Michael McAnally

The Department of Defense (DoD) has invested significant effort over the past decade considering the role of artificial intelligence and autonomy in national security (e.g., Defense Science Board, 2012, 2016, Deputy Secretary of Defense, 2012, Endsley, 2015, Executive Order No. 13859, 2019, US Department of Defense, 2011, 2019, Zacharias, 2019a). However, these efforts were broadly scoped and only partially touched on how the DoD will certify the safety and performance of these systems....

Systems with autonomy pose unique challenges for operational test. This document provides an executive level overview of these issues and the proposed solutions and reforms. In order to be ready for the testing challenges of the next century, we will need to change the entire acquisition life cycle, starting even from initial system conceptualization. This briefing was presented to the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation along with his deputies and Chief Scientist....