[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4707 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4707
To amend title 10, United States Code, to establish policy for the
Department of Defense on maximizing autonomy and artificial
intelligence systems, to establish requirements relating to Department
review and verification of autonomous weapon systems and artificial
intelligence capabilities, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 8, 2026
Mr. Coons (for himself and Mr. Reed) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 10, United States Code, to establish policy for the
Department of Defense on maximizing autonomy and artificial
intelligence systems, to establish requirements relating to Department
review and verification of autonomous weapon systems and artificial
intelligence capabilities, 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 ``Responsible Artificial Intelligence
Defense Act of 2026''.
SEC. 2. POLICY AND GUIDANCE RELATED TO AUTONOMOUS WEAPON SYSTEMS AND
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CAPABILITIES ACQUISITION.
(a) In General.--Chapter 345 of title 10, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 4577. Autonomous weapon systems and artificial intelligence
capabilities acquisition; planning and oversight
processes
``(a) Policy.--It is the policy of the Department of Defense to
maximize uses of autonomy and artificial intelligence capabilities to
the extent practicable, while ensuring and maintaining that
implementation of such autonomy and artificial intelligence
capabilities provides continuous and rigorous human oversight to ensure
that operations are conducted in accordance with the law of war,
applicable treaties, weapon system safety rules, applicable rules of
engagement, and long-standing frameworks protecting the privacy and
civil liberties of United States persons.
``(b) Requirement.--In accordance with the policy set forth in
subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall--
``(1) ensure personnel exercise appropriate levels of human
judgment and consistently monitor any deployed artificial
intelligence-enabled autonomous weapons systems, while
remaining responsible for the development, deployment, and use
of autonomous weapon systems and artificial intelligence
capabilities;
``(2) take deliberate steps to ensure accuracy in
autonomous weapon systems and artificial intelligence
capabilities;
``(3) develop and deploy autonomous weapon systems and
artificial intelligence capabilities in a manner that promotes
an appropriate understanding of the technology, their
development processes, and operational methods applicable to
autonomous weapon systems and artificial intelligence
capabilities;
``(4) subject prototype and deployed autonomy and
artificial intelligence capabilities to routine testing and
information assurance across their entire life cycles to ensure
that capabilities meet defined safety, security, and
effectiveness parameters; and
``(5) design and engineer autonomy and artificial
intelligence capabilities to fulfill their intended functions,
and deploy these capabilities such that human operators--
``(A) retain the ability to detect and avoid
unintended consequences or behaviors; and
``(B) retain a means for human intervention to
disengage or deactivate deployed systems that
demonstrate unintended or illegal behavior.
``(c) Review for Autonomous Weapons Systems and Supporting
Artificial Intelligence Capabilities.--
``(1) Levels of human judgment.--(A) The Secretary shall
ensure that any autonomous weapon system or artificial
intelligence capability to be utilized by the Department,
except as exempted by subsection (c), is categorized by the
appropriate level of human judgment required to mitigate risks
to life, safety and health of Department personnel or
noncombatant civilian harm.
``(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), appropriate levels
of human judgment for an autonomous weapon system shall consist
of two levels as follows:
``(i) Level 1, which means that the weapon system
poses little to no risk to human life or safety should
the system fail to act as designed.
``(ii) Level 2, which means that the weapon system
poses moderate to high risk to human life or safety
should the system fail to act as designed.
``(C) Appropriate levels of human judgment for an
artificial intelligence capability shall consist of two levels
as follows:
``(i) Level 1, which means that the artificial
intelligence capability poses little to no risk as a
result of compromise of data integrity or operational
support should the system fail to act as designed.
``(ii) Level 2, which means that the artificial
intelligence capability--
``(I) uses data protected by section 552a
of title 5 (commonly known as the `Privacy Act
of 1974') or regulations promulgated under the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-191); or
``(II) poses a risk such that the failure
of the artificial intelligence system to act as
designed would severely affect the ability of
the Department to perform the designated
mission of the artificial intelligence
capability.
