Final NDAA Agreement, Part II

There are AI, 5G, and supply chain provisions in the national security policy bill the Armed Services Committee have agreed upon.

So, it appears I failed to include all the technology goodies to be found in the final FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). And so, I will cover the provisions I missed yesterday in the conference report to accompany the “William M. “Mac” Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021” (H.R.6395). For example, there are artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, and supply chain provisions.

Notably, the final bill includes the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee’s “National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020” (H.R.6216). In the Joint Explanatory Statement, the conferees asserted:

The conferees believe that artificial intelligence systems have the potential to transform every sector of the United States economy, boosting productivity, enhancing scientific research, and increasing U.S. competitiveness and that the United States government should use this Initiative to enable the benefits of trustworthy artificial intelligence while preventing the creation and use of artificial intelligence systems that behave in ways that cause harm. The conferees further believe that such harmful artificial intelligence systems may include high-risk systems that lack sufficient robustness to prevent adversarial attacks; high-risk systems that harm the privacy or security of users or the general public; artificial general intelligence systems that become self-aware or uncontrollable; and artificial intelligence systems that unlawfully discriminate against protected classes of persons, including on the basis of sex, race, age, disability, color, creed, national origin, or religion. Finally, the conferees believe that the United States must take a whole of government approach to leadership in trustworthy artificial intelligence, including through coordination between the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, and the civilian agencies.

H.R.6216 directs the President to establish the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative that would:

• Ensure the U.S. continues to lead in AI research and development (R&D)
• Lead efforts throughout the world to develop and use “trustworthy AI systems” in both the public and private sectors
• Prepare to assist U.S. workers for the coming integration and use of AI throughout the U.S., and
• Coordinate AI R&D development and demonstration activities across the federal government, including national security agencies.

The President would have a variety of means at his or her discretion in effectuating those goals, including existing authority to ask Congress for funding and to use Executive Office agencies to manage the authority and funding Congress provides.

Big picture, H.R. 6216 would require better coordination of federal AI initiatives, research, and funding, and more involvement in the development of voluntary, consensus-based standards for AI. Much of this would happen through the standing up of a new “National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office” by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the White House. This new entity would be the locus of AI activities and programs in the United States’ (U.S.) government with the ultimate goal of ensuring the nation is the world’s foremost developer and user of the new technology.

Moreover, OSTP would “acting through the National Science and Technology Council…establish or designate an Interagency Committee to coordinate Federal programs and activities in support of the Initiative.” This body would “provide for interagency coordination of Federal artificial intelligence research, development, and demonstration activities, development of voluntary consensus standards and guidelines for research, development, testing, and adoption of ethically developed, safe, and trustworthy artificial intelligence systems, and education and training activities and programs of Federal departments and agencies undertaken pursuant to the Initiative.” The committee would need to “develop a strategic plan for AI” within two years and update it every three years thereafter. Moreover, the committee would need to “propose an annually coordinated interagency budget for the Initiative to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that is intended to ensure that the balance of funding across the Initiative is sufficient to meet the goals and priorities established for the Initiative.” However, OMB would be under no obligation to take notice of this proposal save for pressure from AI stakeholders in Congress or AI champions in any given Administration. The Secretary of Commerce would create a ‘‘National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee” to advise the President and National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office on a range of AI policy matters. In the bill as added to the House’s FY 2021 NDAA, it was to have been the Secretary of Energy.

Federal agencies would be permitted to award funds to new Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes to pioneer research in any number of AI fields or considerations. The bill does not authorize any set amount of money for this program and instead kicks the decision over to the Appropriations Committees on any funding. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) must “support measurement research and development of best practices and voluntary standards for trustworthy artificial intelligence systems” and “support measurement research and development of best practices and voluntary standards for trustworthy artificial intelligence systems” among other duties. NIST must “shall work to develop, and periodically update, in collaboration with other public and private sector organizations, including the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, a voluntary risk management framework for the trustworthiness of artificial intelligence systems.” NIST would also “develop guidance to facilitate the creation of voluntary data sharing arrangements between industry, federally funded research centers, and Federal agencies for the purpose of advancing artificial intelligence research and technologies.”

