Gallego Warns Pentagon Against Rushing Autonomous Weapons Policy at the Expense of U.S. Troops and Allies

WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) sent a letter to the Department of Defense (DOD) demanding how it will protect U.S. servicemembers, allied militaries, and host nation civilians under any rapid revision to the 3000.09 Directive, the core policy governing autonomy in weapon systems. The letter comes in response to a recent memorandum signed by President Trump which directed the Pentagon to update the Directive within 90 days to “eliminate unnecessary barriers to rapid deployment” and adapt commercial and open-source AI technologies for military use. Senator Gallego warned that any revision that compresses testing and evaluation timelines, reduces existing safeguards, or curtails the ability of commanders and operators to exercise human judgment over the use of force risks devastating consequences – including friendly fire incidents and civilian harm in critical allied and partner nations that could jeopardize U.S. access, basing, and overflight rights. “The United States’ unique ability to project power throughout the world depends on the commitment and professionalism of U.S. servicemembers and a historically unparalleled network of trusted allies and partners,” the Senator wrote. “Protecting these invaluable American assets requires robust and deliberate mitigation, coordination, and policy.” Senator Gallego requested responses from Secretary Hegseth no later than June 26, 2026 on six specific questions, including: How the updated Directive will prevent friendly fire incidents against U.S. servicemembers from autonomous or AI-enabled systems; Whether the Department has assessed adversarial efforts to deliberately cause or exploit autonomous weapons incidents to undermine U.S. basing and overflight rights; What safeguards protect host nation civilians from U.S. autonomous and semi-autonomous weapon systems; Whether U.S. allies and partners have been briefed on the fielding of autonomous weapons deployed to or transiting their territory; and What civilian harm mitigation capacity has been assigned to the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group. Read the full letter HERE .