High-consequence military artificial intelligence oversight

(a) Designation of high-Consequence applications (1) In general Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish and maintain a process to designate categories of artificial intelligence applications of the Department as high-consequence. (2) Designations The following categories shall be designated as high-consequence artificial intelligence applications pursuant to paragraph (1): (A) Artificial intelligence used for the selection of targets for, or execution of the launch or detonation of, a nuclear weapon. (B) Artificial intelligence used in support of lethal targeting decisions, including intelligence fusion or target recommendation for lethal operations. (C) Artificial intelligence used in support of cyber operations that are intended or reasonably likely to create effects outside Department-owned or Department-controlled information systems. (D) Autonomous weapon systems and operator-supervised autonomous weapon systems. (E) Artificial intelligence used for domestic person-based analysis described in section 6(a)(2). (F) Any other category designated by the Secretary as presenting a material risk of death, serious bodily harm, unlawful use of force, strategic surprise, major mission failure, or substantial violation of law or policy if the system malfunctions, is misused, or is employed outside approved constraints. (b) Approval required before operational deployment The Secretary shall require that a high-consequence artificial intelligence application may not be approved for operational deployment unless a senior Department official designated by the Secretary, who may not be below the level of the Under Secretary of Defense or the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, determines in writing that the application satisfies the requirements of subsection (c). (c) Minimum requirements Before approving a high-consequence artificial intelligence application for operational deployment, the approving official shall ensure that the Department has completed, as appropriate to the application, the following: (1) Realistic developmental and operational testing and evaluation sufficient to assess performance, capability, reliability, effectiveness, suitability, and resilience under expected operational conditions, including adversarial conditions where feasible. (2) Legal and policy review. (3) Documentation of intended missions, intended operational environments, intended target or decision sets, known limitations, failure modes, and assumptions. (4) Clear procedures for trained operators to activate, deactivate, override, or terminate system functions, and the circumstances requiring such actions. (5) Fallback procedures and mission-continuity measures in the event of degradation, anomalous behavior, compromise, or system failure. (6) Logging, auditability, and record-retention mechanisms sufficient to support oversight, investigation, and after-action review. (7) Post-deployment continuous monitoring mechanisms. (8) Training, doctrine, and tactics, techniques, and procedures appropriate to the use of the application. (d) Congressional notification (1) In general Except as provided in paragraph (3), not later than 15 days before the initial operational deployment of a category of high-consequence artificial intelligence application, the Secretary shall notify the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives of such deployment. (2) Contents A notification required by paragraph (1) shall include— (A) a description of the application; (B) the mission set, operational environment, and, as appropriate, target or decision set for which the application is intended; (C) a summary of the testing and evaluation conducted; (D) a description of key safeguards, limitations, and fallback procedures; (E) an identification of the accountable human decision-makers and operators; and (F) any other matters the Secretary determines appropriate. (3) Exception The Secretary may provide a notification required by paragraph (1) not later than 48 hours after the initial operational deployment if the Secretary— (A) determines that there are extraordinary circumstances affecting the national security of the United States; and (B) provides, with the notification, a statement of such circumstances necessitating delayed notice. (e) Annual briefing Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall brief the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives on the implementation of this section.