CSET's ETO AGORA platform provides detailed summaries, full text and thematic tags for over 1000 AI-focused laws and policies from the U.S. and around the world, including 45 documents added to AGORA over the last three months. Now, we're announcing the FY 2026 NDAA AGORA collection: a repository of all 37 AI-related sections in the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act. Plus, you can check out provisions from past NDAAs through our AGORA Thematic Collections.

The FY 2026 NDAA was signed into law in December 2025. NDAAs typically receive strong bipartisan support and are considered "must pass" bills, as they provide fiscal year policy and budgetary authorization for the Department of Defense and related national security agencies. Additionally, the FY 2026 bill incorporated authorization for the State Department and the Intelligence Community. NDAAs are especially relevant when it comes to AI governance because, as a series of earlier ETO AGORA blogs demonstrated, the majority of Congressionally-passed AI provisions reside in NDAAs.

In this newsletter, we summarize eight AI-related sections within the FY 2026 NDAA hand-picked by ETO’s editors. These examples were selected to demonstrate the numerous ways that the FY 2026 NDAA is addressing AI, from reckoning with risks from advanced AI systems, to strengthening unmanned aircraft system supply chains, to amending the Defense Production Act to prohibit certain investments in emerging technologies, to cultivating an AI-forward culture at diplomatic posts. Sections are organized according to the departments they task with responsibilities.

Department of Defense

FY 2026 NDAA, Section 224 ("National Security and Defense Artificial Intelligence Institute")

• Allows the Secretary of Defense to establish one or more AI research institutes focused on foundational or cross-cutting AI challenges relevant to national security and defense.
• Directs institutes to form partnerships across federal agencies, academia, nonprofit research organizations, state and local governments, and industry.
• Requires institutes to foster translation of research into applications that enhance national security and defense capabilities.
• Supports interdisciplinary research and workforce development in AI and related disciplines among institutions of higher education and other organizations.
• Awards financial assistance to institutes to manage shared computing and data resources, develop AI testbeds, provide technical assistance to users, and engage in research and education activities.

FY 2026 NDAA, Section 1534 ("Digital sandbox environments for artificial intelligence")

• Establishes a Task Force on AI sandbox environments by April 1, 2026, under the Secretary of Defense through the Chief Digital and AI Officer.
• Directs the Task Force to coordinate the development and deployment of AI sandbox environments for AI experimentation, training, and deployment across the Department of Defense.
• Chairs the Task Force with the Chief Digital and AI Officer and includes key officials from the Department of Defense, military departments, and combatant commands.
• Identifies common requirements and consolidates AI sandbox solutions and documentation.
• Ensures availability of existing AI environments and aligns them with departmental needs.
• Streamlines authority to operate approvals and provides user guidance.

FY 2026 NDAA, Section 1535 ("Artificial Intelligence Futures Steering Committee")

• Establishes the Artificial Intelligence Futures Steering Committee, comprising key defense leaders under the Secretary of Defense, by April 1, 2026.
• Gives the committee responsibility for formulating policies for the governance, adoption, and risk mitigation of advanced AI systems, including those approaching artificial general intelligence.
• Directs the committee to analyze the trajectory of emerging AI technologies, such as neuromorphic computing and agentic algorithms.
• Tasks the committee with assessing adversaries' AI capabilities and potential operational effects of integrating AI into Department of Defense systems.
• Directs the committee to develop strategies for ethical and technical AI integration, outlining resource requirements and goals.
• Terminates the committee's responsibilities on December 31, 2027.

FY 2026 NDAA, Section 245 ("Biological data for artificial intelligence")

• Directs the Secretary of Defense to develop and implement requirements within one year of enactment for storing biological data from Department of Defense-funded research to facilitate the use of such data for advanced computational methods, including AI.
• Defines "qualified biological data resource" using criteria such as data type, dataset size, federal funding amount, data sensitivity, and other factors deemed appropriate by the Secretary of Defense.
• Includes guidance on metrics and metadata to ensure data quality, including usability and completeness.
• Imposes tiered cybersecurity safeguards and access controls for data storage.
• Establishes exceptions for national security and requirements for individual privacy protection.

FY 2026 NDAA, Section 1532 ("Guidance and prohibition on use of certain artificial intelligence")

• Requires the Secretary of Defense to exclude and remove from Department of Defense systems within 30 days of enactment AI developed by the Chinese companies DeepSeek or High Flyer, entities associated with High Flyer, or entities on specific lists or subject to foreign influence.
• Requires contractors to refrain from using covered AI in contracts with the Department of Defense.
• Allows the Secretary of Defense to issue waivers on a case-by-case basis for scientifically valid research, evaluations, national security testing, counterterrorism, and mission-critical functions, provided risk mitigation steps are followed.
• Defines AI by referencing existing federal definitions.

FY 2026 NDAA, Section 914 ("Small-UAS industrial base working group")

• Establishes the Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) Industrial Base Working Group, led by the Director of the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group and coordinated by the Deputy Secretary of Defense.
• Directs the Working Group to analyze and identify ways of strengthening the sUAS industrial base, which includes system manufacturers and component suppliers.
• Directs the Working Group to identify investments and actions to address fragile supply chains and recommends partnerships between the sUAS industrial base and the Federal Government.
• Authorizes the Secretary of the Army to establish the SkyFoundry sUAS program if specific conditions are met.

Department of State

FY 2026 NDAA, Section 5301 ("Post data pilot program")

• Authorizes the Secretary of State to establish the Post Data Program, overseen by the Department's Chief Data and AI Officer.
• Aims to cultivate a data and AI culture at diplomatic posts, promote data integration with the Department of State Headquarters, and enhance operational efficiencies.
• Requires the Secretary to submit an implementation plan within 180 days, outlining strategies for advancing program goals, hiring data and AI officers at diplomatic posts, and allocating resources appropriately.

Department of the Treasury

FY 2026 NDAA, Section 8521 ("Prohibition and notification on investments relating to covered national security transactions")

• Amends the Defense Production Act to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to prohibit U.S. persons from investing in transactions involving prohibited technologies, including AI systems and other high-tech areas.
• Requires U.S. persons to notify the Secretary of transactions involving notifiable technologies, including AI systems, unless otherwise prohibited.
• Mandates that the Secretary issue regulations, which may include regulations that amend the Outbound Investment Rule, to oversee these prohibitions and notifications while balancing national security with compliance burdens.
• Facilitates multilateral engagement with allies to coordinate efforts against the development of these technologies by adversarial nations.
• Establishes penalties for violations, including civil penalties and divestment of unlawful transactions.
• Encourages transparency via a public database of foreign entities involved in prohibited or notifiable technologies, while ensuring confidentiality in sensitive disclosures.

🏗️ Other AGORA news

• We are pleased to announce several new NDAA document collections in AGORA. You can now easily filter for AI-related sections in every NDAA enacted since 2020.
• We are actively working to expand AGORA's coverage of domestic and international AI governance documents. We recently added three bills from Brazil's Senate that establish regulations for developing, implementing, and using AI systems; put forth principles for AI usage; and propose a framework for AI governance in Brazil. We also added the December 2025 Executive Order on Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence that pushes back on the growing number of state AI laws.
• The AGORA bulk dataset is being updated monthly with the latest data from the web UI. (Read the docs)

🏛️ CSET AI governance highlights

• CSET's Translation Manager Ben Murphy published a translation snapshot of Chinese safety- and security-related national standards for generative AI. You can explore more Chinese AI governance documents, several of which have been translated into English by CSET, in AGORA's Chinese law and policy collection.

✉️ Get in touch

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