Social Modeling and Simulation for National Security

Abstract

Ethical challenges emerge from the use of social modeling and simulation (M&S) for national security (NS) analysis. These challenges differ from those created in surveillance and data gathering technologies. In surveillance and data gathering, the primary concern is the physical or moral harm to citizens, and solutions are sought through legal regulation. In the case of modeling and simulation, the ethical issues may be less obvious. They relate to the use of knowledge in collaborative research activity and to the quality of analysis and decision-making within an organization. In order to respond to ethical challenges emerging due to the use of social M&S within the national security area, an M&S tool needs to be conceptualized not as an ethically neutral piece of technology, or as a product and/or service for which the vendor is legally responsible. Rather, the M&S tool is a locus of the intersection of different professional, organizational, and epistemological cultures.