[ATTW-L] RUSI report on microelectronics for Russia's invasion of Ukraine

[Dragga, Sam]

If you are looking for a timely example of a technical report with important ethical implications, consider Silicon Lifeline: Western Electronics at the Heart of Russia’s War Machine published by the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies (available at https://static.rusi.org/RUSI-Silicon-Lifeline-final-web.pdf.

The report details the international sources of microelectronics essential to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and advises vigorous efforts to
• Review and strengthen existing export controls
• Identify and disrupt Russian covert procurement networks
• Stop the manufacture under license of pertinent microelectronics in states supporting Russia
• Discourage third countries from facilitating transshipment of sanctioned supplies to Russia

The report includes a variety of illustrations: diagrams, drawings, organizational charts, photographs, screen shots, and tables.

Note also the creativity in the Table of Contents, with sections titled America’s Most Wanted, Grand Theft Analog, Everything’s Better in Texas, Tokyo Vice, Watching Switzerland, Going Dutch, London Calling, and Berlin Station (which raises a rhetorical and ethical question about the propriety of the comical in addressing a serious subject).

As a class project, students might be encouraged to investigate corporations cited in the report (e.g., Texas Instruments) to assess their communications regarding cooperation with international sanctions of military supplies that assist Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Sam

Sam Dragga
Professor Emeritus
Texas Tech University
sam.dragga at ttu.edu
1-806-543-6099

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