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Secretary of Defense Esper Calls on Private Sector to Join Forces with DoD in the Development of AI

Client Alert | 1 min read | 11.21.19

On November 5, 2019, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper delivered remarks on the importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence Public Conference. In his remarks, Secretary Esper identified AI as a “core, critical” emerging technology for the Department of Defense (DoD), where the goal is “to get the war fighter into the cloud,” and help deliver battlefield data to troops more quickly and predict necessary equipment maintenance from afar, among other things. He also called on the private sector to work with DoD “to lead the world in responsible AI research and application,” emphasizing the need to develop principles for using AI in a lawful and ethical manner, consistent with the U.S.’s AI Strategy Plan, as we reported on here, and in a statement foreshadowing anticipated export controls on certain areas of AI, likely to be issued by the Department of the Commerce in proposed form by the end of the year, Secretary Esper admonished, “ [o]ur collective security must not be diminished by a short and narrow sighted focus on economic opportunity.”

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Client Alert | 5 min read | 12.12.25

Eleventh Circuit Hears Argument on False Claims Act Qui Tam Constitutionality

On the morning of December 12, 2025, the Eleventh Circuit heard argument in United States ex rel. Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates, LLC, et al., No. 24-13581 (11th Cir. 2025). This case concerns the constitutionality of the False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam provisions and a groundbreaking September 2024 opinion in which the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida held that the FCA’s qui tam provisions were unconstitutional under Article II. See United States ex rel. Zafirov v. Fla. Med. Assocs., LLC, 751 F. Supp. 3d 1293 (M.D. Fla. 2024). That decision, penned by District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, was the first success story for a legal theory that has been gaining steam ever since Justices Thomas, Barrett, and Kavanaugh indicated they would be willing to consider arguments about the constitutionality of the qui tam provisions in U.S. ex rel. Polansky v. Exec. Health Res., 599 U.S. 419 (2023). In her opinion, Judge Mizelle held (1) qui tam relators are officers of the U.S. who must be appointed under the Appointments Clause; and (2) historical practice treating qui tam and similar relators as less than “officers” for constitutional purposes was not enough to save the qui tam provisions from the fundamental Article II infirmity the court identified. That ruling was appealed and, after full briefing, including by the government and a bevy of amici, the litigants stepped up to the plate this morning for oral argument....

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