As both the House and Senate gear up to vote on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), FAS is launching this live blog post to track all proposals around artificial intelligence (AI) that have been included in the NDAA. In this rapidly evolving field, these provisions indicate how AI now plays a pivotal role in our defense strategies and national security framework. This tracker will be updated following major updates.
Senate NDAA. This table summarizes the provisions related to AI from the version of the Senate NDAA that advanced out of committee on July 11. Links to the section of the bill describing these provisions can be found in the “section” column. Provisions that have been added in the manager’s package are in red font. Updates from Senate Appropriations committee and the House NDAA are in blue.
Senate NDAA Provisions
| Provision | Summary | Section |
| Generative AI Detection and Watermark Competition | Directs Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering to create a competition for technology that detects and watermarks the use of generative artificial intelligence. | 218 |
| DoD Prize Competitions for Business Systems Modernization | Authorizes competitions to improve military business systems, emphasizing the integration of AI where possible. | 221 |
| Broad review and update of DoD AI Strategy | Directs the Secretary of Defense to perform a periodic review and update of its 2018 AI strategy, and to develop and issue new guidance on a broad range of AI issues, including adoption of AI within DoD, ethical principles for AI, mitigation of bias in AI, cybersecurity of generative AI, and more. | 222 |
| Strategy and assessment on use of automation and AI for shipyard optimization | Development of a strategy on the use of AI for Navy shipyard logistics | 332 |
| Strategy for talent development and management of DoD Computer Programming Workforce | Establishes a policy for “appropriate” talent development and management policies, including for AI skills. | 1081 |
| Sense of the Senate Resolution in Support of NATO | Offers support for NATO and NATO’s DIANA program as critical to AI and other strategic priorities | 1238 | 1239 |
| Enhancing defense partnership with India | Directs DoD to enhance defense partnership with India, including collaboration on AI as one potential priority area. | 1251 |
| Specification of Duties for Electronic Warfare Executive Committee | Amends US code to specify the duties of the Electronic Warfare Executive Committee, including an assessment of the need for automated, AI/ML-based electronic warfare capabilities | 1541 |
| Next Generation Cyber Red Teams | Directs the DoD and NSA to submit a plan to modernize cyber red-teaming capabilities, ensuring the ability to emulate possible threats, including from AI | 1604 |
| Management of Data Assets by Chief Digital Officer | Outlines responsibilities for CDAO to provide data analytics capabilities needed for “global cyber-social domain.” | 1605 |
| Developing Digital Content Provenance Course | Directs Director of Defense Media Activity to develop a course on digital content provenance, including digital forgeries developed with AI systems, e.g. AI-generated “deepfakes,” | 1622 |
Report on Artificial Intelligence Regulation in Financial Services Industry | Directs regulators of the financial services industry to produce reports analyzing how AI is and ought to be used by the industry and by regulators | 6096 |
AI Bug Bounty Programs | Directs CDAO to develop a bug bounty program for AI foundation models that are being integrated in DOD operations | 6097 |
Vulnerability analysis study for AI-enabled military applications | Directs CDAO to complete a study analyzing vulnerabilities to the privacy, security, and accuracy of AI-enabled military applications, as well as R&D needs for such applications, including foundation models. | 6098 |
Report on Data Sharing and Coordination | Directs SecDef to to submit a report on ways to improve data sharing across DoD | 6099 |
Establishment of Chief AI Officer of the Department of State | Establishes within the Department of State a Chief AI Officer, who may also serve as Chief Data Officer to oversee adoption of AI in the Department and to advise the Secretary of State on the use of AI in conducting data-informed diplomacy. | 6303 |
House NDAA. This table summarizes the provisions related to AI from the version of the House NDAA that advanced out of committee. Links to the section of the bill describing these provisions can be found in the “section” column.
House NDAA Provisions
| Provision | Summary | Section |
| Process to ensure the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence | Directs CDAO to develop a process for assessing whether AI technology used by DoD is functioning responsibly, including through the development of clear standards, and to amend AI technology as needed | 220 |
| Intellectual property strategy | Directs DoD to develop an intellectual property strategy to enhance capabilities in procurement of emerging technologies and capabilities | 263 |
| Study on establishment of centralized platform for development and testing of autonomy software | Directs SecDef and CDAO to conduct a study, assessing the feasibility and advisability of developing a centralized platform to develop and test autonomous software. | 264 |
| Congressional notification of changes to Department of Defense policy on autonomy in weapon systems | Requires that Congress be notified of changes to DoD Directive 3000.09 (on autonomy in weapons systems) within 30 days of any changes | 266 |
| Sense of Congress on dual use innovative technology for the robotic combat vehicle of the Army | This offers support for the Army’s acquisition strategy for the Robot Combat Vehicle program, and recommends that the Army consider a similar framework for future similar programs. | 267 |
| Pilot program on optimization of aerial refueling and fuel management in contested logistics environments through use of artificial intelligence | Directs CDAO, USD(A&S), and Air Force to develop a pilot program to optimize the logistics of aerial refueling and to consider the use of AI technology to help with this mission. | 266 |
| Modification to acquisition authority of the senior official with principal responsibility for artificial intelligence and machine learning | Increases annual acquisition authority for CDAO from $75M to $125M, and extends this authority from 2025 to 2029. | 827 |
| Framework for classification of autonomous capabilities | Directs CDAO and others within DoD to establish a department-wide classification framework for autonomous capabilities to enable easier use of autonomous systems in the department. | 930 |
Funding Comparison. The following tables compare the funding requested in the President’s budget to funds that are authorized in current House and Senate versions of the NDAA. All amounts are in thousands of dollars.
