Chairman Mast Introduces AI OVERWATCH Act to Secure America’s Technological Dominance

Washington D.C. - Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast introduced the AI OVERWATCH Act. This bill ensures congressional oversight keeps pace with advancing technology, blocks adversary militaries from accessing weapon-enabling AI, and accelerates American AI exports to allies and partners around the world.

“As chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I’ve seen firsthand how adversaries exploit our technology to enhance their military capabilities. The AI OVERWATCH Act ensures Congress has oversight over the sale of advanced AI chips to adversary nations, just as it does with arms sales. It also supercharges exports of American AI to allies and partners,” said Chairman Mast. “America must win the AI arms race.”

This bill applies long-standing congressional oversight to exports of America’s sensitive, military-enhancing AI chips. Since 1976, Congress has reviewed foreign arms sales that threaten U.S. national security. The principle is clear: technologies that shift military power require congressional oversight.

Cosponsors include House China Select Committee Chairman John Moolenaar, House Foreign Affairs South and Central Asia Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga, House Foreign Affairs Europe Subcommittee Chairman Keith Self, House Foreign Affairs East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee Chairwoman Young Kim, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence National Security Agency and Cyber Subcommittee Chairman Darin LaHood.

Industry Groups supporting the legislation include FDD Action, American Compass, and Americans for Responsible Innovation.

Key provisions include:

• Congressional Review: Requires notification to Congress before the administration approves exports of advanced AI chips to China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and the Maduro regime of Venezuela. Congress has 30 days to review and may block the export through a joint resolution of disapproval.
• No Chips for Adversary Militaries: Mandates verifiable safeguards to ensure AI chip exports to countries of concern will not enhance the military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber capabilities of our adversaries.
• America First AI: Ensures that AI chip exports to foreign adversaries do not limit U.S. availability of advanced chips. Protects American global AI model and cloud leadership.
• National Security Strategy Requirement: Requires a strategy on providing adversaries access to advanced AI chips, including assessments of adversary capabilities and China’s indigenous chip production, prior to any exports to countries of concern.
• Accelerating Exports to Allies: Fast-tracks AI exports to allies and partners for trusted U.S. companies meeting strong security and ownership standards.
   

House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar:
“Our nation has a strong technological advantage over China in AI chips,” said Chairman Moolenaar. “Whichever country controls these chips will control the future of national and economic security. The American people want American AI to boost economic growth at home, and around the world for our allies, friends, and partners, but they do not want American AI to contribute to China’s relentless military expansion and economic aggression. This legislation takes decisive action to strike that balance and safeguard American AI dominance into the future,” said Select Committee on China Chairman Moolenaar.

House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford:
“AI is changing the way the U.S. and countries across the globe, including our adversaries, look at their national defense strategies,” said Chairman Crawford. “We must be taking all necessary steps to protect U.S. technology leadership in microelectronics and artificial intelligence and ensure our technology cannot be used against us. We must starve China of the compute they need to compete, and we certainly should not be voluntarily solving their shortfalls by selling them our compute. I am proud to join my colleague Chairman Mast in introducing this legislation vital to the future stability and security of not just the United States but the globe.”

House Foreign Affairs South and Central Asia Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga:
“As chairman of the subcommittee overseeing export controls, I’ve seen firsthand how important it is that America wins the defining technologies of the 21st century. AI OVERWATCH ensures America—not China—wins the race for AI dominance,” said Chairman Huizenga.

House Foreign Affairs Europe Subcommittee Chairman Keith Self:
“The AI race is not a sci-fi story anymore. The chips that train frontier models can just as easily power military targeting, mass surveillance, and cyber operations,” said Chairman Keith Self. “If you are an enemy of the United States, you should not have access to the best technology in the world. These chips should and will stay in the United States.”

House Foreign Affairs East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee Chairwoman Young Kim:
“The transfer of America’s most advanced technologies to adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party requires the highest level of scrutiny, including strong congressional review,” said Chairwoman Kim. “The AI OVERWATCH Act adds an essential layer of congressional oversight of powerful dual-use chips to ensure we do not unintentionally fuel the Chinese Communist Party’s military ambitions and surveillance technologies. I am committed to preventing Beijing from exploiting American innovation against us and will keep fighting to secure U.S. leadership in AI.”

House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence National Security Agency and Cyber Subcommittee Chairman Darin LaHood:
"Maintaining American global leadership in advanced technology is essential to safeguarding our national security," said Chairman LaHood. "High-capacity chips are an incredibly valuable asset and play a pivotal role in modern biodefense, intelligence, and weapon systems. We must take every necessary precaution to ensure these chips do not fall into the hands of those who seek to use AI to undermine the United States and gain unbridled influence over the global economy."

FDD Action:
"America's cutting-edge chips and advanced technology must never be used to power the AI systems that support China's military and intelligence apparatuses—especially at the expense of American innovators,” said FDD Action Senior Director of Government Relations Connor Pfeiffer. “FDD Action endorses this legislation because it gives Congress the ability to review proposed licenses to ensure chip sales protect US national security while promoting innovation here at home."

American Compass:
“The United States has an enormous lead in advanced AI processing, which offers a critical advantage in our economic and security competition with China.” said American Compass Chief Economist Oren Cass. “Unless, that is, corporations and policymakers repeat the past generation's mistakes and sell off the advantage for short-term profit. Chairmen Mast, Moolenaar, Crawford, and their colleagues deserve enormous credit for rejecting that failed path, and introducing legislation that protects the national interest by strengthening export controls on such a vital technology. This is how America First policy looks.”

Americans for Responsible Innovation:
“The AI OVERWATCH Act recognizes a simple reality: AI chips are strategic technologies with national security implications, not ordinary exports,” said ARI President Brad Carson. “In the AI era, advanced chips are the foundation on which advanced militaries are going to be built. By pairing congressional oversight with faster exports to trusted allies, this bill protects U.S. national security while reinforcing American leadership in AI.”

Read the full bill text here: