The memo also prevents companies from making changes to AI models used by the military without prior approval.
Less than a week after signing an executive order that seeks to regulate the rapidly growing AI industry, President Trump has signed a national security presidential memorandum aimed at putting cutting-edge AI tools into the hands of the US military. According to the memorandum signed Friday, the Trump administration is establishing another framework that will “accelerate AI adoption” across the network of federal defense agencies and “adapt the best commercial and open-source technologies for mission use.”
“The men and women who defend our country deserve the best, safest, and most reliable AI in the world, and our citizens deserve to know that it is handled responsibly with the care and seriousness they expect,” Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said on X.
More specifically, the memo said the US government would “rapidly onboard the most advanced AI models from multiple vendors.” Along with accelerating adoption, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will need to issue an updated directive on autonomous weapons systems. Finally, the memo introduces a new restriction on AI models used by the government, where “no entity, commercial or otherwise, may disable, impair, or modify the AI systems on which U.S. warfighters depend without prior approval.”
However, the memo contains a limitation, stating that America’s network of defense agencies cannot create or release an AI model that is designed to “censor free speech, incorporate ideological bias, or conduct unlawful surveillance against the American people.” However, the administration is still interested in influencing the “Frontier Models” as Trump’s executive order earlier this week will give the US government 30 days to review them before public release.
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