STATEMENT: Gottheimer Statement on White House AI Executive Order

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, June 2, 2026, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), Co-Chair of the House Commission on AI, and Ranking Member of the National Security Agency & Cyber Subcommittee on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement:

“While today’s White House Executive Order represents a step in the right direction toward protecting America from national security risks, its purely voluntary nature lacks real teeth. 

Powerful AI frontier models that exhibit dangerous capabilities, including cybersecurity risks and the potential to create novel bioweapons, must be shared with the government and relevant critical infrastructure entities before they are released to the public. While this process can’t be bureaucratic, it shouldn’t be optional.

A purely voluntary framework means allowing AI to remain the Wild West. After Anthropic’s Mythos announcement, we saw that good actors will proactively and expeditiously collaborate with the government to ensure that vulnerable organizations are safe from catastrophic cyber risk. But, we cannot trust that that will always be the norm. There are bad actors out there.

AI is too important — and the stakes of inadequate guardrails too grave — to settle for anything less than comprehensive action.

We can beat China, while protecting Americans and our critical infrastructure from serious risks. I’m working with my colleagues to develop commonsense policies and legislation in Congress to protect Americans, address national security risks, and boost American AI innovation.”

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