Instructs the Secretary of the Navy to designate an existing program executive officer as the executive agent responsible for the acquisition of autonomous technology.
Analysis summaries, actor details, and coverage mappings were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
This is a binding statutory provision enacted by the U.S. Congress as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, using mandatory language ('shall designate') with a specific deadline, creating legally enforceable obligations on the Secretary of the Navy.
This document has minimal risk domain coverage, focusing primarily on organizational structure for autonomous technology acquisition. It does not substantively address AI risks, harms, or safety measures. The only implicit connection is to competitive dynamics (6.4) through its focus on acquisition efficiency for autonomous military technology.
This document exclusively governs the National Security sector, specifically the Department of the Navy's acquisition of autonomous technology. It establishes internal organizational structure for military procurement and does not extend to civilian sectors.
The document focuses exclusively on the organizational structure for acquiring autonomous technology, without addressing specific lifecycle stages of AI development or deployment. It establishes an executive agent role but does not detail planning, data collection, model building, validation, deployment procedures, or operational monitoring of AI systems themselves.
The document mentions 'autonomous technology' and 'autonomy' but does not define these terms or specify whether they refer to AI models, AI systems, or other forms of automation. No technical specifications, compute thresholds, or AI system categories are mentioned.
United States Congress
The document is Section 218 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, which is enacted by the United States Congress as the legislative authority.
United States Congress
As a statutory provision, enforcement authority rests with the U.S. Congress through its oversight powers, appropriations authority, and ability to hold hearings on compliance with the NDAA provisions.
United States Congress
Congress monitors compliance with NDAA provisions through its oversight functions, including committee hearings, reports, and reviews of Department of Defense activities. The specific deadline creates a clear monitoring checkpoint.
Secretary of the Navy; Department of the Navy; program executive officer
The statute directs the Secretary of the Navy to designate a program executive officer within the Department of the Navy to serve as the acquisition executive agent for autonomy, making the Department of the Navy and its officials the primary targets of this governance measure.