LOCATION: Westin Lobby
The panel and audience pursued a vigorous – and occasionally pointed – debate on the promise and the risks of military innovation. The discussion focused primarily on the issue of autonomous weapons systems and biotechnology. Specifically, panellists examined whether the responsibility for ethical use belongs to the scientists and innovators endowing these weapons with greater intelligence, or to those executing these advanced capabilities in the field. Experts from the military, watchdog, and political realms offered differing views, ultimately agreeing that the element of human decision-making must be safeguarded above all.
The final plenary of the Forum examined the criminal activity that is bankrolling global terror activity. From oil exports, the drug trade, prostitution and human trafficking, right down to a mundane ATM cash withdrawal from compromised banking systems in the Middle East – it seems there is no end to the list of revenue generators for terror networks. The panel discussed ways to overcome the roadblocks to prosecution of these crimes, which are complicated by complicit allies, “informal economies”, and a lack of support for domestic law enforcement. Panelists finished with a call for renewed cooperation among nations to disrupt a dangerously diverse and sophisticated web of criminal enterprise. Halifax International Security Forum President Peter Van Praagh came on stage to conclude the 2015 Forum by thanking all speakers, participants and sponsors.
LOCATION: Atlantic Ballroom
The Hon. Harjit Sajjan, Canada’s Defence Minister and President Peter Van Praagh deliver remarks to the press to close the 2015 Halifax International Security Forum.
