NSA AI testing spending is reported in billions. The public estimate covers a different agency

The National Security Agency told lawmakers it is spending billions of dollars in 2026 to evaluate advanced AI models, The Washington Sun reported on September 24, citing two people familiar with classified intelligence estimates. The newspaper said the exact amount spent so far is unclear. The Pentagon declined to comment on the cost. No public NSA spending figure in the sources reviewed for this article independently verifies the reported amount.

A separate Congressional Budget Office estimate puts the cost of a proposed AI center at $80 million through fiscal 2031. That figure concerns a center at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), with funding starting in fiscal 2027. It is neither an estimate of the NSA's current testing bill nor a measure of total federal AI oversight spending.

The big change

• What changed: The Washington Sun reported a classified estimate of billions in NSA model evaluation spending in 2026, based on two anonymous sources. The amount and the agency's spending to date remain publicly unverified.
• Why it matters: A public estimate for a proposed NIST center cannot tell taxpayers what the NSA now pays to test models. The two figures cover different agencies, activities and years.
• What to watch: A public agency breakdown, congressional disclosure or other documented spending record could establish the NSA amount and what it includes. Until then, the reported figure should remain attributed to the newspaper.

What the public documents establish

The NSA says its Artificial Intelligence Security Center works to detect AI vulnerabilities, partner with industry and develop security practices. That public description establishes a mission, but gives no budget or itemized cost for evaluating frontier models. The Washington Sun attributes the reported 2026 spending and its classified funding source to people familiar with the estimates. One source told the newspaper that computing power has been the largest AI-related NSA cost so far. Those details have not been confirmed by a public budget line.

The CBO's August 26 estimate addresses H.R. 9363, the AI Security and Innovation Act. The bill would establish a NIST center to measure AI risks and support research, development and evaluation. CBO says the bill would authorize $20 million for each fiscal year from 2027 through 2032. Assuming Congress appropriates that funding, CBO estimates $80 million in outlays during fiscal 2026 through 2031. Its table projects no 2026 outlays and $3 million in 2027, rising to $20 million annually by 2029.

Those are projected costs of implementing a proposal, with a fiscal-year window that excludes 2032 outlays. They do not describe an existing NSA program or set a ceiling for classified spending. Nor can the reported NSA figure establish what a broader civilian regulatory system would cost. The public documents leave the size, components and timing of the NSA's actual expenditure unresolved.