AI Security: Protecting American Technology from Foreign Theft
The BLADE Act is in the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. It has not moved since August 5, 2026. The committee members must decide whether to hold a vote on the bill before it can move forward.
The bill has strong bipartisan support in the Senate and addresses a major national security concern, but it faces a crowded legislative calendar for AI-related bills.
Scores run from -100 (strongly harmful) to +100 (strongly beneficial) for each group, combining impact, certainty, scope, and duration ratings of 1-5. How impact scoring works
The bill defines 'person of concern' broadly to include anyone operating under the direction or control of an entity headquartered in China, Russia, or another designated country, which could sweep in individuals in the United States on visas who are affiliated with such entities. If designated, these individuals could face U.S. asset freezes and be barred from further access to protected AI systems.
“is operating under the direction or control of any entity located or headquartered in, or the ultimate parent company of which is headquartered in, a country of concern”
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Introduced in Senate
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
The bipartisan BLADE Act, introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty, targets 'model extraction attacks' by foreign adversaries. It mandates the Commerce Department to identify entities engaged in distillation and maintain a public 'AI Model Extraction Attackers List' to protect American AI technology.
The Blocking Large-Scale Adversarial Distillation Efforts (BLADE) Act aims to expose foreign entities that steal proprietary AI models. The bill defines distillation as unauthorized acquisition of model weights and architectures, directing Commerce to maintain an attackers list and block exports.
The BLADE Act would require the Commerce Department to track down foreign groups helping adversaries bypass security rules for American AI tools. It establishes a public list of attackers and authorizes the Treasury to impose financial sanctions on those caught stealing technology.
No votes or related bills recorded for this bill yet.
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
BLADE Act
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