The National Science Foundation (NSF) would need to “fund research and education activities in artificial intelligence systems and related fields, including competitive awards or grants to institutions of higher education or eligible non-profit organizations (or consortia thereof).” The Department of Energy must “carry out a cross-cutting research and development program to advance artificial intelligence tools, systems, capabilities, and workforce needs and to improve the reliability of artificial intelligence methods and solutions relevant to the mission of the Department.” This department would also be tasked with advancing “expertise in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing in order to improve health outcomes for veteran populations.”

According to a fact sheet issued by the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, [t]he legislation will:

• Formalize interagency coordination and strategic planning efforts in AI research, development, standards, and education through an Interagency Coordination Committee and a coordination office managed by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
• Create an advisory committee to better inform the Coordination Committee’s strategic plan, track the state of the science around artificial intelligence, and ensure the Initiative is meeting its goals.
• Create a network of AI institutes, coordinated through the National Science Foundation, that any Federal department of agency could fund to create partnerships between the academia and the public and private sectors to accelerate AI research focused on an economic sector, social sector, or on a cross-cutting AI challenge.
• Support basic AI measurement research and standards development at the National Institute for Standards and Technology(NIST) and require NIST to create a framework for managing risks associated with AI systems and best practices for sharing data to advance trustworthy AI systems.
• Support research at the National Science Foundation (NSF) across a wide variety of AI related research areas to both improve AI systems and use those systems to advance other areas of science. This section requires NSF to include an obligation for an ethics statement for all research proposals to ensure researchers are considering, and as appropriate, mitigating potential societal risks in carrying out their research.
• Support education and workforce development in AI and related fields, including through scholarships and traineeships at NSF.
• Support AI research and development efforts at the Department of Energy (DOE), utilize DOE computing infrastructure for AI challenges, promote technology transfer, data sharing, and coordination with other Federal agencies, and require an ethics statement for DOE funded research as required at NSF.
• Require studies to better understand workforce impacts and opportunities created by AI, and identify the computing resources necessary to ensure the United States remains competitive in AI.

A provision would expand the scope of the biannual reports the DOD must submit to Congress on the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) to include the Pentagon’s efforts to develop or contribute to efforts to institute AI standards and more detailed information on uniformed DOD members who serve at the JAIC. Other language would revamp how the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering shall manage efforts and procurements between the DOD and the private sector on AI and other technology with cutting edge national security applications. The new emphasis of the program would be to buy mature AI to support DOD missions, allowing DOD components to directly use AI and machine learning to address operational problems, speeding up the development, testing, and deployment of AI technology and capabilities, and overseeing and managing any friction between DOD agencies and components over AI development and use. This section also spells out which DOD officials should be involved with this program and how the JAIC fits into the picture. This language and other provisions suggest the DOD may have trouble in coordinating AI activities and managing infighting, at least in the eyes of the Armed Services Committees.

Moreover, the JAIC would be given a new Board of Advisors to advise the Secretary of Defense and JAIC Director on a range of AI issues. However, as the Secretary shall appoint the members of the board, all of whom must be from outside the Pentagon, this organ would seem to be a means of the Office of the Secretary asserting greater control over the JAIC.

And yet, the Secretary is also directed to delegate acquisition authority to the JAIC, permitting it to operate with the same independence as a DOD agency. The JAIC Director will need to appoint an acquisition executive to manage acquisition and policy inside and outside the DOD. $75 million would be authorized a year for these activities, and the Secretary needs to draft and submit an implementation plan to Congress and conduct a demonstration before proceeding.

The DOD must identify five use cases of when AI-enabled systems have improved the functioning of the Department in handling management functions in implementing the National Defense Strategy and then create prototypes and technology pilots to utilize commercially available AI capabilities to bolster the use cases.

Within six months of enactment, the DOD must determine whether it currently has the resources, capability, and know how to ensure that any AI bought has been ethically and responsibly developed. Additionally, the DOD must assess how it can install ethical AI standards in acquisitions and supply chains.

