Establishing an ecosystem for use of artificial intelligence agents at scale and speed

(a) Establishment (1) In general The Secretary of Defense shall, acting through the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer (CDAO), establish a unified, Department of Defense-wide technical and procedural ecosystem to align activities and investments across the Department on the employment of agents and to enable the discovery, deployment, and enterprise use of agentic artificial intelligence systems at scale and speed across the Department of Defense. (2) Components of ecosystem This ecosystem required by paragraph (1) shall be comprised of shared technical services, enterprise capabilities and platforms, and procedures and technical governance structures for engaging with and collectively building upon those services and capabilities. (b) Governance structures The governance structures required by subsection (a)(2) shall include, at minimum, the following: (1) An agile governance structure capable of evolving with the pace of agentic artificial intelligence system development while maintaining appropriate accountability and oversight. (2) Standardized best practices, community of practice forums, and operational guidance for developing, deploying, and managing agentic systems, including the development and sharing of tactics, techniques, and procedures for use. (3) A process for engaging with and incorporating advancements and lessons learned from industry into Department agentic artificial intelligence system practices, governance, training, and policy. (c) Enterprise capabilities and platforms The enterprise capabilities and platforms required by subsection (a)(2) shall include the following: (1) Hosting and management of approved agentic artificial intelligence systems available for Department-wide discovery and use. (2) A lifecycle management capability of agentic artificial intelligence systems governing the full continuum of development, testing and evaluation, versioning, deployment, monitoring, updating, and deprecation of agentic artificial intelligence systems, including standards for evaluating agentic artificial intelligence system performance and behavior prior to and following deployment, and user feedback mechanisms to inform ongoing performance assessment and improvement. (3) A developer credentialing and access framework establishing which personnel and entities are authorized to develop, publish, and modify agentic artificial intelligence system within the ecosystem, including appropriate privilege tiers. (4) Minimum interoperability standards enabling agentic artificial intelligence systems to operate across Department environments, connect to Department data sources and systems, and interact with other agentic artificial intelligence systems regardless of development environment or security classification level. (5) Application of lessons learned from pace-setting projects identified under the Department of Defense Artificial Intelligence Strategy. (d) Shared technical services The shared technical services required by subsection (a)(2) shall include the following: (1) A structured agentic artificial intelligence system registry enabling Department-wide discoverability, searchability, and reuse of approved agentic artificial intelligence systems across multi-cloud and multi-security environments. (2) A usage tracking and demand analytics capability to monitor agentic artificial intelligence system registration and utilization, identify high-demand use cases, and inform prioritization of agentic artificial intelligence system development and resource investment. (3) Cost and pricing frameworks, including chargeback models for cost recovery and attribution when agentic artificial intelligence systems are accessed or deployed, including integration with Department-operated large language model infrastructure. (e) Consultation In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall, acting through the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer, consult with the following: (1) The Chief Information Officers of the military departments and the Joint Staff. (2) The Chief Artificial Intelligence and Data Officers of the military departments and the Joint Staff. (3) The Chief Information Officers of the Defense Intelligence Enterprise. (4) The Chief Artificial Intelligence and Data Officers of the Defense Intelligence Enterprise. (5) Such other officials and organizations as the Secretary determines appropriate. (f) Roadmap (1) In general Not later than January 15, 2028, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a roadmap for implementation of the ecosystem required under subsection (a). (2) Elements The roadmap submitted under paragraph (1) shall address the following: (A) Each component required under subsections (b) through (d). (B) Any additional components the Secretary determines necessary. (C) Projected timelines and resource requirements for implementation. (g) Briefing Not later than January 15, 2028, the Secretary of Defense shall provide to the congressional defense committees a briefing on the roadmap required under subsection (f). (h) Definitions In this section: (1) The term agentic artificial intelligence system means an artificial intelligence system capable of autonomous or semi-autonomous planning, decision making, and execution of multi-step tasks with limited human intervention. (2) The term artificial intelligence has the meaning given that term in section 238(g) of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (Public Law 115—232; 10 U.S.C. note prec. 4061). (3) The term military departments has the meaning given that term in section 101(a) of title 10, United States Code.