National Critical Capabilities Defense Act of 2023

• Authority: United States Congress
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. federal laws
• Most recent activity: Defunct
• Most recent activity date: 2025-01-03

Risk subdomain coverage

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

• Competitive dynamics
• Governance failure

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

• AI system security vulnerabilities
• Disinformation, surveillance, and influence at scale
• Cyberattacks, weapon development or use
• Power centralization and unfair distribution
• AI possessing dangerous capabilities

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document primarily addresses risks related to competitive dynamics (6.4), governance failure (6.5), and malicious actors (4.1, 4.2). It focuses on national security risks from U.S. investments in countries of concern, particularly regarding AI and other critical capabilities sectors. Coverage is concentrated in socioeconomic/environmental and malicious actor domains, with minimal coverage of AI system safety, discrimination, privacy, or misinformation risks.

Sector coverage

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

• Agriculture, Mining, Construction & Manufacturing
• Information
• Scientific Research & Development Services
• Health Care & Social Assistance

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

• National Security

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document governs U.S. investments across multiple economic sectors designated as 'national critical capabilities sectors,' with explicit mention of seven sectors including semiconductor manufacturing, batteries, critical minerals, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, pharmaceuticals, and automobile manufacturing. The governance applies broadly to investments in these sectors when involving countries of concern.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding legislative act proposed by the U.S. Congress that establishes mandatory notification requirements, review procedures, enforcement mechanisms with civil penalties up to $250,000 or twice the transaction value, and judicial review processes. The document uses mandatory language throughout and creates legally enforceable obligations.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Ms. DeLauro; Mr. Pascrell; Mr. Fitzpatrick; United States Congress; Committee on Ways and Means
• Summary: The bill was introduced by Representatives DeLauro, Pascrell, and Fitzpatrick in the House of Representatives and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. These are legislative actors proposing governance measures.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Developer, AI_Deployer, AI_Infrastructure_Provider
• Entities: United States persons engaging in covered activities with countries of concern or covered foreign entities in national critical capabilities sectors including artificial intelligence
• Summary: The document explicitly targets 'United States persons' who engage in 'covered activities' involving investments, joint ventures, or other business relationships with entities in countries of concern across national critical capabilities sectors, including artificial intelligence. This includes AI developers, deployers, and infrastructure providers conducting such activities.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Committee on National Critical Capabilities; President of the United States; Attorney General; Office of the United States Trade Representative; Department of Commerce; Department of State; Department of the Treasury; Department of Homeland Security; Department of Defense; Office of Science and Technology Policy; Department of Justice; Department of Energy; Department of Health and Human Services; Department of Agriculture; Department of Labor; Office of the Director of National Intelligence; U.S. district courts
• Summary: The document establishes the Committee on National Critical Capabilities as the primary enforcement body, composed of multiple federal agencies. The President has authority to direct the Attorney General to seek enforcement through district courts, including civil penalties and divestment relief.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Committee on National Critical Capabilities; appropriate congressional committees (Committee on Finance, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Select Committee on Intelligence, Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate; Committee on Ways and Means, Committee on Financial Services, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives)
• Summary: The Committee on National Critical Capabilities is responsible for ongoing monitoring through mandatory notification reviews, unilateral reviews, and periodic reporting to congressional committees. The document establishes comprehensive reporting requirements every 90 days on notifications, reviews, and mitigation measures.

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
• Verify and Validate
• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document does not focus on specific AI lifecycle stages but rather on investment activities and business relationships involving AI and other critical capabilities sectors. It addresses governance of investments across the entire lifecycle implicitly by regulating activities related to production, design, testing, manufacturing, fabrication, development, and research in AI sectors.

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 explicitly mentions 'artificial intelligence' as one of the national critical capabilities sectors but does not provide detailed definitions or distinctions between AI models, AI systems, or specific types of AI. There is no mention of compute thresholds, frontier AI, general purpose AI, foundation models, generative AI, predictive AI, or open-weight models.