Human Authority over Autonomous Weapons Act of 2026

This Act may be cited as the Human Authority over Autonomous Weapons Act of 2026.
Chapter 3 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 130f the following new section:
Except as provided by subsection (b), the Secretary shall require that any use of force by the Armed Forces involving an autonomous weapons system or artificial intelligence-enabled system is subject to human command responsibility. The Secretary shall establish procedures to—
identify each human commander or operator responsible for authorizing, supervising, and terminating any such use of force;
ensure human oversight, approval, or a human-in-the-loop for any decision to use such a system for an intentionally lethal purpose; and
for any such use of force during the five-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this section, ensure that a commander or operator using such a system verifies any target of such system using a secondary source or data that is not exclusively generated by artificial intelligence.
The requirement and procedures under subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to—
a United States missile defense system; or
any other defense system designed to intercept, deflect, or engage missiles, munitions, or other weapons when such weapons are used against the United States or the Armed Forces of the United States.
The requirement and procedures under subsection (a) are in addition to, and shall not be construed to replace, the guidance established pursuant to Department of Defense Directive 3000.09 titled ‘Autonomy in Weapon Systems’ (or any successor regulation).
In this section:
The term artificial intelligence has the meaning given that term in section 5002 of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (15 U.S.C. 9401; Public Law 116–283).
The term autonomous weapon system—
means a weapon system that, once activated, can select and engage targets without further intervention by an operator; and
includes any operator-supervised autonomous weapon system that is designed to allow operators to override operation of the weapon system, but can select and engage targets without further operator input after activation.
Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives a report on the implementation of section 130g of title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a). Such report shall include—
the procedures established by the Secretary pursuant to subsection (a) of such section; and
a description of the extent to which the use of force by the Armed Forces has been prevented or delayed by reason of such procedures or the requirements of such section.