NSPM-11 directs AI in the national security enterprise

On 5 June 2026 President Donald J. Trump signed National Security Presidential Memorandum/NSPM-11, “Artificial Intelligence in the National Security Enterprise,” rescinding and replacing Biden-era National Security Memorandum 25 of 24 October 2024 and directing the Department of War, the Intelligence Community and other national-security-enterprise agencies on a four-pillar policy framework — Adoption, Adaptation, Assurance, and Accountability — and a series of 90- and 120-day deliverables addressing weapons-autonomy policy, national- security-systems AI governance, computing infrastructure, procurement, talent and training, and a classified annex to be issued within ninety days.¹² The Memorandum’s Assurance pillar at section 2(c) specifies that the national-security enterprise “shall ensure, through contractual clauses or other means, that no commercial entity or adversary possesses the capability to prevent use of, disable or degrade, or materially modify without Federal Government knowledge and approval, an AI system that our men and women depend on for their missions”; the Accountability pillar at section 2(d) specifies that “American AI technologies shall neither be developed nor used by the national security enterprise to censor free speech, embed ideological bias, or conduct unauthorized or unlawful surveillance activities,” and requires consistency with “United States civil liberties and protections afforded by the Constitution and laws and regulations safeguarding the privacy of American citizens.”³⁴ NSPM-11 sits as the national-security companion to the 2 June 2026 Executive Order “Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security,” which addresses the civilian federal information-system framework and the voluntary frontier-model benchmarking arrangement with the private sector.⁵

1. The four-pillar policy framework at section 2 operates through the recipient agencies enumerated in the memorandum addressees: Secretary of State; Secretary of the Treasury; Secretary of War; Attorney General; Secretary of Energy; Secretary of Homeland Security; Director of the Office of Management and Budget; Director of National Intelligence; Director of the Central Intelligence Agency; Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs; Assistant to the President for Science and Technology; Assistant to the President for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor; Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Director of the Office of Personnel Management; and the National Cyber Director. The Adoption pillar (section 2(a)) directs partnerships with industry to make frontier models available to national-security professionals; the Adaptation pillar (section 2(b)) directs leveraging of commercial and open-source AI; the Assurance pillar (section 2(c)) directs reliability, robustness, steerability and controllability through testing, evaluation, validation and verification, plus the kill-switch prohibition; the Accountability pillar (section 2(d)) directs civil- liberties and constitutional consistency and commander responsibility.⁶⁷⁸³⁴

2. Section 3 directs updated policies and guidance on a 90-day timeline. § 3(a) requires the Secretary of War to issue an update to Department of War (Department of Defense) Directive 3000.09 on Autonomy in Weapon Systems within 90 days, with annual review. § 3(b) directs the Secretary of War, the Director of National Intelligence, and heads of relevant agencies under their Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014, 44 U.S.C. § 3551 et seq., authorities (specifically the agency- responsibility provisions at § 3553(e)(2) for War, § 3553(e)(3) for DNI, and § 3557 for relevant agencies) to “direct, to the maximum extent permissible by law, termination for default or for convenience” of contracts with companies “that have repeatedly demonstrated a pattern of conduct that is inconsistent with policies laid out in section 2,” with a waiver process allowing limited exceptions of up to one year. § 3(c) directs the Committee on National Security Systems and the OMB Director, in coordination with the APST, to issue a policy for governance of AI use in national security systems within 90 days, maximising consistency with OMB memorandum M-25-21. § 3(d) directs a classified annex within 90 days. § 3(f) expressly rescinds and replaces National Security Memorandum 25 and associated guidance.^9101112

3. Section 4 directs advancing national-security capabilities on a 120-day timeline. § 4(a) directs the Secretary of War, the DNI and heads of agencies with IC elements to review and update procurement processes for rapid onboarding of advanced AI models from multiple vendors. § 4(b) directs the APST and the OMB Director, in coordination with the Secretary of War, the Secretary of Energy, the DNI and the Director of the National Security Agency, to develop a roadmap for advanced computing access, including AI computing facilities and the establishment of an “AI test range for national security use cases.” § 4(c) directs partnerships with private-sector companies through the AI Security Center for protection against “malicious distillation attacks.” § 4(d) directs Energy work through the Genesis Mission; § 4(e) directs DNI prioritisation of collection and analysis of foreign AI technologies; and § 4(f) directs joint AI data and model exchanges. The Intelligence Community is defined for these purposes by reference to 50 U.S.C. § 3003.¹³¹⁴¹⁵

4. Section 5 directs building capacity for AI adoption, including special hiring and pay authorities through OPM novel-talent programmes, the establishment within 120 days of an “AI National Security Strategic Reserve of non-governmental AI talent,” an “AI for National Security Curriculum” within 120 days, prioritisation of AI reliability-and-controllability R&D, a joint AI risk- management and assurance strategy within 120 days, and standardised AI national-security test, evaluation, verification and validation methodologies within 120 days. The artificial-intelligence definition is adopted by reference from 15 U.S.C. § 9401(3) — the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 — and the definitions of “AI security,” “AI technology stack,” “reliability,” “robustness,” “steerability” and “controllability” are set out in section 6 of the memorandum, with the term “national security enterprise” defined to mean “the Department of War, the Intelligence Community, and other agencies that develop, deploy, or use national security systems or otherwise serve a national security role.”^16171819