The Bureau of Industry and Security is planning to replace the Biden-era AI diffusion rule that is scheduled to take effect May 15, an agency spokesperson said May 7.

Former senior Bureau of Industry and Security officials Matt Borman and Eileen Albanese have joined Akin, the firm announced this week. Borman -- who served more than two decades with BIS, including most recently as the principal deputy assistant secretary for export administration -- joins as a trade lawyer. Albanese, most recently the director of the BIS Office of National Security Controls, joins Akin as a regulatory adviser. Both Borman and Albanese left BIS earlier this year (see 2502240003).

The Census Bureau this week updated two license type codes in the Automated Export System to reflect which Export Control Classification Numbers can be used with those codes, which need to be reported for certain chip-related exports.

The Senate Banking Committee voted 13-11 along party lines May 6 to approve Landon Heid to be assistant secretary of commerce for export administration, sending his nomination to the full Senate for consideration.

Eric Longnecker, a longtime senior Bureau of Industry and Security official who most recently served as the agency's deputy assistant secretary for technology security, left BIS last week, he announced on LinkedIn. Longnecker -- who was named to the position last year to oversee work on emerging and foundational technology export controls, foreign technology analysis and research to assess the effectiveness of export controls (see 2405070005) -- said he accepted the government's early retirement offer. He had been with BIS since 2004.

Companies must spend more resources on export compliance, and governments need to do a better job of coordinating and updating multilateral export control lists, in order to prevent Russia, Iran and other “rogue actors” from buying as many sensitive dual-use goods, researchers said this week.

John Johnson, most recently the special agent in charge of the Bureau of Industry and Security's Miami field office, has retired from the agency, he announced last week on LinkedIn. Johnson led the Miami field office from May 2023 and had been with BIS since 2007.

The Bureau of Industry and Security recently published the presentation slides from its annual update conference in March. Officials during the conference previewed a spike in export enforcement (see 2503180041 and 2503210030), license requirements (see 2503200043 and 2503180057), due diligence expectations (see 2503240018) and more.

During a closed-door meeting with U.S. lawmakers May 1, Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang reiterated his opposition to the Bureau of Industry and Security’s recent AI diffusion rule, the company said.

The Trump administration wants Congress to increase funding for the Bureau of Industry and Security by $132 million or 77% in FY 2026 to prevent sensitive U.S. technology from falling into the wrong hands, a senior administration official said May 2.