National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, Section 3117 ("Appropriate scoping of artificial intelligence research within the National Nuclear Security Administration")

• 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

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

• Competitive dynamics
• Governance failure

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

This document has minimal risk domain coverage, primarily addressing governance and competitive dynamics concerns. It does not directly address AI safety, security vulnerabilities, discrimination, privacy, misinformation, or other technical AI risks. The focus is on organizational and resource allocation constraints rather than AI risk mitigation.

Sector coverage

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

• Scientific Research & Development Services
• National Security

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document primarily governs the National Security sector by restricting AI research and development within the National Nuclear Security Administration. It also has implications for Scientific Research and Development Services as it regulates how AI R&D programs can be structured and funded within federal agencies.

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 language restricting the use of appropriated funds and clear legal authority.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: United States Congress
• Summary: The document is Section 3117 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, which is proposed and enacted by the United States Congress as the legislative authority.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor, AI_Developer
• Entities: National Nuclear Security Administration; Department of Energy; national security laboratories; nuclear weapons production facility sites
• Summary: The document specifically targets the National Nuclear Security Administration and its components, restricting how they can use AI research and development funds. It also references other Department of Energy components and federal agencies as potential recipients of AI R&D programs.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Department of Energy; National Nuclear Security Administration; United States Congress
• Summary: Enforcement authority is implicit through congressional appropriations oversight and Department of Energy administrative control over fund allocation and compliance with statutory restrictions.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: United States Congress; Department of Energy
• Summary: Monitoring is implicit through congressional oversight of appropriations and Department of Energy internal compliance mechanisms to ensure funds are used according to statutory restrictions.

AI Lifecycle Stages

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

• Plan and Design
• Build and Use Model
• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document addresses AI research and development broadly, covering planning, building, and deployment stages. It focuses on resource allocation and organizational scope rather than specific technical lifecycle stages. The document restricts AI R&D activities within NNSA to nuclear security missions across the entire development lifecycle.

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 uses the broad term 'artificial intelligence technologies' without defining specific AI types. It does not distinguish between AI models, systems, or specific categories like frontier AI, general purpose AI, or foundation models. No compute thresholds or technical specifications are mentioned.