NSA Establishing AI Center
On September 28h, National Security Agency (NSA) Director General Paul Nakasone announced plans to establish a new NSA AI Security Center. “The AI Security Center will work closely with U.S. Industry, national labs, academia across the [intelligence community] and Department of Defense and select foreign partners,” the Army General told the press.
“AI will be increasingly consequential for national security in diplomatic, technological and economic matters for our country and our allies and partners. […] Today, the U.S. leads in this critical area, but this lead should not be taken for granted,” he said. “Our adversaries, who have for decades used theft and exploitation of our intellectual property to advance their interests will seek to co-opt our advances in AI and corrupt our application of it.”
This new center will consolidate AI-related activates within the NSA. According to a Pentagon announcement, the center will “oversee the development and integration of artificial intelligence capabilities within U.S. national security systems” and serve as a “focal point for developing best practices, evaluation methodology and risk frameworks with the aim of promoting the secure adoption of new AI capabilities across the national security enterprise and the defense industrial base”.
The National Security Agency is America’s premier signals intelligence agency and has long been at the forefront of US intelligence operations in cyberspace. As reflected by the latest NSA announcement, cybersecurity has been a growing concern across the US government and national security complex. In 2010, the US established a military Cyber Command meant to help coordinate the cyber forces of the US military services. In 2018, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) was established under the Department of Homeland Security to help centralize US cyber defense functions across the government and give cyber a more prominent role in Washington.
In this evolving cybersecurity landscape, AI has become a growing concern due to its potential disruptive and transformational effects. The Department of Defense published its first AI strategy back in 2018 and then a Responsible Artificial Intelligence Strategy and Implementation Pathway in 2022. Then, in early 2023, the State Department’s Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance released its Political Declaration on Responsible Military Use of Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy.