Defense Production Act could force AI disclosure, expires Dec 2026

Trump administration eyes Cold War statute for AI oversight

A 76-year-old law originally designed to mobilize American industry during the Korean War could give the Trump administration significant leverage over artificial intelligence companies if their systems pose catastrophic national security risks, according to legal and national security experts.

The Defense Production Act (DPA), first enacted in 1950, has historically been used to expand military production, prioritize government contracts, and respond to national emergencies. Now experts say its authorities could apply to frontier AI development—particularly provisions covering cyberattacks, exports, federal contracts, and civil liability, Fox News reported.

Congress recently extended most DPA authorities through December 11, 2026, setting up a reauthorization fight later this year that could coincide with potential shifts in congressional power after the midterm elections.

Information disclosure as first line of defense

The law's most immediate application may be forcing AI companies to disclose what they're developing before systems cause harm.

James E. Baker, former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and ex-legal adviser to the National Security Council, pointed to the DPA's broad information-gathering authority. "What you could use the DPA for is to require reporting, and that's the first step to making sound policy," Baker told Fox News. "You can have a debate about whether there should be regulation and what the regulation should look like. But you really can't argue against knowing what's happening."

James Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said existing authorities could "probably cobble together a solution," though he acknowledged "the authorities could be a little clearer."

Lewis noted that AI has dramatically accelerated cyber threats. Finding vulnerabilities that once took months can now take days or hours, while AI helps attackers chain smaller weaknesses into more damaging attacks.

Legal limits and untested territory

Paul Rosenzweig, a lawyer and former deputy assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security, cautioned that the DPA was principally designed to ensure government access to needed goods and services—not to prevent private companies from producing them.

"The Defense Production Act is more about mandating the production of things for the United States rather than preventing the production for the general public," Rosenzweig told Fox News.

The uncertainty grows if an AI system causes autonomous damage. If a model independently hacked critical infrastructure, courts would need to determine developer negligence, whether product liability standards apply, and whether damage could be traced to a particular system. "I tend to think that liability is going to be difficult to establish early on," Rosenzweig said.

A June executive order directed federal agencies including the NSA and CISA to establish classified benchmarks for advanced cyber capabilities and determine when an AI system qualifies as a "covered frontier model." The order calls for a voluntary framework allowing developers to give government early access to covered models before release, but explicitly stops short of mandatory federal licensing.

Why it matters

The impending December 2026 expiration creates a deadline for Congress to decide whether and how to extend Cold War-era emergency powers into the AI age. With AI company leaders issuing warnings about increasingly capable models this week, the reauthorization debate will test whether existing legal frameworks can address autonomous systems that may act beyond direct human control—a scenario the 1950 law never anticipated.

Trump said this week the administration already has "tremendous criminal and regulatory power" over AI companies as he pushed back on industry calls for new guardrails on powerful models.

Details were first reported by Fox News.