# 119-s-4682: Ultimate Human Responsibility in Defense Systems Act of 2026

119-s-4682, Ultimate Human Responsibility in Defense Systems Act of 2026, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Kelly, Mark [D-AZ] (D-AZ); status introduced (as of 2026-07-25).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4682
- As of: 2026-07-25
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-4682
- Congress: 119
- Title: Ultimate Human Responsibility in Defense Systems Act of 2026
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-06-04
- Sponsor: Sen. Kelly, Mark [D-AZ] (D-AZ)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
- Touches household money: no
- Last recorded action: 2026-07-25

## Summary

**Ultimate human responsibility** in defense systems. This bill requires the Department of Defense to design, test, and operate autonomous weapons and AI so a human can understand decisions, supervise missions, intervene, and stop force when needed. - Families and civilians: Creates a Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Office to prevent, mitigate, and respond to civilian harm and to provide regular reports to Congress. - Service members and operators: Requires formal training pipelines, certification in human‑machine teaming, ongoing proficiency assessments and retraining after software updates, and protections for operators who report safety or reliability concerns. - Department of Defense and oversight: Forces design rules like human supervision, fail‑safes, manual control options, and record keeping of decision logic and operator actions. It also requires independent red‑team testing and certification before fielding, published AI testing standards within 18 months, and an incident repository to track malfunctions and near misses.

## Provisions PRIA read

- New Training for Autonomous Weapons: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Secretary of Defense would require formal training pipelines and certifications for operators, commanders, and supervisors of autonomous weapon systems. The bill would require human‑machine teaming certification, Combat Training Center integration, and mandatory training for denied…
- Office to Reduce Civilian Harm: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Secretary of Defense would create a Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Office inside the Office of the Secretary of Defense. A senior official would lead the office. The office would make and coordinate policies to prevent and respond to civilian harm in military operations. It w…
- Incident Reporting and Congress Briefings: benefit, low. If enacted, the Secretary of Defense would create an Autonomous Weapon System Incident Repository to collect and analyze incidents, near misses, malfunctions, and unintended behavior. The repository would be modeled on aviation safety reporting and would protect sensitive information under classifi…
- Testing and Certification for Autonomous Weapons: mixed, medium. If enacted, the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation would have to review and certify any DoD autonomous weapon system that can select and engage targets on its own before fielding. The bill would require independent red-team adversarial testing in contested and degraded conditions and retes…

## Related bills

- 119-s-1541: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026
- 119-s-2823: FAMILY Act
- 119-s-5108: Right to IVF Act of 2026
- 119-s-2828: Child Care Modernization Act of 2025
- 119-s-1503: Equality Act

## Sources
- [119-s-4682 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/4682)

## Related
- [119-s-1541: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1541)
- [119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3990)
- [119-s-2823: FAMILY Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2823)
- [119-s-5108: Right to IVF Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5108)
- [119-s-2828: Child Care Modernization Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2828)
- [119-s-1503: Equality Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1503)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4682 (as of 2026-07-25).