The Defense Production Act, originally enacted in 1950 to support manufacturing during the Korean War, is now a key tool for the Trump administration to regulate advanced artificial intelligence. The law grants the executive branch authority to prioritize government contracts and expand industrial production, having been reauthorized over 50 times throughout its history.
In February 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held a meeting with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. During the discussion, the Secretary reportedly threatened to invoke the act to compel the company to comply with military requirements for its AI models, challenging Anthropic's internal safety policies regarding military usage.
The administration has also issued Executive Order 14409 on June 2, 2026, focusing on secure AI for national security, followed by NSPM-11 three days later to accelerate AI adoption across defense agencies.
Current authorities under the act are set to expire on September 30, 2026, following an extension in the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act. A new legislative proposal, H.R. 7688, seeks to extend these powers for five years until September 30, 2031, while introducing modernization updates to the law.
