A senator wants answers before the Pentagon rewrites its autonomous-weapons rule
Trump's new AI memo gives the Pentagon 90 days to rewrite its autonomous-weapons rule. Sen. Gallego says that is too fast and wants to know which safeguards survive.
Trump's new AI memo gives the Pentagon 90 days to rewrite its autonomous-weapons rule. Sen. Gallego says that is too fast and wants to know which safeguards survive.
Sen. Ruben Gallego is pressing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the Pentagon's rush to rewrite the rule governing autonomous weapons, DefenseScoop reported, citing a June 12 letter it obtained.
The trigger is National Security Presidential Memorandum 11, which President Trump signed June 5. It orders the Pentagon to update Directive 3000.09, the policy for developing and fielding autonomous and semi-autonomous weapons, within 90 days, then review it every year, the Council on Foreign Relations noted. The memo rolls back Biden-era oversight.
Directive 3000.09 dates to 2012 and was last revised in 2023. It requires that autonomous weapons work as intended, stay geographically bounded, allow for termination, and resist adversarial manipulation, Gallego wrote. Such systems use sensors and algorithms to find, identify and strike targets without manual human control, per a Congressional Research Service primer DefenseScoop cited.
Gallego, a Marine Corps combat veteran, warned that cutting those safeguards on a compressed clock risks friendly-fire and civilian-harm incidents, and that adversaries could trigger them on purpose by manipulating hastily fielded systems, costing the US basing or overflight rights. He asked whether the new Defense Autonomous Warfare Group has anyone assigned to civilian-harm mitigation, and set a June 26 deadline for answers.
He is not the only one. Sen. Adam Schiff filed a bill on June 8 that would force a named commander to hold final authority over any autonomous strike. CSIS argued the rewrite will matter only if it fixes the definition of "autonomous weapon system" itself.
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Subscribe Free →The clock is the wedge. Washington is loosening its human-control guardrails just as the war in Ukraine drags targeting toward the machine, with both sides now flying drones that lock on after the link drops. What the rewrite says by September will set how far US systems are allowed to go.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is DoD Directive 3000.09?
It is the Pentagon's core policy on autonomous and semi-autonomous weapons, first issued in 2012 and last revised in 2023. DefenseScoop reports it requires such weapons to work as intended, stay geographically bounded, allow for termination, and resist adversarial manipulation.
What does NSPM-11 require?
National Security Presidential Memorandum 11, which President Trump signed June 5, orders the Pentagon to rewrite Directive 3000.09 within 90 days and review it annually, and rolls back Biden-era oversight requirements, according to the Council on Foreign Relations and DefenseScoop.
What is Sen. Gallego worried about?
In his letter, Gallego warned that cutting safeguards on a compressed timeline risks friendly-fire and civilian-harm incidents, and that adversaries could deliberately trigger such incidents by manipulating hastily fielded systems, which could cost the US basing or overflight rights, DefenseScoop reported.
What did Gallego ask the Pentagon to answer?
He posed more than half a dozen questions due by June 26, including whether the new Defense Autonomous Warfare Group has dedicated personnel for civilian-harm mitigation in the development, testing and fielding of autonomous weapons, per DefenseScoop.
Is Congress acting elsewhere on autonomous weapons?
Yes. Sen. Adam Schiff introduced a bill on June 8 that would require a designated commander to hold final authority over any use of force involving autonomous weapons. CSIS argued the coming rewrite will matter only if it updates the definition of "autonomous weapon system" itself.
AI-generated summary, reviewed by an editor. More on our AI guidelines.
Marcus Schuler
Marcus Schuler edits BattlePolicy, a daily defense-technology brief connecting the companies and capabilities behind modern war to the contest among Europe, the US, Russia, and China.