At United Nations General Assembly, Gallego Criticizes President Trump’s Foreign Policy Blunders, Pushes for AI Oversight

Senator Gallego joined international leaders, met with media, and spoke on issues regarding AI and National Security. NEW YORK — This week, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) attended the United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) High-Level Week in New York City, where he shored up America’s diplomatic relationships with key allies in a series of bilateral meetings — including with Foreign Ministers from Mexico, Poland, and Estonia — and called out the Trump administration for their approach to the war in Iran, among other engagements. Senator Gallego began his trip by speaking on AI infrastructure at the Concordia Annual Summit. Senator Gallego joined panelists to speak about the investments, partnerships, and policy decisions required to develop resilient AI infrastructure while balancing sustainability, supply chain security, and global competitiveness. He highlighted the need to require frontier AI companies to report when malign actors access their models, called for stronger export controls to keep advanced chips out of adversaries’ hands, and called for a bipartisan Senate Select Committee on AI. Senator Gallego was joined on the panel by CEO of Datasection Inc. Norihiko Ishihara, and Vice President of Global AI Initiatives at NVIDIA Calista Redmond. Former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs and Vice Chair for the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Paula Dobriansky moderated the discussion. Senator Gallego along with Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky, Norihiko Ishihara, and Calista Redmond Senator Gallego made the following statements: On Congress striking a balance of regulation and innovation regarding AI: “I think we have to play a very big role in this, and I think we have to have the controlling role. Again, not to the point where we kill innovation, but at the same time, we also have to guard against potential bad breakouts — models that could go bad. “On the benefit side, I think the most important thing is to actually share it across all of society. One of the things we’ve seen in the past, especially when it came to the advent of social media and technology, is that the wealth, concentration, and benefits were all kind of centered in certain population hubs. One of the lessons we should learn from that is trying to figure out how we can make AI — whether it’s open source or closed source — more universal.” On requiring AI companies to report the use of its technology by malign actors: “One of the things that I’m working on right now is to make sure that if you do have a bad actor that breaks into, you know, and starts using your frontier models, that you need to make the government aware of that. There is no requirement right now for anybody to actually make us aware if a bad actor actually has access to some very sophisticated, eventually, weaponry. “What I am pushing is for us to actually create a select committee in the House and the Senate. The reason being is because AI is going to go into a lot of worlds, not just tech.” Later in his trip, Senator Gallego met with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, Radosław Sikorski, to discuss strengthening the NATO alliance and supporting Ukraine’s war against Russia to safeguard democracy around the globe. Senator Gallego with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, Radosław Sikorski Senator Gallego also met with Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Velasco Álvarez, to discuss strengthening and streamlining U.S.–Mexico cross-border commerce and travel to power economic and job growth in both countries, especially in Arizona’s border communities. Senator Gallego meets with Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs Roberto Velasco Álvarez During a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia, Margus Tsahkna, Senator Gallego discussed security on NATO’s eastern flank, efforts to deter and increase pressure on Russia, Europe’s growing role in its own defense, and developments in the Middle East. The senator also reaffirmed his support for the Baltic Security Initiative, which he authored as co-chair of the House Baltic Caucus. Senator Gallego with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia Margus Tsahkna, photo courtesy of office of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia The senator also met with State Secretary in the German Federal Foreign Office, Géza Andreas von Geyr , where he discussed the importance of the U.S.–German alliance to transatlantic security, the role of U.S. troops in Germany in deterring Russian aggression, and the strength of NATO. The senator also reaffirmed his commitment to the historic U.S.–German partnership and emphasized that the relationship between the two countries will endure beyond any one administration. Later, Senator Gallego joined MS NOW’s “All In with Chris Hayes” and “Morning Joe” to speak out against President Trump’s war in Iran — including responding to comments made during his address at the UN General Assembly that he would “annihilate” the country and drive it “into hell” — and recap highlights of his trip. MS NOW: All in with Chris Hayes On Republicans only now speaking out against the Iran War: “Courage is found when session is out.  All… of those Republicans literally are saying this as soon as Speaker Johnson has said we’re not coming back to vote anyway. There’s even no way to actually test them, right? MS NOW: Morning Joe On if the United States will come to aid Poland, a NATO member, if Russia invades them: “So if you talk to Poland, they do believe we’ll come there. But what they’re afraid of, because of this kind of inconsistency from this president, is that Russia’s going to make a mistake. They’re going to make a miscalculation, and that’s how most wars start, actually, is through massive miscalculation. “The best wars are the ones that you never start, or you never have to get into. And [the Polish are] afraid that this president’s instability, his lack of leadership, his inability to actually stand up to Putin, is actually going to encourage them to actually attack or anything else.” On what the United States needs to end the war in Iran: “There is no way out of this unless we go really, really deeper and deeper into war, which the American public doesn’t want, and I don’t think it actually ends up getting us where we want.” On Senator Gallego’s reaction to Trump saying he will “annihilate” Iran after he dodged serving in the Vietnam War: “Well, there’s a lot of people that avoided the Vietnam War, but there’s very few people that avoided the Vietnam War and then look at war in such a positive manner and use terms like ‘annihilation.’”