``(2) Review and verification.--Subject to subsection (d),
for any autonomous weapon system or artificial intelligence
capability under development or being fielded by the
Department, the Secretary shall ensure that such autonomous
weapon system or artificial intelligence capability requires--
``(A) before a decision to enter prototyping or
formal development, review and verification by the
Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering
that--
``(i) the system design incorporates the
necessary capabilities to allow commanders,
operators, and analysts to exercise appropriate
levels of human judgment over the use of force
in the envisioned planning and employment
processes for the autonomous weapon system or
artificial intelligence capability;
``(ii)(I) the autonomous weapon system or
artificial intelligence capability is designed
to complete engagements within a timeframe and
geographic area, as well as other applicable
environmental and operational parameters,
consistent with commander and operator
intentions; or
``(II) if not designed as described in
subclause (I), the autonomous weapon system or
artificial intelligence capability will
terminate engagements or obtain additional
operator input before continuing the
engagement;
``(iii) the combination of the design and
concept of employment of the autonomous weapon
system or artificial intelligence capability,
such as its target selection and engagement
logic and other relevant processes or measures,
accounts for risks to nontargets, consistent
with commander and operator intent and the laws
of war;
``(iv) the design of the autonomous weapon
system or artificial intelligence capability,
including system safety, anti-tamper
mechanisms, and the cybersecurity of the
autonomous weapon system or artificial
intelligence capability, in accordance with
Department of Defense Instruction 8500.01
(relating to cybersecurity), or successor
instruction, addresses and minimizes the
probability and consequences of failures;
``(v) plans are in place for verification
and validation and test and evaluation to
establish the reliability, effectiveness, and
suitability of the autonomous weapon system or
artificial intelligence capability under
realistic conditions, including possible
adversary actions, to a sufficient standard
consistent with the potential consequences of
an unintended engagement or unauthorized
parties interfering with the operation of the
autonomous weapon system or artificial
intelligence capability prior to fielding; and
``(vi) a preliminary legal review of the
autonomous weapon system or artificial
intelligence capability has been completed--
``(I) in coordination with the
General Counsel of the Department of
Defense; and
``(II) in accordance with
Department of Defense Directive 5000.01
(relating to Defense Acquisition
System), or successor directive,
Department of Defense Directive 2311.01
(relating to Department of Defense Law
of War Program), or successor
directive, and, where applicable,
Department of Defense Directive
3000.03E (relating to Department of
Defense Agent for Non-Lethal Weapons
and Non-Lethal Weapon Policy), or
successor directive; and
``(B) before fielding, review and verification by
the Under Secretary for Research and Engineering, in
consultation with the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, that, with respect to the autonomous weapon
system or artificial intelligence capability--
``(i) system capabilities, human-machine
interfaces, doctrine, tactics, techniques and
procedures, and training have been demonstrated
to allow commanders and operators to exercise
appropriate levels of human judgment over the
use of force and to employ systems with
appropriate care and in accordance with the law
of war, applicable treaties, weapon system
safety rules, and definable rules of engagement
that are applicable or reasonably expected to
be applicable;
``(ii) system safety, anti-tamper
mechanisms, cyber survivability, operational
resilience, and cybersecurity capabilities have
been implemented to minimize the probability
and consequences of failures;
``(iii) for autonomous weapon systems or
artificial intelligence capabilities that are
being fielded that may have gone through the
development pipeline and verified under
subparagraph (A), an updated legal review of
the weapon system or artificial intelligence
capability has been completed--
``(I) in coordination with the
General Counsel of the Department of
Defense; and
``(II) in accordance with
Department of Defense Directive 5000.01
(relating to Defense Acquisition
System), or successor directive,
Department of Defense Directive 2311.01
(relating to Department of Defense Law
of War Program), or successor
directive, and, where applicable,
Department of Defense Directive
3000.03E (relating to Department of
Defense Agent for Non-Lethal Weapons
and Non-Lethal Weapon Policy), or
successor directive; and
``(iv) a monitoring regime is in place to
identify and address changes in operational
environment, data inputs, and use that could
contribute to failure of the system or
capability to act in a manner consistent with
the intent for the system or capability.
``(3) Validity of verification.--(A) The Secretary shall
treat each verification under paragraph (2) or paragraph (4) as
valid for a period of three years.
``(B) An autonomous weapon system or artificial
intelligence capability that is a substantially similar variant
of another autonomous weapon system or artificial intelligence
capability that is verified under paragraph (2) or paragraph
(4) shall also be treated as verified.
``(4) Subsequent review and verification.--(A) For any
autonomous weapon system or artificial intelligence capability
that was previously verified under paragraph (2)(A) or exempted
under any predecessor review process under Department of
Defense Directive 3000.09 (relating to Autonomy in Weapon
Systems), that does not currently have a valid verification
pursuant to paragraph (3), the Secretary shall ensure that it
undergoes subsequent review and verification under such
paragraph.