The Secretary is provided the authority to convene a steering committing on emerging technology and national security threats comprised of senior DOD officials to decide on how the Department can best adapt to and buy new technology to ensure U.S. military superiority. This body would also investigate the new technology used by adversaries and how to address and counter any threats. For this steering committee, emerging technology is defined as:

Technology determined to be in an emerging phase of development by the Secretary, including quantum information science and technology, data analytics, artificial intelligence, autonomous technology, advanced materials, software, high performance computing, robotics, directed energy, hypersonics, biotechnology, medical technologies, and such other technology as may be identified by the Secretary.

Not surprisingly, the FY 2021 NDAA has provisions on 5G. Most notably, the Secretary of Defense must assess and mitigate any risks presented by “at-risk” 5G or 6G systems in other nations before a major weapons system or a battalion, squadron, or naval combatant can be based there. The Secretary must take into account any steps the nation is taking to address risk, those steps the U.S. is taking, any agreements in place to mitigate risks, and other steps. This provision names Huawei and ZTE as “at-risk vendors.” This language may be another means by which the U.S. can persuade other nations not to buy and install technology from these People’s Republic of China (PRC) companies.

The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and a cross-functional team would need to develop a plan to transition the DOD to 5G throughout the Department and its components. Each military department inside the DOD would get to manage its own 5G acquisition with the caveat that the Secretary would need to establish a telecommunications security program to address 5G security risks in the DOD. The Secretary would also be tasked with conducting a demonstration project to “evaluate the maturity, performance, and cost of covered technologies to provide additional options for providers of fifth-generation wireless network services” for Open RAN (aka oRAN) and “one or more massive multiple-input, multiple-output radio arrays, provided by one or more companies based in the United States, that have the potential to compete favorably with radios produced by foreign companies in terms of cost, performance, and efficiency.”

The service departments would need to submit reports to the Secretary on how they are assessing and mitigating and reporting to the DOD on the following risks to acquisition programs:

• Technical risks in engineering, software, manufacturing and testing.
• Integration and interoperability risks, including complications related to systems working across multiple domains while using machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities to continuously change and optimize system performance.
• Operations and sustainment risks, including as mitigated by appropriate sustainment planning earlier in the lifecycle of a program, access to technical data, and intellectual property rights.
• Workforce and training risks, including consideration of the role of contractors as part of the total workforce.
• Supply chain risks, including cybersecurity, foreign control and ownership of key elements of supply chains, and the consequences that a fragile and weakening defense industrial base, combined with barriers to industrial cooperation with allies and partners, pose for delivering systems and technologies in a trusted and assured manner.

Moreover, “[t]he Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, in coordination with the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Defense, shall develop requirements for ap- propriate software security criteria to be included in solicitations for commercial and developmental solutions and the evaluation of bids submitted in response to such solicitations, including a delineation of what processes were or will be used for a secure software development life cycle.”

The Armed Services Committees are directing the Secretary to follow up a report submitted to the President per Executive Order 13806 on strengthening Defense Industrial Base (DIB) manufacturing and supply chain resiliency. The DOD must submit “additional recommendations regarding United States industrial policies….[that] shall consist of specific executive actions, programmatic changes, regulatory changes, and legislative proposals and changes, as appropriate.”

The DOD would also need to submit an annex to an annual report to Congress on “strategic and critical materials, including the gaps and vulnerabilities in supply chains of such materials.”

There is language that would change how the DOD manages the production of microelectronics and related supply chain risk. The Pentagon would also need to investigate how to commercialize its intellectual property for microelectronic R&D. The Department of Commerce would need to “assess the capabilities of the United States industrial base to support the national defense in light of the global nature of the supply chain and significant interdependencies between the United States industrial base and the industrial bases of foreign countries with respect to the manufacture, design, and end use of microelectronics.”

There is a revision of the Secretary of Energy’s authority over supply chain risk administered by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) that would provide for a “special exclusion action” that would bar the procurement of risky technology for up to two years.

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