TL;DRTrump signed NSPM-11, ordering rapid military AI adoption and barring vendors from disabling models without approval. Hegseth must update autonomous weapons policy.
President Trump signed a national security presidential memorandum on Friday ordering the US military and intelligence agencies to accelerate their adoption of cutting-edge AI. The directive, NSPM-11, establishes a framework for “rapid onboarding of the most advanced AI models from multiple vendors.” It also bars any company from disabling, degrading, or modifying an AI system that warfighters depend on without prior government approval.
That vendor restriction is the most striking provision. It means an AI company cannot pull a deployed model from military use unilaterally, even if the company has safety concerns about how it is being used. The clause lands directly in the context of the Pentagon’s ongoing feud with Anthropic, which was blacklisted as a supply chain risk after refusing to allow its Claude models to be used for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance.
“The men and women who defend our nation deserve the best, most secure and most reliable AI in the world,” said Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
