On October 24, 2024, the Biden administration released a National Security Memorandum (NSM) titled “Memorandum on Advancing the United States’ Leadership in Artificial Intelligence; Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Fulfill National Security Objectives; and Fostering the Safety, Security, and Trustworthiness of Artificial Intelligence.” Writing this memorandum was a stated requirement from the administration’s October 2023 AI Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.
As the lengthy title suggests, this document covers a diverse set of issues. At nearly 40 pages long, this document is by far the most comprehensive articulation yet of United States national security strategy and policy toward artificial intelligence (AI). A closely related companion document, the Framework to Advance AI Governance and Risk Management in National Security, was published on the same day.
Q1: What aspects of AI is the NSM focused on?
A1: For most of the last decade, the AI and national security policy community has been focused on deep learning AI technology, which has been booming since 2012. Deep learning has powered…
