Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems: Issues for Congress (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
April 14, 2016 |
| Report Number |
R44466 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Thomas Payne, Air Force Fellow |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
The current research and future deployment of lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) is
actively under discussion throughout the military, nongovernmental, and international
communities. This discussion is focused, to various degrees, on the military advantage to be
gained from current and future systems, the risks and potential benefits inherent in the research
and deployment of autonomous weapon systems, and the ethics of their use. Restrictions, if any,
in treaty and domestic law, as well as the specific rules governing procurement and use of LAWS
by the military, will all rely to varying degrees on congressional action, and likely face future
legislative debate.
Although autonomous weapons have historically been an artifact of fiction, recent commercial
and military developments are driving widespread consideration of autonomous weapon systems.
Military experience and success with semi-autonomous systems make fully autonomous weapon
systems increasingly conceivable for military professionals. Moreover, the commercial
development of robotics and expert systems (software that models relatively nuanced decisionmaking
by humans during performance of specific skills) potentially applicable to military
purposes makes lethal autonomy more attainable. The Department of Defense (DOD) “third
offset” strategy (a plan for incorporating advanced technology into U.S. warfighting), with its
focus on technological innovation and “outside the box” solutions to manpower and monetary
limitations, includes these systems among other elements. Finally, the development of LAWS is
perceived as occurring or likely to occur among many potential peer and asymmetric adversaries.
Congress is, or may be, involved in the development of LAWS in many ways. First, because no
statute currently governs research, development, or deployment of LAWS, the DOD regulation
issued on the subject has become the de facto national policy on military autonomous weapons.
Congressional action could clarify DOD priorities in these weapon systems’ development. Also,
congressional involvement in LAWS may include specific budgetary decisions, as well as overall
appropriations. Key nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as Human Rights Watch,
among others, are urging international action, and—partially in response—the United Nations has
been considering lethal autonomous weapons for a number of years as part of its responsibility to
consider new protocols under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, the treaty that
serves to restrict or ban internationally the use of certain weapons that are indiscriminant or that
cause unnecessary suffering.
This report seeks to familiarize congressional readers with some existing semi-autonomous
weapon systems and outline the current debate and discussion involving the research,
development, and use of fully autonomous systems.
