NSPM-11 is a National Security Presidential Memorandum signed by President Trump on June 5, 2026, directing the national security enterprise to accelerate AI adoption under four pillars: Adoption, Adaptation, Assurance, and Accountability. It rescinds and replaces the Biden-era National Security Memorandum NSM-25, and orders downstream actions including an update to DOD Directive 3000.09 on autonomous weapons within 90 days, an AI National Security Strategic Reserve, contract clauses barring vendor "kill switches," and a mechanism to terminate contracts with vendors whose conduct conflicts with the memorandum's policy (NSPM-11 — Artificial Intelligence in the National Security Enterprise (Trump, signed June 5, 2026)).
| Type | National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM-11) |
| Subject | Artificial Intelligence in the National Security Enterprise |
| Status | Signed June 5, 2026 |
| Issuing body | The White House (Trump administration) |
| Primary text | NSPM-11 — Artificial Intelligence in the National Security Enterprise (Trump, signed June 5, 2026) (full verbatim text; whitehouse.gov) |
| Fact sheet | (Source: whitehouse.gov) |
| Rescinds | Biden-era National Security Memorandum NSM-25 (and associated guidance) |
The full verbatim primary text is ingested at NSPM-11 — Artificial Intelligence in the National Security Enterprise (Trump, signed June 5, 2026) (authenticity-verified against whitehouse.gov, June 5, 2026, plus the matching fact sheet).
Scope and stated objective
NSPM-11 establishes a framework to put "the most advanced, secure, and reliable AI systems into the hands of America's warfighters and intelligence professionals." It directs the national security enterprise — defined as the Department of War, the Intelligence Community, and other agencies that develop, deploy, or use national security systems — to "responsibly accelerate the use of AI across intelligence and warfighting domains in line with American values" (NSPM-11 — Artificial Intelligence in the National Security Enterprise (Trump, signed June 5, 2026)).
The memorandum is addressed to a broad slate of principals, including the Secretaries of State, Treasury, War, Energy, and Homeland Security; the Attorney General; the DNI and CIA Director; the OMB Director; the National Cyber Director; the FBI and OPM Directors; and the President's national-security, science-and-technology, and homeland-security advisors.
The four pillars (Section 2)
The policy in Section 2 is organized around four pillars:
- Adoption — accelerate AI adoption by identifying mission areas where AI enhances operational effectiveness and eliminating "unnecessary barriers to rapid deployment," maintaining "deep, proactive partnerships with industry" to make "the most advanced frontier models broadly available to national security professionals without delay."
- Adaptation — adapt commercial or open-source AI from "diverse suppliers across the private sector, large and small," with internally customized or internally developed systems only where a commercial solution is inappropriate for security or mission reasons.
- Assurance — ensure adopted AI is "reliable, robust, steerable, and controllable," with testing, evaluation, validation, and verification; and ensure (via contract clauses or other means) that "no commercial entity or adversary possesses the capability to prevent use of, disable or degrade, or materially modify without Federal Government knowledge and approval" an AI system warfighters depend on.
- Accountability — American AI "shall neither be developed nor used by the national security enterprise to censor free speech, embed ideological bias, or conduct unauthorized or unlawful surveillance." Commanders, directors, and agency heads "remain responsible and accountable" at every level of command.
Key directives and deadlines
| Deadline | Directive |
|---|---|
| 90 days | Secretary of War issues an update to DOD Directive 3000.09 on Autonomy in Weapon Systems, reviewed annually, "to ensure the deliberate adoption of AI systems that respect the chain of command." |
| 90 days | Committee on National Security Systems and OMB Director issue an AI governance policy for national security systems, maximizing consistency with OMB M-25-21 where appropriate. |
| 90 days | A classified annex is issued. |
| 90 days | APST and OMB Director develop a roadmap for advanced computing access, including high-security AI computing facilities and a national-security AI test range (subject to appropriations). |
| 120 days | Secretary of War, DNI, and IC-element heads update procurement for rapid multi-vendor onboarding, "closing the capability gap between what is available to the public and to our national security workforce." |
| 120 days | Secretary of War, Energy, DNI, and NSA Director develop private-sector security partnerships (including against "malicious distillation attacks") via the AI Security Center. |
| 120 days | OPM Director initiates an AI National Security Strategic Reserve of non-governmental AI talent. |
| 120 days | DNI and Secretary of War develop an AI for National Security Curriculum. |
| 120 days | DNI, Secretary of War, and NSA Director develop a joint AI risk-management and assurance strategy establishing baseline AI security practices. |
The vendor-conduct termination mechanism (Section 3(b))
NSPM-11 directs agency heads — invoking FISMA (44 U.S.C. 3551 et seq.) authorities — to "direct, to the maximum extent permissible by law, termination for default or for convenience" of contracts (including subcontracts) with companies "that have repeatedly demonstrated a pattern of conduct that is inconsistent with policies laid out in section 2." Agencies may grant time-limited waivers not exceeding one year for operational imperatives, test-and-evaluation, threat-intelligence sharing, and other mission-critical applications; all waivers must be reported in writing to the APST and APNSA within 30 days (NSPM-11 — Artificial Intelligence in the National Security Enterprise (Trump, signed June 5, 2026)).
The provision relates to the dispute between the administration and Anthropic over the Pentagon's "supply-chain risk" designation, and gives effect to the Assurance pillar's bar on a vendor "kill switch." It connects to the rationale against single-vendor dependency that the memorandum repeatedly invokes.
Stated lineage and rationale
The fact sheet situates NSPM-11 within the administration's AI agenda: the July 2025 AI Action Plan (innovation, infrastructure, diplomacy); the July 2025 "anti-woke-AI" procurement EO; the March 2026 national legislative framework (see Frontier Act / Great American AI Act (Obernolte–Trahan)); the May 2026 Department of War agreements with "eight of the world's leading AI companies" to deploy on classified networks; and the June 2, 2026 EO on AI innovation and security. The memorandum frames its predecessor, Biden's NSM-25, as "an outdated document that burdened American AI adoption with ideological mandates and fostered dangerous single-vendor dependencies."
The Department of Energy is directed to apply AI to national-security missions "through the Genesis Mission" (the November 2025 DOE AI initiative).
Reception
Coverage on June 5, 2026 framed the memorandum as accelerating "frontier-AI adoption across the national security enterprise," with attention to the 90-day autonomous-weapons-directive rework and the bar on AI-enabled censorship and unlawful surveillance (Source: reuters.com) (Source: insideaipolicy.com). Trade press noted the memorandum follows the June 2 EO on voluntary pre-release model reviews and lands amid the administration's clash with Anthropic over the Pentagon's "supply-chain risk" designation. Reporting framed the directive as requiring AI-governance policies for 14 covered agencies within 90 days and giving Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth 90 days to rework the autonomous-weapons directive; Trump said he would meet AI executives "as soon as next week" (Source: insideaipolicy.com).
Relationships
- supersedes: Biden-era NSM-25 (no wiki page; rescinded by this memorandum)
- depends-on: America's AI Action Plan, NSPM-11 — Artificial Intelligence in the National Security Enterprise (Trump, signed June 5, 2026) (the foundational primary-text source page)
- related: EO — Promoting Advanced AI Innovation and Security (Trump, signed June 2, 2026), Frontier Act / Great American AI Act (Obernolte–Trahan), DOD — Department of Defense (AI Deployer), Anthropic, Frontier AI Governance, Defense / Military — AI Deployment
- regulated-by: n/a (this is the directive)