OPINION:
Amid the constant debate over artificial intelligence “guardrails,” the first and most essential is simple. The source code acquired by and supporting the U.S. government must be 100% developed and managed by Americans in America.
Everything else is secondary if the foundation for AI continues to be outsourced.
America cannot secure its future if it does not control its own digital foundation. While policymakers debate AI regulations, ethics boards, and safety frameworks, we must have a north star: American-made and -managed source code.
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For too long, Congress and the executive branch have allowed private industry to ship sensitive government software development work overseas, ignoring security and hoping for the best. That must end.
Every line of code purchased with taxpayer money and deployed by the U.S. government must be written and managed in the United States.
Despite the massive security risks, countries such as China, Vietnam, Malaysia and India have become default sources of cheap development work. Defense and technology companies have welcomed the lower labor and development costs because the savings flow directly to their bottom lines.
Yet those profits come at the expense of, and pose a risk to, national security and intellectual property. They provide our adversaries with too many opportunities to infiltrate our federal government.
If we learned anything from COVID-19, it is that when global supply chains seized up, Americans discovered that basic medical supplies, pharmaceuticals and critical components were suddenly out of reach. Why? Because production had been outsourced.
Prices spiked amid shortages and foreign sources either could not or would not deliver, hurting Americans.
Software is no different. Chinese, Russian and other adversaries welcome nothing more than America and its industry choosing short-term profits over security and letting down their guard.
Waiting for the next pandemic, conflict or cyber crisis is reckless. We cannot discover in the midst of an emergency that government, military or critical infrastructure systems depend on teams and source code we do not fully control or that have been compromised.
AI “guardrails” are becoming another in a long line of policy conversations that generate endless debate but little progress. Not all source code originating from an allied country is inherently bad. Yet when it comes to systems acquired by or supporting the federal government, the risk must be eliminated.
“America First” and “America First source code” mean that our government stops treating the development of American workers and national security as optional. Critics will say this will raise government costs. Contractors will complain about talent shortages and slipping timelines.
Some complaints might be justified in the short term, but we must rip off the Band-Aid and start building our own capacity to protect the AI infrastructure and the federal government.
Let us not waste any more time on rhetorical conversations. We must focus on what needs to be done to strengthen the economy, create high-skill jobs at home, build domestic capacity and keep taxpayer dollars circulating in American communities. We should be doubling down and developing a cumulative curriculum at every grade level to build AI and technical literacy so that the next generation is ready to build “America First” companies.
As a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, I will work to legislate on behalf of our contracting officers so they have more tools to ensure we are buying American source code. No longer can we allow “Assembled in the USA” — a fancy term for built overseas and then shipped to the United States — to skirt “America First” priorities.
With the momentum from bipartisan interest in securing AI, now is the time to end the practice of routing government source coding work through overseas teams. Procurement rules and incentives must change and require that development, maintenance and support for covered systems occur on U.S. soil by U.S. citizens.
This is not isolationism; it is basic risk management. China will not allow Americans to build and operate its government software, so why should America not follow the same practices to protect our critical systems?
American companies that invest in American workers will still compete. Those built around permanent offshoring will adapt. That is how markets work when national priorities are enforced.
Congress writes federal acquisition rules, funds the systems and oversees the agencies. I will be writing legislation, working across the aisle to advance it, securing our government networks, moving it through the oversight committee and working with the Trump administration.
• Rep. Lauren Boebert represents Colorado’s 4th Congressional District and serves on the House Committee on Natural Resources and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
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