National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, Section 6604 ("Prohibition on use of DeepSeek on intelligence community systems")

• Authority: United States Congress
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: NDAA provisions;U.S. federal laws;FY2026 NDAA
• Most recent activity: Enacted
• Most recent activity date: 2025-12-18

Risk subdomain coverage

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

• AI system security vulnerabilities

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

• Compromise of privacy
• Disinformation, surveillance, and influence at scale
• Competitive dynamics

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document has minimal coverage of approximately 3-4 subdomains, with primary focus on AI system security (2.2), competitive dynamics (6.4), and governance failure (6.5). Coverage is concentrated in security vulnerabilities and national security concerns related to foreign AI systems.

Sector coverage

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

• National Security

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

• Scientific Research & Development Services

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document exclusively governs the National Security sector, specifically intelligence community systems and operations. It does not apply to private sector organizations or other government sectors outside of national security and intelligence functions.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding federal statute enacted by the United States Congress as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, with mandatory requirements and enforcement through the Director of National Intelligence.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: United States Congress
• Summary: The document is Section 6604 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, which is enacted by the United States Congress as indicated in the title and authority field.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor, AI_Deployer
• Entities: elements of the intelligence community; contractor to an element of the intelligence community; another entity on behalf of an element of the intelligence community
• Summary: The prohibition applies to intelligence community elements, their contractors, and entities operating on their behalf who use national security systems.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Director of National Intelligence; heads of the elements of the intelligence community
• Summary: The Director of National Intelligence is explicitly designated to develop and enforce standards and guidelines, in consultation with other intelligence community heads.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Director of National Intelligence; elements of the intelligence community
• Summary: The Director of National Intelligence is responsible for developing standards and guidelines that will govern monitoring and compliance, with intelligence community elements implementing these standards.

AI Lifecycle Stages

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

• Verify and Validate
• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document primarily focuses on the Deploy and Operate and Monitor stages of the AI lifecycle, as it addresses the removal of existing deployed applications from national security systems and establishes ongoing monitoring requirements through standards and guidelines. There is minimal coverage of earlier lifecycle stages.

Technical Scope

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

• AI Systems

Technical Scope Summary

The document refers to 'covered application' meaning the DeepSeek application, which is an AI system. It does not explicitly define or distinguish between AI models, AI systems, or specific types of AI. The focus is on application-level restrictions rather than technical AI classifications.