Senators Mark Warner, Jack Reed, and Chris Coons sent a letter Friday to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton calling for an audit of automated intelligence tools. The request seeks a government watchdog investigation into how artificial intelligence has produced faulty data used for US military targeting plans.

The lawmakers highlight a case where an analyst's use of a chatbot inaccurately identified nuclear weapons components on a Chinese vessel, nearly causing the military to board the ship during a war with Iran. The letter copies the Department of Defense Inspector General and requests a review of the systemic AI mistakes cited in recent reporting to prevent future intelligence errors.