# 119-s-4697: HALO Act of 2026 119-s-4697, HALO Act of 2026, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Schiff, Adam B. [D-CA] (D-CA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-06-24). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4697 - As of: 2026-06-24 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: 119-s-4697 - Congress: 119 - Title: HALO Act of 2026 - Status: introduced - Introduced: 2026-06-08 - Sponsor: Sen. Schiff, Adam B. [D-CA] (D-CA) - Cosponsors: 0 - Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security - Touches household money: yes - Last recorded action: 2026-06-24 ## Summary **Human authority over lethal decisions** would be the central requirement of the Human Authority in Lethal Operations Act of 2026. The bill would create a comprehensive governance framework for autonomous and semi-autonomous weapon systems and related artificial intelligence covering design, safety, testing, oversight, transparency, and alignment with the Law of Armed Conflict and applicable treaties. - Military commanders and operators would face new design and operational controls that build in human judgment, mandate the ability to reject or challenge AI recommendations, name a designated commander for systems, and require autonomy algorithms that can be rapidly reprogrammed. - People in conflict zones would benefit from stricter testing and safety standards because systems must demonstrate robustness against adaptive adversaries and safe operation around civilians, with safeguards for densely populated areas to reduce unintended engagements. - DoD testers, acquisition teams, and oversight bodies would get tougher verification and validation rules, a Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer role, stronger authority and standards for the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, a centralized incident reporting repository, advance reviews of test plans, and reporting and whistleblower protections to specified congressional committees. ## Provisions PRIA read - Human control and pre-deployment review: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would require senior DoD officials to review covered autonomous and semi‑autonomous systems before formal development and again before fielding. Reviews would have to confirm a designated commander can exercise final discretion and that systems limit targets, geography, and tim… - Limits on DoD AI uses: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would prohibit the Department from using covered AI in ways that violate the Constitution, federal law, the Law of Armed Conflict, or international obligations. It would ban profiling people for exercising rights, inferring emotions, inferring protected traits, and tracking peo… - Stronger testing and fixes for systems: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would require rigorous verification and validation and realistic developmental and operational tests for every covered system. It would require post‑fielding monitoring, quarterly cyber testing, and a centralized incident repository run by the Director of Operational Test and E… - New Chief AI officer at DoD: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would create a Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer to monitor AI and cybersecurity for covered systems and to advise the Secretary. The officer would set testability standards, issue guidance on red‑team and evaluation practices, and coordinate common tools and be… - Whistleblower rules for DoD AI workers: benefit, low. If enacted, the bill would require the Secretary to update whistleblower protections and procedures for personnel who develop, test, deploy, operate, or use AI. The updates would allow anonymous or confidential reports when appropriate and require investigations and corrective action. Confidentiali… - Public posting of DoD AI principles: benefit, low. If enacted, the bill would require the Secretary to make the Department's Ethical Principles for Artificial Intelligence and its Responsible AI Strategy publicly available. Any revision would have to be posted at least 30 days before it goes into effect. The rule would take effect 180 days after en… - Definitions for covered weapon and AI systems: mixed, medium. If enacted, the bill would define terms that decide which systems and people the rules cover. Definitions include "autonomous weapon system," "semi‑autonomous weapon system," "covered artificial intelligence capability," "designated commander," and "unintended engagement." Those definitions would a… ## Related bills - 119-s-4949: Water Resources Development Act of 2026 - 119-s-2838: Protecting Our Democracy Act - 119-s-2819: Head Start for America's Children Act - 119-s-1541: SHIPS for America Act of 2025 - 119-s-5283: Momnibus Act - 119-s-1507: Agriculture Resilience Act of 2025 ## Sources - [119-s-4697 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/4697) ## Related - [119-s-4949: Water Resources Development Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4949) - [119-s-2838: Protecting Our Democracy Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2838) - [119-s-2819: Head Start for America's Children Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2819) - [119-s-1541: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1541) - [119-s-5283: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5283) - [119-s-1507: Agriculture Resilience Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1507) - [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4697 (as of 2026-06-24).