Washington (July 13, 2023) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today filed over a dozen amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), including language that would prohibit the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the U.S. military’s nuclear launch decisions, advance the cause of nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, and save billions in federal dollars by shifting wasteful spending from nuclear weapons development to vaccine research.

“Seventy-eight years ago this weekend, Robert Oppenheimer witnessed the world’s first nuclear weapons explosion. In 2023, we face a new kind of nuclear threat: the militarization of increasingly powerful artificial intelligence systems. We must pass legislation to keep AI away from the nuclear button before it’s too late,” said Senator Markey.  

Senator Markey’s proposed NDAA FY 2024 amendments include:

• An amendment, based on Senators Markey and Representatives Ted Lieu (CA-33), Don Beyer (VA-08), and Ken Buck’s (CO-04) Block Nuclear Launch by Autonomous Artificial Intelligence Act, that would prohibit AI from making nuclear launch decisions.
• An amendment, based on Senators Markey and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Representatives Ted Lieu and Joaquin Castro (TX-20) Stopping Activities Underpinning Development in Weapons of Mass Destruction (SAUDI WMD) Act, that would enhance oversight and impede Saudi Arabia’s access to sensitive technologies that can be used to acquire and deliver a nuclear weapon.
• An amendment, based on Senator Markey and Representative Ro Khanna’s (CA-17) Investing in Cures Before Missiles (ICBM) Act,that would halt the development of a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and direct those funds—an estimated $93 to $96 billion—to the development of a universal coronavirus vaccine.
• An amendment, based on Senator Markey and Representative Ted Lieu’s Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act, that would restrict the use of nuclear weapons by prohibiting the President of the United States from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war from Congress.
• An amendment, based on Senator Markey and Representative Earl Blumenauer’s (OR-03) Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures (SANE) Act, that would cut spending on nuclear weapons programs at the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy and generate the federal government tens of billions of dollars in savings over the next decade.
• An amendment, based on Senator Markey and Representative Jim McGovern’s (MA-02) Hastening Arms Limitation Talks (HALT) Act, that would help to realize the ambitions of the nuclear freeze movement by prohibiting nuclear explosives tests and instituting a series of diplomatic steps to reduce nuclear threats.
• An amendment, based on Senator Markey’s Nuclear Meltdown and Fallout Prevention and Preparedness Act, to develop a plan to prevent, prepare for, and mitigate the risk posed by nuclear reactors in war zones—such as the nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, where Russia has endangered countless civilians and stoked fears of nuclear catastrophe.
• An amendment, based on Senators Markey and Dan Sullivan’s (R-Alaska) Taiwan ASSURE Act, that would authorize $2 million per year to decrease the risk of miscommunication and miscalculation in the Taiwan Strait and authorize $6 million per year to increase Taiwan’s economic and international integration.

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