``(B) For any autonomous weapon system or artificial
intelligence capability that was previously verified under
paragraph (2)(B) or exempted under any predecessor review
process under Department of Defense Directive 3000.09 (relating
to Autonomy in Weapon Systems) that does not currently have a
valid verification pursuant to paragraph (3), the Secretary
shall ensure that it undergoes subsequent review and
verification under such paragraph as if it had not been
deployed.
``(5) Privacy impact assessments.--(A) For each artificial
intelligence capability classified under subsection
(c)(1)(C)(ii), the Secretary ensure that a privacy impact
assessment is conducted by the Director for Privacy, Civil
Liberties and Transparency.
``(B) In carrying out a privacy impact assessment under
subparagraph (A), the Director may consult with such technical
and policy experts in the Department of Defense or elsewhere in
the Federal Government as the Director considers appropriate.
``(6) Waiver of updated legal review.--The Under Secretary
of Defense for Research and Engineering may temporarily waive
the requirement for an updated legal review under paragraph
(2)(B)(iii) for longer than one year if the capability is being
deployed in response to real-world conflict or for compelling
national interest.
``(d) Exceptions.--The following categories of autonomous weapon
systems are not subject to the policy set forth in subsection (a) or
the requirements of subsection (b) and (c):
``(1) Operator-supervised autonomous weapon systems used to
select and engage materiel targets to intercept attempted time-
critical or saturation attacks.
``(2) Operator-supervised autonomous weapon systems used to
select and engage materiel targets for defending operationally
deployed remotely piloted or autonomous vehicles or vessels.
``(3) Autonomous or semi-autonomous cyberspace
capabilities, reasonably judged to be non-lethal in nature.
``(4) Unarmed platforms, whether remotely operated or
operated by onboard personnel, and whether autonomous or semi-
autonomous.
``(5) Unguided munitions.
``(6) Munitions manually guided by the operator.
``(7) Mines.
``(8) Unexploded explosive ordnance.
``(9) Autonomous or semi-autonomous systems that are not
weapon systems.
``(10) Any weapon system--
``(A) that is not continuously monitored by a human
operator;
``(B) that the Secretary, after completing review
of the system per subsection (c), has determined to be
safer and more reliable for the intended use than
alternative systems that are verified for such use per
subsection (c) and involve continuous human
supervision; and
``(C) for which--
``(i) the Secretary has notified the
congressional defense committees of the
intended use of the system; and
``(ii) no congressional defense committee
has objected to during the 30-day period
beginning on the date on which the notice was
submitted under clause (i).
``(e) Prohibitions on Certain Uses of Autonomy or Artificial
Intelligence Capabilities.--Except as may be provided in another
statute, the Secretary may not use autonomy or an artificial
intelligence capability for any of the following use cases:
``(1) For the decision to initiate the launch of a nuclear
weapon.
``(2) For the monitoring, tracking, profiling, or targeting
of an individual or group of individuals reasonably believed to
be in the United States, without a warrant obtained based on
probable cause of a crime with an individualized, articulable
legal basis, or the collection, querying, or analysis of
information about the same not otherwise permissible under the
Constitution of the United States, regardless of the origin of
the data used, except for activities conducted in accordance
with applicable provisions of law.
``(3) In the employment of lethal force by autonomous
weapon systems without incorporation of appropriate levels of
human judgment.
