Three Just Security authors urged Congress to examine human review of Pentagon AI-assisted targeting, a question sharpened by a United Nations mission's finding on a deadly school strike in Iran.
In a Nov. 2 analysis, Oona A. Hathaway, Max Pushkin and Kegan Strawn proposed that lawmakers seek records showing how long reviewers have for each target, what information and confidence estimates they receive, how often recommendations are changed or rejected, and whether another person checks a target independently. Their questions are a proposal for oversight; they do not show that Congress has scheduled a hearing or changed policy.
Directive 3000.09, issued by the Department of Defense (DoD) and effective Jan. 25, 2023, requires appropriate human judgment and rigorous testing for autonomous and semi-autonomous weapon systems. It excludes autonomous systems that are not weapons and replaced a 2012 directive. Its public text does not resolve whether software that helps nominate or assess targets is covered.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) reported that more than 1,000 targets were struck during the first 24 hours of Operation Epic Fury, which began Feb. 28. Its fact sheet lists LUCAS drones among the assets used, but does not say AI selected the targets. CENTCOM separately described LUCAS as designed to operate autonomously without specifying whether that includes target selection or engagement.
The U.N. mission attributed the Minab school strike to U.S. forces and said the evidence met its reasonable-grounds standard for finding that they committed the war crime of launching an indiscriminate attack. It recorded Minab prosecutor Ebrahim Taheri’s final count of 156 people killed, including 120 schoolchildren, as well as credible independent information citing 157 deaths, including 123 children. The report does not establish that AI played a role in the strike.
Bloomberg reported in September, citing people involved in the Pentagon inquiry, that flawed intelligence, outdated imagery and overreliance on AI contributed to the strike. On Oct. 15, Bloomberg reported that officials planned to delay public release of the investigation until after the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The outlet also reported that a Pentagon official described the inquiry as ongoing and had no update to announce; no release date was confirmed.
