William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, Division A, Title LVXXXIV, Section 8411 ("Unmanned maritime systems and satellite vessel tracking technologies")

• Authority: United States Congress
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: NDAA provisions;U.S. federal laws
• Most recent activity: Enacted
• Most recent activity date: 2021-01-01

Risk subdomain coverage

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• Lack of capability or robustness

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

This document has minimal to no coverage of AI risk domains. It is a procedural mandate requiring assessment and reporting on unmanned maritime systems and satellite vessel tracking technologies for Coast Guard use. It does not address AI-specific risks, harms, or governance challenges from the MIT taxonomy.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• Public Administration (excl. National Security)
• National Security

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document governs AI and autonomous system use within the Public Administration (excluding National Security) and National Security sectors. It mandates that the Coast Guard assess and report on unmanned maritime systems and satellite vessel tracking technologies for mission support, representing governance of autonomous technology deployment within federal maritime security and law enforcement operations.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding federal statute enacted by the U.S. Congress as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, with mandatory obligations on the Coast Guard Commandant to conduct assessments and submit reports to Congress.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: United States Congress
• Summary: The document is Section 8411 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, which is federal legislation enacted by the U.S. Congress.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Coast Guard Commandant; Blue Technology Center of Expertise
• Summary: The document mandates that the Commandant of the Coast Guard, acting through the Blue Technology Center of Expertise, conduct assessments and submit reports. The Coast Guard is the target entity with obligations under this statute.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives; Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate
• Summary: The Congressional committees receiving the biennial reports serve as the enforcement mechanism through oversight. Congress has constitutional authority to oversee executive branch compliance with statutory mandates.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives; Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate
• Summary: The same Congressional committees that enforce compliance also monitor implementation through the biennial reporting requirement, reviewing the Coast Guard's assessments of unmanned maritime systems and satellite vessel tracking technologies.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Plan and Design
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document primarily covers the Plan and Design stage by requiring assessment of available technologies for potential Coast Guard use, and the Operate and Monitor stage through requirements to evaluate mission effectiveness and report on actual usage. It does not substantially address data collection, model building, verification/validation, or deployment stages.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

No technical scope terms identified.

Technical Scope Summary

The document focuses on unmanned maritime systems and satellite vessel tracking technologies, which are autonomous or remotely operated vehicles and associated systems. It does not explicitly mention AI models, AI systems, or any specific AI technical categories such as frontier AI, general purpose AI, foundation models, or compute thresholds.