"When Congress eventually reopens, the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will be moving toward a vote. This gives us a chance to see the priorities of the Secretary of Defense and his Congressional allies when it comes to the military-and one of those priorities is buying technology, especially AI , with less of an obligation to prove it's effective and worth the money the government will be paying for it."
"As reported by , "This year's defense policy bill-the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)-would roll back data disclosures that help the department understand the real costs of what they are buying, and testing requirements that establish whether what contractors promise is technically feasible or even suited to its needs." This change comes amid a push from the Secretary of Defense to " Maximize Lethality " by acquiring modern software "at a speed and scale for our Warfighter.""
"The itself says that the "Secretary of Defense shall prioritize alternative acquisition mechanisms to accelerate development and production" of technology, including an expedited "software acquisition pathway"-a special part of the U.S. code that, if this version of the NDAA passes, will transfer powers to the Secretary of Defense to streamline the buying process and make new technology or updates to existing technology and get it operational "in a period of not more than one year from the time the process is initiated...""
The 2026 NDAA proposal would reduce data disclosure and testing requirements to speed procurement of technology, notably AI and software. The Secretary of Defense would gain expanded authority to use alternative acquisition mechanisms and an expedited software acquisition pathway to make systems operational within one year. The Senate Armed Services Committee supports reforms aimed at modernizing budgeting and acquisition to improve efficiency and unleash innovation. The approach emphasizes speed and rapid deployment over traditional oversight and due diligence, shifting risk toward faster delivery of capabilities for warfighters.
Read at Electronic Frontier Foundation
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