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Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense. By Jonathan D. Moreno. New York: Dana Press, 2006. ISBN 1-932594-16-7. Sources. Index. Pp. 210. $23.95.
Jonathan Moreno is a noted bioethicist who has written extensively on cutting edge medical ethics and biodefense issues for scholars and the general public. His Undue Risk: secret State Experiments on Humans (2000) was a compelling historical narrative of American military-medical research efforts in the twentieth century, triggered by his tenure as a senior staff member on President Clinton's Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments. Moreno now offers in Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense another gripping narrative exploring neuroscientific projects and experiments within the national security context. An overview and the first comprehensive foray into the subject, Moreno focuses on the programs of the federal government's science agency most involved in the funding and coordination of neuroscience and national security projects, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Moreno brings to this work considerable expertise, insight, and experience from serving on a number of federal advisory committees and as a biodefense advisor for the Department of Homeland Security.
Moreno provides something of interest for a variety of groups, including historians, philosophers, and public policy wonks. Deftly weaving historical context, program descriptions based on interviews and public information, and probing ethical questions, he explores the panoply of DARPA's in-house programs as well as a number...