Introduction

National security is a social institution of the modern nation state. By “social institution,” the author means one of a collection of organizations, policies, laws, and norms that fulfill an important moral end. Criminal justice, one could argue, is a separate institution that protects the rights of citizens; state militaries are an institution that protects state sovereignty against external threats. This is a common distinction, but treating national security as a broad level of analysis is useful for a couple of reasons. Importantly, neuroscience is concerned not simply with brains, but also with minds, mental states, and cognition. The relation between these categories is famously contentious, especially in a world as interconnected and mediated by technology as people's own. Even if military and/or civilian applicants are achieved, the central concern for any ostensibly beneficial technology with the capacity for harm is that it will ultimately be misused by bad actors.