“You know what makes this bird go up? Funding makes this bird go up.” Dennis Quaid’s line from The Right Stuff has felt less like movie dialogue and more like a policy memo these past two weeks in Washington. OMB paused...more
2/24/2026
/ Aerospace ,
China ,
Defense Contracts ,
Federal Funding ,
Investigations ,
NASA ,
National Security ,
OMB ,
Outer Space ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
Senate Armed Services Committee
While the signing of the Defense and Transportation–Housing and Urban Development (HUD) appropriations bills last week ended a brief partial government shutdown, funding is never far the top of the to-do list, with the clock...more
2/10/2026
/ Aerospace ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
EU ,
Federal Funding ,
Government Shutdown ,
National Security ,
Outer Space ,
Russia ,
Satellites ,
Ukraine
Over the past couple of weeks, Congress moved a number of key space-related spending bills, and signaled support for the Pentagon’s acquisition reform agenda (albeit with a few congressionally mandated guardrails). Beyond...more
Congress rang in the new year by unveiling a three-bill minibus funding package that rejects many of the administration’s proposed space and science cuts, the White House published an EO threatening restrictions on defense...more
1/13/2026
/ Aerospace ,
China ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Funding ,
Infrastructure ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Russia
If it felt like this was a week of seconds, it wasn’t just you pining for a break over the holidays. President Trump signed the “Ensuring American Space Superiority” executive order, his second EO focused on space policy, and...more
Despite the Thanksgiving holiday, it’s been a busy couple of weeks in space. As we head into 2025’s homestretch, all Speaker Johnson wants for Christmas is final NDAA language, several members want NDAA language to put...more
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history is behind us, and Congress is leaning hard into its NASA and Department of Defense (also referred to as the Department of War) oversight roles. Jared Isaacman is once again the...more
As the U.S. government shutdown continues to drag on, you could be forgiven for thinking work on domestic space policy hasn’t slowed. The FCC launched a proposal to streamline the satellite licensing process, DoD is looking...more
On October 21, 2025, the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) announced the launch of the American AI Exports Program following President Trump’s July 23 executive order (EO) on Promoting the Export...more
As the U.S. government shutdown approaches its third week, Republicans look for defense and space funding as a lever to break the impasse, and defense budgets on both sides of the Atlantic are already reshaping the commercial...more
Beyond Washington budget headlines, DoD, BIS and DHS all introduced measures that will likely have a significant impact on the commercial space industry; space leaders from around the world convened in Australia for the...more
10/6/2025
/ Aerospace ,
Australia ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
EU ,
Export Controls ,
Italy ,
National Security ,
Outer Space
Good Afternoon! No bucks. No Buck Rogers. The latest FY2026 bill from the House Appropriations Committee preserves NASA’s budget at current levels, and Reps. Bacon and Chu urged House appropriators to protect NASA funding in...more
9/22/2025
/ Aerospace ,
Appropriations Bill ,
Biden Administration ,
Congressional Committees ,
Continuing Resolution ,
Federal Budget ,
Federal Funding ,
Government Agencies ,
NASA ,
Policy Updates ,
Public Policy
Good Afternoon! The past couple of weeks felt a little like U.S. space policy stepped back to 1969. Sen. Ted Cruz channeled John Fogerty to warn about the space race with China and appeared to lean into U.S. government-owned...more
9/8/2025
/ Aerospace ,
China ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Policy ,
Government Agencies ,
NASA ,
National Security ,
Outer Space ,
Policy Updates ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration ,
United States
Good Afternoon! The business of space got a boost on August 13 when the Trump Administration published its EO intended to revamp commercial space regulations. The Administration and Congress continue to square off about...more
8/25/2025
/ Aerospace ,
China ,
Commercial Use ,
Executive Orders ,
Government Agencies ,
Mexico ,
National Security ,
New Regulations ,
Outer Space ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
White House Releases America’s AI Action Plan On July 23, 2025, the White House released America’s AI Action Plan. The plan, initiated by President Donald J. Trump's Executive Order 14179, "Removing Barriers to American...more
Good Afternoon! The past couple of weeks in space policy news have been dominated by defense headlines. In the U.S., a “czar” was appointed to oversee the Golden Dome project and the Pentagon began looking into alternative...more
8/11/2025
/ Aerospace ,
Defense Contracts ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
National Security ,
New Legislation ,
Outer Space ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform
Welcome to the June edition of Akin Intelligence. To ensure continued receipt, please subscribe to future issues here if you have not already done so. For past issues and other AI content, check out Akin’s AI & ML Insights...more
Good Afternoon! It’s been a busy two weeks across the space industry. Despite recent headlines, it looks like the throttles are all the way forward for space business. The Space Foundation reported that the global space...more
On July 23, 2025, the Trump Administration released its long-anticipated AI Action Plan, outlining a federal roadmap to maintain U.S. global leadership in artificial intelligence (AI). The plan serves as a guiding policy...more
7/25/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Executive Orders ,
Export Controls ,
Government Agencies ,
Innovation ,
National Security ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Commerce Department
Good Afternoon! It’s been a busy couple of weeks in the orbit of Washington. President Trump nominated a new NASA Administrator, and the “Big Beautiful Bill” gave Space Force a big budget bump. Meanwhile, scientists and the...more
On May 13, 2025, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced that the Commerce Department initiated a rescission of the Biden Administration’s Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion (“AI...more
6/30/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Biden Administration ,
Bots ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Collective Actions ,
Deep Fake ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Free Speech ,
Government Agencies ,
New Guidance ,
New Regulations ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Secretary of Commerce ,
Semiconductors ,
Technology Sector ,
Training ,
U.S. Commerce Department
Good Afternoon! The past couple of weeks in space policy news have been dominated by defense headlines. In the U.S., a “czar” was appointed to oversee the Golden Dome project and the Pentagon began looking into alternative...more
6/30/2025
/ Aerospace ,
Defense Sector ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Executive Orders ,
FCC ,
Government Agencies ,
NASA ,
National Security ,
NATO ,
New Legislation ,
Pentagon ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Request For Information ,
Trump Administration
It’s been a busy couple of weeks in space policy. Although the House Appropriations Committee kept defense funding flat at FY25 levels, it significantly increased funding for Space Force and RDT&E. On the north side of the...more
Welcome to a special edition of Akin’s Space Law, Regulation and Policy Update. We held out hope that the NASA budget would be released in time for our Friday deadline, but that was not to be. And a lot has happened since our...more
On May 19, 2025, President Trump signed the bipartisan TAKE IT DOWN Act into law. The Act criminalizes the publication of nonconsensual intimate visual depictions of individuals, including AI-generated deepfakes. Threats to...more