I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5356 
To establish the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 20, 2018 
Ms. STEFANIK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on Edu-
cation and the Workforce, Foreign Affairs, Science, Space, and Tech-
nology, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To establish the National Security Commission on Artificial 
Intelligence. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Security 
Commission Artificial Intelligence Act of 2018’’. 
SEC. 2. NATIONAL SECURITY COMMISSION ON ARTIFICIAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the ex-
ecutive branch an independent commission to be known 
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as the National Security Commission on Artificial Intel-
ligence (in this subtitle referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 
The Commission shall be considered an independent estab-
lishment of the Federal Government as defined by section 
104 of title 5, United States Code, and a temporary orga-
nization under section 3161 of such title. 
(b) RESPONSIBILITIES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall carry 
out a review of the advances in artificial intelligence, 
related machine learning developments, and associ-
ated technologies. In carrying out such review, the 
Commission shall consider the methods and means 
necessary to advance the development of artificial in-
telligence, machine learning, and associated tech-
nologies by the United States to comprehensively ad-
dress the national security needs of the Nation, in-
cluding economic risk, and any other needs of the 
Department of Defense or the common defense of 
the Nation. 
(2) SCOPE OF THE REVIEW.—In conducting the 
review under paragraph (1)(A), the Commission 
shall consider— 
(A) the competitiveness of the United 
States in artificial intelligence, machine learn-
ing, and other associated technologies, including 
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matters related to national security, economic 
security, public-private partnerships, and invest-
ments; 
(B) means and methods for the United 
States to maintain a technological advantage in 
artificial intelligence, machine learning, and 
other associated technologies, including quan-
tum computing and high performance com-
puting; 
(C) developments and trends in inter-
national cooperation and competitiveness, in-
cluding foreign investments in artificial intel-
ligence, machine learning, and computer science 
fields; 
(D) means by which to foster greater em-
phasis and investments in basic and advanced 
research to stimulate private, public, academic 
and combined initiatives in artificial intel-
ligence, machine learning, and other associated 
technologies, including quantum computing and 
high performance computing; 
(E) workforce and education incentives to 
attract and recruit leading talent in artificial 
intelligence and machine learning, including 
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science, technology, engineering, and math pro-
grams; 
(F) risks associated with United States 
and foreign country advances in military em-
ployment of artificial intelligence and machine 
learning, including under the international law 
of armed conflict, international humanitarian 
law, and escalation dynamics; 
(G) associated ethical considerations re-
lated to artificial intelligence and machine 
learning as it will be used for future applica-
tions; 
(H) means to establish data standards and 
provide incentives for the sharing of open train-
ing data within related data-driven industries; 
(I) development of privacy- and security- 
protecting measures for data in artificial intel-
ligence, machine learning, and associated tech-
nologies; and 
(J) any other matters the Commission 
deems relevant to the common defense of the 
Nation. 
(c) MEMBERSHIP.— 
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(1) NUMBER AND APPOINTMENT.—The Com-
mission shall be composed of 11 members appointed 
as follows: 
(A) The Secretary of Defense shall appoint 
3 members. 
(B) The Chairman of the Committee on 
Armed Services of the Senate shall appoint 2 
members. 
(C) The ranking minority member of the 
Committee on Armed Services of the Senate 
shall appoint 2 members. 
(D) The Chairman of the Committee on 
Armed Services of the House of Representatives 
shall appoint 2 members. 
(E) The ranking minority member of the 
Committee on Armed Services of the House of 
Representatives shall appoint 2 members. 
(2) DEADLINE FOR APPOINTMENT.—Members 
shall be appointed to the Commission under para-
graph (1) not later than 90 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act. 
(3) EFFECT OF LACK OF APPOINTMENT BY AP-
POINTMENT
DATE.—If one or more appointments 
under paragraph (1) is not made by the date speci-
fied in paragraph (2), the authority to make such 
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appointment or appointments shall expire, and the 
number of members of the Commission shall be re-
duced by the number equal to the number of ap-
pointments so not made. 
(d) CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR.—The Commission shall 
elect a Chair and Vice Chair from among its members. 
(e) TERMS.—Members shall be appointed for the life 
of the Commission. A vacancy in the Commission shall not 
affect its powers and shall be filled in the same manner 
as the original appointment was made. 
(f) STATUS
AS FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.—Notwith-
standing the requirements of section 2105 of title 5, 
United States Code, including the required supervision 
under subsection (a)(3) of such section, the members of 
the Commission shall be deemed to be Federal employees. 
(g) FUNDING.—Of the amounts authorized to be ap-
propriated for fiscal year 2019 for the Department of De-
fense, not more than $10,000,000 shall be made available 
to the Commission to carry out its duties under this sec-
tion. Funds made available to the Commission under the 
preceding sentence shall remain available until expended. 
(h) REPORTS.— 
(1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Commission shall submit to the President and Con-
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gress an initial report on the findings of the Com-
mission and such recommendations that the Com-
mission may have for action by the executive branch 
and the Congress related to artificial intelligence and 
machine learning and associated technologies, in-
cluding recommendations to more effectively orga-
nize the Federal Government. 
(2) COMPREHENSIVE REPORT.—Not later than 
one year after the date of this enactment of this Act, 
and annually thereafter until the date specified in 
subsection (j), the Commission shall submit to the 
President and to Congress a comprehensive report 
on the review required under subsection (b). 
(i) DEFINITION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.—In 
this section, the term ‘‘artificial intelligence’’ includes each 
of the following: 
(1) Any artificial system that performs tasks 
under varying and unpredictable circumstances with-
out significant human oversight, or that can learn 
from experience and improve performance when ex-
posed to data sets. 
(2) An artificial system developed in computer 
software, physical hardware, or other context that 
solves tasks requiring human-like perception, cog-
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nition, planning, learning, communication, or phys-
ical action. 
(3) An artificial system designed to think or act 
like a human, including cognitive architectures and 
neural networks. 
(4) A set of techniques, including machine 
learning, that is designed to approximate a cognitive 
task. 
(5) An artificial system designed to act ration-
ally, including an intelligent software agent or em-
bodied robot that achieves goals using perception, 
planning, reasoning, learning, communicating, deci-
sionmaking, and acting. 
(j) TERMINATION.—The Commission shall terminate 
on October 1, 2020. 
Æ 
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