{"id":526,"date":"2026-06-17T22:39:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T22:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=526"},"modified":"2026-06-17T22:39:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T22:39:57","slug":"the-u-s-militarys-ai-policy-is-up-for-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=526","title":{"rendered":"The U.S. Military\u2019s AI Policy Is Up For Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The use of artificial intelligence in military operations has prompted a fierce discourse in Washington: Does the U.S. government have the appropriate guardrails in place to drop bombs using AI?<\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s Surprise DNI Announcement Leaves Senate Republicans Reeling<\/a><\/p>\n

A relatively obscure Pentagon policy document is now at the center of that debate.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has ordered<\/u><\/span> the Department of Defense to update its \u201cDirective 3000.09\u201d \u2014 the governing the deployment and testing of autonomous weapons \u2014 by early September.<\/p>\n

The last time that policy, first established in 2012, was updated was in 2023; it includes detailed protocols for how U.S. military officers should engage with guided missiles and drones, and includes oversight processes for the use of these weapons. While the use of AI is constrained by traditional rules of engagement, Directive 3000.09 does not cover the use and specific testing protocols for the emerging technology.<\/p>\n

The timing of Trump\u2019s order to update the policy, and the Pentagon\u2019s recent push to deploy AI-powered systems in large-scale military operations like those in Venezuela and Iran, has raised concerns among congressional Democrats that the Trump administration wants to undermine safety protocols and human input.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I don\u2019t want is for the DoD to move so fast and just start implementing policy without actually thinking about the consequences of what that means,\u201d Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona) told NOTUS. \u201cOnce you allow AI to take humans out of the kill chain decision making process, it becomes easier to kill people, which means it\u2019s easier for you to go to war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallego sent a to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week asking for more visibility into what considerations are going into the update of these directives. He\u2019s yet to hear back from his office.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be thinking about it in a very constructive and deliberative manner before we just run head on into it, because bad things could happen,\u201d Gallego said.<\/p>\n

A Defense Department official told NOTUS in a statement that humans will remain integral to deploying automated weapons.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur military operates in full compliance with all U.S. laws and established Department policies, such as ensuring a human is always in the loop for critical operational decisions,\u201d the official told NOTUS. \u201cThe Department maintains in Directive 3000.09 that a human operator has always been in the loop when using autonomous capabilities. The responsibility for the lawful use of any AI tool rests with the human operator and the chain of command, not within the software itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has pushed the Pentagon to rapidly adopt AI across the agency. In January, Hegseth released a to accelerate adoption, encouraging \u201cbecoming an \u2018AI-first\u2019 warfighting force across all components.\u201d<\/p>\n

Traditionally, humans have been in charge of planning military operations, but militaries across the world have developed advanced AI capabilities<\/u><\/span> such as missiles and automated drone swarms that can reach their targets with minimal human input.<\/p>\n

Read more Republicans Block Pentagon Investment Ban Aimed at Trump Family<\/a><\/p>\n

Advanced AI systems like Anthropic\u2019s Claude and OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT can analyze massive amounts of data and help troops identify likely targets in conflicts like the war in Iran. That usage came under scrutiny when the U.S. mistakenly struck an Iranian all-girls school labeled as a military facility due to reportedly outdated data<\/u> in the early days of the war in Iran. Claude reportedly helped<\/span>orchestrate<\/u><\/span>1,000 attacks in the first 24 hours of \u201cOperation Epic Fury.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Keeping up to date with these systems remains a challenge, and Democratic and Republican lawmakers have expressed concerns with how the U.S. military is deploying these tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one technology where, you\u2019re going to create a policy, and then you\u2019re going to find six months later it\u2019s outdated because of new innovations \u2014 it\u2019s moving that fast,\u201d Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) told NOTUS.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just have to try to keep up as best you can,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd you have to include in that discussion what the adversaries are doing because we\u2019re going to have to be able to respond to what the new capabilities that our adversaries are going to be introducing to battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Democratic and Republican senators have been pushing to establish additional guardrails<\/u><\/span> to the use of AI in military operations.<\/p>\n

The Senate\u2019s version of this year\u2019s National Defense Authorization Act, which has yet to make it to the floor, would forbid the military from using AI to decide if a nuclear weapon should be deployed, to track constitutionally protected groups or individuals in the U.S., or to plan military attacks without the \u201cincorporation of appropriate levels of human judgment,\u201d the text of the bill reads. However, the bill\u2019s text falls short of detailing what that human judgment would look like.<\/p>\n

The bill would also enshrine in law some of the testing protocols in 3000.09 for fully autonomous weapons, like requiring the DOD to report incidents related to autonomous weapons and share details of their AI safety testing with Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not believe that current law is keeping up with advancing AI technology. Lethal decisions require a conscience, not just an algorithm,\u201d Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), who is behind some of the provisions included in the NDAA, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Michael Horowitz, a former senior Pentagon official under President Joe Biden who was tasked with updating 3000.09 in 2022, told NOTUS that the current version of the document was drafted to be adaptable to new technologies.<\/p>\n

He said that he\u2019s not as concerned with possible updates to 3000.09 since he trusts the military will prioritize reliability in the weapons they deploy. However, he said that this moment presents Congress with an opportunity to ensure human judgment in military attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegislation that enshrines the centrality of the human in making the decision about the use of force is a great example of a place where Congress could make a difference,\u201d Horowitz said.<\/p>\n

Read more White House Details Iran Deal, But Trump Warns Bombs Could Still Fall<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump has asked for revisions to the Pentagon\u2019s rules around autonomous weapons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"\nThe U.S. Military\u2019s AI Policy Is Up For Debate - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=526\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The U.S. Military\u2019s AI Policy Is Up For Debate - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Trump has asked for revisions to the Pentagon\u2019s rules around autonomous weapons.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=526\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-17T22:39:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=526#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=526\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"The U.S. Military\u2019s AI Policy Is Up For Debate\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T22:39:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=526\"},\"wordCount\":1013,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=526#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4d50a110c5b8005d98e456c2a6b5c00d-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=526#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=526\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=526\",\"name\":\"The U.S. Military\u2019s AI Policy Is Up For Debate - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=526#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=526#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4d50a110c5b8005d98e456c2a6b5c00d-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T22:39:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=526#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=526\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=526#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4d50a110c5b8005d98e456c2a6b5c00d-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4d50a110c5b8005d98e456c2a6b5c00d-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to members of the media during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Thursday, March 19, 2026. 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