Funding Comparison
| Program | Requested | Authorized in House | Authorized in Senate | NEW! Passed in Senate Approps 7/27 | NEW! Passed in full House 9/28 |
| Other Procurement, Army–Engineer (non-construction) equipment: Robotics and Applique Systems | 68,893 | 68,893 | 68,893 | 65,118 (-8,775 for “Effort previously funded,” +5,000 for “Soldier borne sensor”) | 73,893 (+5,000 for “Soldier borne sensor”) |
| AI/ML Basic Research, Army | 10,708 | 10,708 | 10,708 | 10,708 | 10,708 |
| AI/ML Technologies, Army | 24,142 | 24,142 | 24,142 | 27,142 (+3,000 for “Automated battle damage assessment and adjust fire”) | 24 |
| AI/ML Advanced Technologies, Army | 13,187 | 15,687
(+ 2,500 for “Autonomous Long Range Resupply”) | 18,187
(+ 5,000 for “Tactical AI & ML”) | 24,687 (+11,500 for “Cognitive computing architecture
for military systems”) | 13,187 |
| AI Decision Aids for Army Missile Defense Systems Integration | 0 | 6,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Robotics Development, Army | 3,024 | 3,024 | 3,024 | 3,024 | 3,024 |
| Ground Robotics, Army | 35,319 | 35,319 | 35,319 | 17,337 (-17,982 for “SMET Inc II early to need”) | 45,319 (+10,000 for “common robotic controller”) |
| Applied Research, Navy: Long endurance mobile autonomous passive acoustic sensing research | 0 | 2,500 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Advanced Components, Navy: Autonomous surface and underwater dual-modality vehicles | 0 | 5,000 | 0 | 3,000 | 0 |
| Air Force University Affiliated Research Center (UARC)—Tactical Autonomy | 8,018 | 8,018 | 8,018 | 8,018 | 8,018 |
| Air Force Applied Research: Secure Interference Avoiding Connectivity of Autonomous AI Machines | 0 | 3,000 | 5,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Air Force Advanced Technology Development: Semiautonomous adversary air platform | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Advanced Technology Development, Air Force: High accuracy robotics | 0 | 2,500 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Air Force Autonomous Collaborative Platforms | 118,826 | 176,013
(+ 75,000 for Project 647123: Air-Air Refueling TMRR,
-17,813 for Technical realignment ) | 101,013
(- 17,813 for DAF requested realignment of funds) | 101,013 | 101,013 |
| Space Force: Machine Learning Techniques for Radio Frequency (RF) Signal Monitoring and Interference Detection | 0 | 10,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defense-wide: Autonomous resupply for contested logistics | 0 | 2,500 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Military Construction–Pennsylvania Navy Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia: AI Machinery Control Development Center | 0 | 88,200 | 88,200 | 0 | 0 |
| Intelligent Autonomous Systems for Seabed Warfare | 0 | 0 | 7,000 | 5,000 | 0 |
Funding for Office of Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer
| Program | Requested | Authorized in House | Authorized in Senate | NEW! Passed in Senate Approps | NEW! Passed in full House |
| Advanced Component Development and Prototypes | 34,350 | 34,350 | 34,350 | 34,350 | 34,350 |
| System Development and Demonstration | 615,245 | 570,246
(-40,000 for “insufficient justification,” -5,000 for “program decrease.”) | 615,246 | 246,003 (-369,243, mostly for functional transfers to JADC2 and Alpha-1) | 704,527 (+89,281, mostly for “management innovation pilot” and transfers from other programs for “enterprise digital alignment”) |
| Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation | 17,247 | 17,247 | 17,247 | 6,882 (-10,365, “Functional transfer to line 130B for ALPHA-1″) | 13,447 (-3,800 for “excess growth”) |
| Senior Leadership Training Courses | 0 | 2,750 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ALPHA-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 222,723 | 0 |
On Senate Approps Provisions
The Senate Appropriations Committee generally provided what was requested in the White House’s budget regarding artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), or exceeded it. AI was one of the top-line takeaways from the Committee’s summary of the defense appropriations bill. Particular attention has been paid to initiatives that cut across the Department of Defense, especially the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) and a new initiative called Alpha-1. The Committee is supportive of Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) integration and the recommendations of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI).
On House final bill provisions
Like the Senate Appropriations bill, the House of Representatives’ final bill generally provided or exceeded what was requested in the White House budget regarding AI and ML. However, in contract to the Senate Appropriations bill, AI was not a particularly high-priority takeaway in the House’s summary. The only note about AI in the House Appropriations Committee’s summary of the bill was in the context of digital transformation of business practices. Program increases were spread throughout the branches’ Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation budgets, with a particular concentration of increased funding for the Defense Innovation Unit’s AI-related budget.
