A US analyst used an AI chatbot to combine open and classified data. The chatbot misidentified a Chinese ship’s cargo as nuclear weapons parts. The analyst formatted the error into an official summary. The report circulated during the war with Iran. Military aircraft were already airborne for an armed operation. The operation was aborted after the hallucination was discovered. The Pentagon is racing to integrate AI to speed up decision-making. A GovAI scholar warns that AI uncertainty is especially critical for use-of-force decisions. The scholar says safeguards are needed, not avoidance of AI.