``(f) Verification, Validation, Testing and Evaluation of
Autonomous Weapon Systems Leveraging Autonomy or Artificial
Intelligence Systems.--For each autonomy and artificial intelligence
system that is covered by the policy set forth in subsection (a),
regardless of the acquisition pathway or test and evaluation oversight
status for an autonomous weapon system or artificial intelligence
capability, the Director for Operational Test and Evaluation shall
ensure the autonomous weapon system or artificial intelligence
capability functions as anticipated in realistic operational
environments against adaptive adversaries and are sufficiently robust
to minimize failures, including by ensuring--
``(1) such autonomous weapon system or artificial
intelligence capability goes through rigorous hardware and
software verification and validation and realistic system
developmental and operational test and evaluation, including
analysis of unanticipated emergent behavior to assess system
performance, capability, reliability, effectiveness, and
suitability under realistic conditions, including possible
adversary actions, consistent with the potential consequences
of unintended engagement or unauthorized parties interfering
with the operation of the system or capability;
``(2) hardware and software verification and validation
include iterative cyber test and evaluation in accordance with
Department of Defense Instruction 5000.89 (relating to Test and
Evaluation), or successor instruction, to verify that
autonomous weapon system or artificial intelligence capability
is resilient and survivable in contested cyberspace, if
relevant to the purpose and mission of the system or
capability;
``(3) systems incorporating autonomy or artificial
intelligence capabilities go through rigorous developmental and
operational test and evaluation to verify and validate that
autonomous weapon system or artificial intelligence capability
is robust according to design requirements;
``(4) test and evaluation of systems incorporating autonomy
or artificial intelligence capabilities include testing to
confirm that their autonomy or artificial intelligence
algorithms can be rapidly reprogrammed on new input data to
enable timely correction of any unintended system behaviors
that may be observed or discovered during future system
operations;
``(5) adequate training, tactics, techniques, procedures,
and doctrine are available, periodically reviewed, and used by
system operators and commanders to understand the functioning,
capabilities, and limitations of the system's autonomy or
artificial intelligence in realistic operational conditions;
``(6) system design and human-machine interfaces are
readily understandable to trained operators, with clear ability
for trained operators to activate and deactivate system
functions;
``(7) after initial operational testing and evaluation, as
directed by the Director, system data is collected and any
further changes to the system undergo appropriate verification,
validation, test, and evaluation to ensure that critical safety
features have not been degraded;
``(8) system software is tested using the best means and
methods available to the Department to validate that critical
safety features have not been degraded;
``(9) automated testing tools, such as modeling and
simulation, are used whenever feasible;
``(10) testing identifies any new operating states and
other relevant changes in the autonomous weapon system or
artificial intelligence capability;
``(11) as directed by the Director--
``(A) each new or revised operating state undergoes
appropriate and tailored additional test and evaluation
to characterize the system behavior in that new
operating state; and
``(B) whole system follow-on operational test and
evaluation when required due to changes to the state
transition matrix; and
``(12) in coordination with the Under Secretary for
Research and Engineering and Director, the owning component of
the Department provides for monitoring to identify and address
when changes to the system design or operational environment
require additional testing and evaluation to provide sufficient
confidence that the system will continue to avoid unintended
engagements and resist interference by unauthorized parties.
``(g) Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence Systems Working Group.--
``(1) Establishment.--(A) The Secretary shall establish and
charter a working group for the purposes set forth in paragraph
(2).
``(B) The working group established under subparagraph (A)
shall be known as the `Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence
Working Group'.
``(2) Purposes.--The purposes set forth in this paragraph
are as follows:
``(A) To support the Under Secretary of Defense for
Research and Engineering, and the Vice Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff in considering the full range of
relevant Department interests during the review of
autonomous weapon systems and artificial intelligence
capabilities before formal development.
``(B) To support the Under Secretary of Defense for
Research and Engineering and the Vice Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, in considering the full range of
relevant Department interests during the review of
autonomous weapon systems before deployment.
``(C) When requested by appropriate representatives
of the secretaries of the military departments, the
Commander of United States Special Operations Command,
or, when applicable, a director of a defense agency or
a Department of Defense Field Activity--
``(i) to advise whether a given weapon
system requires senior-level approval in
accordance with this section; and
``(ii) to help identify and advise on
addressing potential issues presented by a
given weapon system during a potential senior-
level review in accordance with this section.
``(D) To develop and issue safety standards for use
of autonomy and artificial intelligence capabilities in
evaluation of such capabilities.
``(h) Annual Report.--Not later than January 31 of each year until
January 31, 2037, the Secretary shall submit to the congressional
defense committees an annual report on the administration of this
section.
``(i) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) The term `artificial intelligence' has the meaning
given the term section 5002 of the National Artificial
Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9401).
``(2) The term `autonomous weapon systems' means a weapon
system that, once activated, can select and engage targets
without further intervention by an operator. Such term includes
operator-supervised autonomous weapon systems that are designed
to allow operators to override operation of the weapon system
but can select and engage targets without further operator
input after activation.
``(3) The term `autonomy' means a capability (or set of
capabilities) that enables a particular action of a system to
be automatic or, within specified boundaries self-governing
with minimal human oversight.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 345 of
title 10, United States Code is amended by inserting after the item
related to section 4576 the following new item:
``4577. Autonomous weapon systems and artificial intelligence
capabilities acquisition; planning and
oversight processes.''.
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