Congress Extends Defense Production Act to Dec. 11, 2026 as AI Security Risks Mount
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 18
Congress Extends Defense Production Act to Dec. 11, 2026 as AI Security Risks Mount
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 18
Summary
Most Defense Production Act authorities that were due to expire on Sept. 30 were extended through Dec. 11, 2026, preserving a key national-security tool that experts say could be applied to frontier AI.
The renewed urgency comes after AI company leaders warned this week that rapidly advancing models may be outpacing safety measures, while experts said AI is already accelerating cyberattacks by shrinking vulnerability discovery from months to days or hours.
Legal and national-security specialists said the DPA is most likely to help Washington force reporting from AI developers and gather information on dangerous systems, rather than broadly halt private-sector AI development.
A June Trump executive order already told agencies including NSA and CISA to set classified cyber benchmarks for 'covered frontier models' and created a voluntary early-access framework, while stopping short of mandatory licensing.
Even with export controls, contract leverage and criminal law available, experts said the patchwork has never been tested against an autonomous AI emergency, setting up another reauthorization fight before the November midterms could reshape Congress.