~ Senators call for Inspector General investigations, warn rush to deploy AI without adequate safeguards risks “grave operational miscalculations” ~
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Jack Reed (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Chris Coons (D-DE), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense, called on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to investigate reported failures involving the use of artificial intelligence in U.S. military and intelligence operations and provide relevant Inspectors General unrestricted access to examine the incidents.
The senators’ letter follows public reports of an AI-targeting platform relying on outdated geospatial data in a kinetic strike in Minab, Iran, and an aborted military interdiction operation after AI-generated false information was included in disseminated U.S. intelligence.
“Recent events – including public reports of an AI-targeting platform relying on outdated geospatial data in a kinetic strike in Minab, Iran and a public report on an aborted military interdiction operation driven by potential AI-hallucination in disseminated intelligence by U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific – have given us growing concern about the extent to which agencies under your oversight have prioritized acceleration of AI capability adoption and ‘experimentation’ over effective governance,” the senators wrote.
Warner, Reed, and Coons warned that reported AI failures in targeting and intelligence systems could lead to serious operational errors and erode confidence in U.S. intelligence and military actions.
“Public reports that AI targeting platforms have repeatedly generated spurious outputs (based on outdated input data or outright hallucination) risk serious operational error, in addition to undermining the confidence of both the American public and international partners in the accuracy and reliability of U.S. intelligence and intelligence-informed kinetic actions,” they continued.
The senators called for the reported incidents to be investigated by the relevant Inspectors General, warning against sacrificing safeguards in the push to rapidly deploy AI across national security missions.
“These potential mistakes – against the backdrop of the Department of Defense’s harassment of a leading U.S. AI vendor over the latter’s reluctance to allow its products’ use in fully-autonomous kinetic operations – deserve immediate investigation by relevant Inspectors General, with a higher degree of public transparency in the ultimate findings, given the impacts these perceived failures have on public confidence in our intelligence and warfighting missions,” the senators wrote.
Warner, Reed, and Coons also stressed that AI can play an important role in intelligence analysis while requiring rigorous standards and human oversight, particularly when intelligence could lead to military action.
“While AI has appropriate applications in the analytic and other fields, strong tradecraft standards should ensure that no disseminated intelligence product contains AI-generated errors, particularly when such intelligence may serve as the impetus for a kinetic action against a nuclear-armed adversary,” they wrote.
The senators pointed to the administration’s rollback of AI governance measures, including the revocation of National Security Memorandum 25 and a Department of Defense AI strategy that characterizes governance policies as barriers to adoption.
“A ‘Move Fast and Break Things’ approach may serve for high-engagement memes on social media platforms, but it risks potentially grave operational miscalculations and represents a serious threat to morale; recruitment; and foreign perceptions on the thresholds, accuracy, and justness of U.S. military action,” the senators wrote.
Warner, Reed, and Coons concluded by calling for a broader examination of potential AI-related failures beyond the two publicly reported incidents:
“We urge you to promptly investigate this matter, providing relevant Inspectors General with unrestricted access to both instances this year in which media reports have suggested significant errors in AI-enabled targeting workflows, as well as any additional instances that may have so far not been publicly reported.”
