The program will bring federal agencies, artificial intelligence developers and private-sector infrastructure operators together to identify software vulnerabilities, verify threats and coordinate faster security fixes.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The White House has launched a new artificial intelligence cybersecurity initiative intended to detect and repair software vulnerabilities before they can be exploited across critical sectors including finance, healthcare and energy.
The program, called GOLD EAGLE, will establish a central clearinghouse through which federal agencies, open-source software partners, AI developers and critical infrastructure operators can share information and coordinate responses to security weaknesses.
Administration officials said the initiative will use advanced AI tools to locate vulnerabilities, determine whether reported flaws are genuine and help government agencies and private companies develop and distribute security patches more rapidly.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth described the program as part of a broader effort to place the United States on a “wartime footing” in cyberspace.
“We are bringing a wartime footing to the cyber domain to relentlessly patch vulnerabilities,” Hegseth said in the July 14 announcement.
He said GOLD EAGLE would protect the country by “leveraging frontier AI alongside top American innovators to safeguard our critical infrastructure and protect the homeland.”
The White House and at least six federal agencies will participate in the initiative alongside private-sector organizations.
Officials did not release a complete list of the agencies, AI companies or infrastructure operators involved.
The program reflects growing concern in Washington that increasingly powerful AI systems can be used both to improve cybersecurity and to accelerate attacks.
Advanced models developed by companies including Anthropic and OpenAI can examine large amounts of computer code, identify potential weaknesses and help organizations fix them more quickly than conventional methods.
The same capabilities could also be used by criminals or foreign adversaries to search for vulnerabilities in the computer systems used by banks, hospitals, energy companies and other essential services.
Government officials have warned that the speed of AI-assisted vulnerability discovery could sharply reduce the amount of time organizations have to recognize and repair weaknesses before attackers exploit them.
Those concerns were raised during a June 11 Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.
Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said the National Security Agency had informed lawmakers that Anthropic’s advanced Mythos model was able to identify vulnerabilities across nearly all classified U.S. computer systems within hours instead of weeks.
Anthropic and the NSA did not publicly confirm Warner’s description.
House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Jim Himes, D-Conn., later said he had received a briefing on the model’s capabilities and characterized the matter as “very, very serious.”
Several days later, Anthropic announced that it had received a U.S. government export-control directive requiring the company to suspend foreign nationals’ access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models.
Anthropic subsequently disabled both models for all users while questioning the government’s justification for the order.
The episode illustrated the national security concerns surrounding highly capable AI systems that can discover software flaws at unprecedented speed.
Under GOLD EAGLE, federal officials intend to use those capabilities defensively by creating a coordinated process for receiving vulnerability reports and directing fixes across government and industry.
The initiative is already collecting reports of possible software weaknesses, verifying whether the vulnerabilities exist and helping affected organizations coordinate corrective action, officials said.
National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross said major AI developers and companies responsible for operating critical infrastructure would take part in the program.
He did not identify every participating organization.
The clearinghouse is intended to reduce fragmentation among agencies, software developers and infrastructure operators that may otherwise investigate the same vulnerability independently or respond at different speeds.
A centralized structure could allow federal officials to confirm threats more quickly, alert affected sectors and assist with developing security patches before a weakness is widely exploited.
The initiative follows President Donald Trump’s June 2 executive order on artificial intelligence.
That order directed several federal agencies to work with AI companies and critical infrastructure operators to strengthen cybersecurity.
It also called for broader use of AI tools in cyber defense while avoiding new licensing requirements for companies developing the technology.
GOLD EAGLE represents an operational step toward carrying out those directives.
The program seeks to harness private-sector innovation without creating a new federal licensing system for AI developers.
Administration officials are instead emphasizing cooperation among agencies, technology companies and infrastructure providers.
The stakes are particularly high for sectors whose disruption could affect public safety, financial stability or national security.
A successful cyberattack against a hospital network could interrupt patient care, while an attack on an energy provider could affect electricity generation or distribution. Financial institutions also hold large amounts of sensitive data and operate systems that support transactions across the economy.
Open-source software represents another area of concern because widely used components may appear in thousands of government and commercial systems.
A vulnerability discovered in a common software library can therefore create risks across numerous industries at the same time.
By including open-source partners in the clearinghouse, GOLD EAGLE is intended to improve the speed with which those broadly shared weaknesses are identified and repaired.
The administration’s approach acknowledges that AI will remain available to both defenders and attackers.
Rather than attempting to prevent the technology from being used, the program seeks to ensure that government and industry can find vulnerabilities and deploy fixes faster than adversaries can exploit them.
Officials said the initiative will continue expanding its network of participating agencies, AI developers and critical infrastructure organizations as the federal government increases its use of advanced technology in cyber defense.
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