this event, please email Ms. Nicole Omundson (nomundson@nsiteam.com).

Briefing Materials

Biographies:

Dr. Reuven Gal has a BA (Psychology & Sociology) from Hebrew University, as well as a MA & PhD in Psychology from UC Berkley. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow and the Head of Resilience & Social Issues Section at the Samuel Neaman Institute, Technion, Israel. Among his former positions are Chief Psychologist of the IDF, Director of Carmel Institute for Social Studies, Deputy Head of Israel’s National Security Council, General Director of the Authority for National Civic Service, and various academic positions. He has published six books (as author and editor) and numerous journal articles as well.

Dr. Ben Connable is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, adjunct professor of security studies at Georgetown University, and senior research advisor to DT Institute, a peace and development nonprofit. Dr. Connable is a retired Marine Corps Middle East foreign area officer and intelligence officer. From 2009 through 2021, Dr. Connable was a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, where he led over twenty research projects for US government and allied sponsors. His most recent work focused on the analysis of will to fight and methods for analyzing, modeling, gaming, and simulating human behavior in conflict. Dr. Connable co-led seven research projects on will to fight and co-authored Will to Fight, National Will to Fight, NATO Will to Fight, and other reports. Most recently, he published Iraqi Army Will to Fight, applying the analysis model developed by the RAND team for the US Government. Dr. Connable received his MA in national security affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School and his PhD in war studies from King’s College London. His doctoral thesis is entitled Warrior-Maverick Culture: The Evolution of Adaptability in the U.S. Marine Corps. Other notable works include How Insurgencies End and Embracing the Fog of War. Dr. Connable has published extensively, including with the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Foreign Affairs. At Georgetown University, he teaches a course on human behavior in war.

Dr. Aaron Frank is a senior information scientist at the RAND Corporation who specializes in the development of analytic tradecraft and decision-support tools for analyzing complex national security issues. He is interested in problems associated with uncertainty, the philosophy and history of science, decision-making, and the way in which models mediate between data and theory to understand individual choices and collective action. He has employed agent-based models, wargames, and other analytic tools to assess the benefits and limitations of historical and experimental data and generate missing information via simulation to analyze problems ranging from regional conflicts between national governments to military innovation and transformation to the dynamics of social identities.

The SMA Mind-Tech Nexus Speaker Series description and list of the other sessions in this series can be downloaded here.