The White House announced on June 5 that the United States will accelerate the development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) for national security purposes while maintaining safeguards against unlawful surveillance, marking a significant expansion of AI integration across defense and intelligence systems.
Reuters US President Donald Trump reportedly said in a national security memorandum that his administration will “accelerate the use of AI responsibly across the intelligence and warfighting domains, while ensuring the technology is aligned with American values and respects legal boundaries.”
The directive outlines plans to deepen the adoption of AI across national security operations, including intelligence analysis and military operations, while explicitly prohibiting the use of AI for censorship or unauthorized surveillance.
It also directs Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to update guidance on weapon system autonomy within 90 days to ensure that AI is deployed in line with command and operational management standards.
As part of broader safeguards and reflecting growing concerns in Washington about the risks posed by frontier AI systems, major AI developers will be asked to voluntarily submit advanced models for government cybersecurity testing before they are made public, the administration said.
Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said the policy will accelerate the adoption of AI across multiple vendors to avoid single points of failure and make defense systems more resilient.
The move comes amid rising tensions between U.S. defense agencies and AI developers over the use of artificial intelligence in autonomous weapons and surveillance applications, including a recent dispute involving Anthropic and the Department of Defense.
The latest directive underscores the U.S. government’s commitment to maintain technological leadership in the field of AI while increasing oversight of military applications as competition for next-generation defense capabilities intensifies.
