[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5058 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 5058

To require the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress a strategy to 
 improve cooperation between the Department of Defense and allies and 
   partners of the United States located in the Middle East so as to 
improve use of partner-sharing network capabilities to facilitate joint 
 defense efforts among the United States and such allies and partners, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 16, 2024

 Ms. Ernst (for herself and Mrs. Gillibrand) introduced the following 
   bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress a strategy to 
 improve cooperation between the Department of Defense and allies and 
   partners of the United States located in the Middle East so as to 
improve use of partner-sharing network capabilities to facilitate joint 
 defense efforts among the United States and such allies and partners, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Artificial Intelligence Allied 
Collaboration for Crucial Operations, Research, and Development Act of 
2024'' or the ``AI ACCORD Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. JOINT PARTNER-SHARING NETWORK CAPABILITIES FOR MIDDLE EAST 
              DEFENSE INTEGRATION.

    (a) Strategy.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall 
        submit to the congressional defense committees a strategy to 
        improve cooperation between the Department of Defense and 
        allies and partners of the United States located in the Middle 
        East so as to improve use of partner-sharing network 
        capabilities to facilitate joint defense efforts among the 
        United States and such allies and partners to protect the 
        people, infrastructure, and territory of the United States and 
        such allies and partners from state and non-state actors 
        determined by the Secretary to undermine the national security 
        interests of the United States.
            (2) Contents.--The strategy submitted pursuant to paragraph 
        (1) shall include the following:
                    (A) A summary of ongoing efforts by United States 
                Central Command (CENTCOM), or in which United States 
                Central Command is participating, to implement a joint 
                partner-sharing network capability integrated with the 
                assets of allies and partners of the United States who 
                are located in the Middle East.
                    (B) A summary of challenges to further facilitate 
                the implementation of a joint partner-sharing network 
                capability integrated with the assets of Middle Eastern 
                allies and partners, including actions or decisions 
                that need to be taken by other organizations.
                    (C) A recommendation of actions that can be taken 
                to address the challenges summarized pursuant to 
                subparagraph (B).
                    (D) An assessment of how the implementation of a 
                joint partner-sharing network capability that would be 
                available to integrate with allies and partners of the 
                United States in the Middle East that--
                            (i) could demonstrate new tools, 
                        techniques, or methodologies for data-driven 
                        decision making;
                            (ii) accelerate sharing of relevant data, 
                        data visualization, and data analysis 
                        implemented through cryptographic data access 
                        controls and enforcing existing data sharing 
                        restrictions across multiple security levels; 
                        and
                            (iii) leverage current activities in multi-
                        cloud computing environments to reduce the 
                        reliance on solely hardware-based networking 
                        solutions.
                    (E) A recommendation of actions that can be taken 
                to implement a joint partner-sharing network capability 
                integrated with allies and partners of the United 
                States in the Middle East, including identification of 
                policy, resource, workforce, or other shortfalls.
                    (F) Such other matters as the Secretary considers 
                relevant.
            (3) Metrics.--The Secretary shall identify metrics to 
        assess progress in the implementation of the strategy required 
        by paragraph (1).
            (4) Form.--The strategy required by paragraph (1) shall be 
        submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified 
        annex.
            (5) Protection of sensitive information.--No activity may 
        be carried out under this section without an approved program 
        protection plan and overarching classification guide to enforce 
        technology and information protection protocols that protect 
        sensitive information and the national security interests of 
        the United States.
    (b) Establishment of a Combatant Command Warfighter Forum for 
Artificial Intelligence.--
            (1) Policies and procedures required.--Not later than 180 
        days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Chief 
        Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer of the Department of 
        Defense (CDAO) shall issue policies and procedures to establish 
        a forum for warfighters in the combatant commands on artificial 
        intelligence to help promote coordination and interchange on 
        issues relating to artificial intelligence tools, 
        methodologies, training, exercises, and operational research 
        within and among the combatant commands.
            (2) Purposes for consideration.--In developing the policies 
        and procedures required by paragraph (1) for establishing the 
        forum described in such paragraph, the Chief shall consider the 
        following as primary purposes of the forum:
                    (A) Identification of use cases for the near-term 
                application of artificial intelligence tools, including 
                commercially available artificial intelligence tools, 
                data, methodologies, or techniques.
                    (B) Categorization of risk for the use cases 
                identified pursuant to subparagraph (A), and 
                consideration of risk-management process or other 
                procedural guidelines for enforcing current policy.
                    (C) Identification and prioritization of current 
                artificial intelligence tools or emerging technologies 
                applicable to the use-cases identified pursuant to 
                subparagraph (A) that also meet policy guidelines and 
                standards set by the Department.
                    (D) Identification of shortfalls in training or 
                billets for artificial intelligence-related expertise 
                or personnel within the combatant commands.
                    (E) Coordination on training and experimentation 
                venues, including with regional partners and allies.
                    (F) Identification of opportunities for enhanced 
                cooperation with regional partners and allies.
                    (G) Identification of opportunities for the 
                combatant commands, working with other elements of the 
                Department of Defense, such as the Defense Innovation 
                Unit, to better procure commercial artificial 
                intelligence capabilities, including from partner and 
                allied industrial bases.
            (3) Report.--(A) Not later than one year after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall 
        submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the 
        progress made in establishing the forum described in paragraph 
        (1).
            (B) The report submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall 
        include the following:
                    (i) A summary of the policies and procedures issued 
                pursuant to paragraph (1).
                    (ii) A list of all meetings of the forum described 
                in paragraph (1) that have occurred since the date of 
                the enactment of this Act.
                    (iii) An itinerary of the meetings listed pursuant 
                to clause (ii).
                    (iv) A summary of the efforts of the forum 
                described in paragraph (1) to fulfill each of the 
                purposes considered under paragraph (2).
                    (v) Recommendations, based on findings of the forum 
                described in paragraph (1), for legislative action to 
                accelerate the adoption by the combatant commands of 
                artificial intelligence capabilities.
    (c) Definition of Congressional Defense Committees.--In this 
section, the term ``congressional defense committees'' has the meaning 
given such term in section 101(a) of title 10, United States Code.
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