WEEK OF DEC 9, 2024

What’s Ahead

Jared Isaacman floating inside a SpaceX crew vehicle and giving a "shaka" or "hang-loose" sign. — Jared Isaacman floats inside a SpaceX crew vehicle launched in September 2024.

Polaris Dawn crew, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Trump picks billionaire space enthusiast to lead NASA

President-elect Donald Trump announced last week he plans to nominate tech billionaire Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator. Isaacman began his career by founding a payment processing company and later started a company that trains military pilots. A pilot himself, he has commanded two private orbital missions led by SpaceX. In a statement thanking Trump, Isaacman said that space holds “unparalleled potential for breakthroughs in manufacturing, biotechnology, mining, and perhaps even pathways to new sources of energy.” He added there will “inevitably be a thriving space economy—one that will create opportunities for countless people to live and work in space” and that NASA will “passionately pursue these opportunities.” Isaacman also said, “Americans will walk on the Moon and Mars and in doing so, we will make life better here on Earth.”

Isaacman has criticized aspects of NASA’s human space exploration programs in recent years, calling the Space Launch System rocket “outrageously expensive.” He has also drawn attention to these high costs in light of NASA’s proposed cuts to the Chandra X-ray observatory, petitioning the agency to fully fund the telescope. “The premature loss of Chandra will result in a death spiral for X-ray astronomy in the United States, evaporation of a talented national workforce, and ceding U.S. industrial leadership in the most critical discoveries of the coming decade,” he wrote in a letter to NASA earlier this year. “It is particularly disheartening to witness billions of taxpayer dollars funneled into the Space Launch System and not one but two lunar landing contracts.”

Tech VC to be Trump’s PCAST chair, AI and crypto ‘czar’

Last week, President-elect Donald Trump picked venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks to lead the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and to fill a new “czar” role dedicated to AI and cryptocurrency policy. Trump’s quick selection of Sacks to lead PCAST is in stark contrast to his first presidential term, when the council was dormant for nearly three years. Trump has not yet indicated who he will nominate to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, a role that typically serves as chair or co-chair of PCAST, though former OSTP official Michael Kratsios has reportedly interviewed for the role. Sacks’ role is an advisory position that is not subject to Senate confirmation.

Trump issued two executive orders on AI in his first term, one focused on accelerating American leadership and the other promoting the use of trustworthy AI in government. This year, the Republican National Committee adopted Trump’s platform promising to revoke President Joe Biden’s 2023 executive order on trustworthy development and use of AI, saying it “hinders innovation and imposes Radical Leftwing Ideas on the development of this technology.” Instead, the platform pledges to “support AI Development rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing.”

Congress poised to restrict NNSA labs from admitting citizens of four countries

A provision prohibiting citizens or “agents” of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea from accessing non-public areas of the Department of Energy’s national security labs is included in the final version of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, released over the weekend ahead of a planned vote this week. If passed by Congress, the provision will take effect on April 15, 2025, and will apply to Los Alamos National Lab, Lawrence Livermore National Lab, and Sandia National Labs. The prohibition can be waived on a case-by-case basis by the secretary of energy and does not apply to people who are also U.S. citizens or permanent residents or who are involved in certain nonproliferation or counterterrorism efforts. The explanatory statement accompanying the legislation further clarifies that certain facilities that support both national security and basic research programs, such as the National Ignition Facility, “may be partitioned in the determination of what areas directly support the mission, functions, and operations of the National Nuclear Security Administration,” the arm of DOE that funds the three national security labs.

A version of the provision was present in both the House and Senate versions of the bill, with the House proposal led by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO). Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Marco Rubio (R-FL) also advanced an analogous provision that would have applied across all of DOE’s national labs. Rubio’s original proposal was not adopted, but the final NDAA does includes a provision updating DOE’s process for screening foreign national visitors across all 17 of its national labs. (Note: This paragraph has been updated to clarify the origin of the lab restriction proposals and to add reference to a related provision included in the final bill.)

These lab access policies are not the only major research security changes in the NDAA. Another provision restricts the Department of Defense from funding fundamental research collaboration between U.S. universities and research institutions deemed by DOD to present risks of inappropriate technology transfer. DOD’s current list primarily contains institutions from China and Russia.

DOE launches new research security risk review process

The Department of Energy announced last week it has finalized a framework for mitigating research security risks across its grant projects and loans. The framework’s effects are far-reaching, introducing new protocols for the design of DOE funding solicitations, criteria for grant applications, and ongoing reviews of funded projects. Among the risk factors are connections to foreign entities subject to U.S. export controls, Chinese military companies, and certain research institutions that pose risks of inappropriate technology transfer, according to the Department of Defense. DOE also will consider past relationships with such entities but will take into account whether they began before the government began raising concerns about them. The framework also factors in the “technology considerations” of each project, demanding higher scrutiny of projects that involve critical and emerging technologies, have access to critical infrastructure, or involve work near military installations. DOE may require the removal of individuals or vendors from proposed projects as a condition of receiving funding as well as less-consequential actions such as “certifications, tailored mitigation agreements, reporting, and special terms and conditions.” The department will hold webinars Wednesday and next Monday to provide more information and receive public feedback.

Geoscientists converge in DC for AGU annual meeting

The American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting is underway this week in Washington, D.C. The meeting has numerous science policy events and town halls with agency officials. Among the plenaries, is a Monday afternoon session examining what’s next for science policy in light of recent election results, a Tuesday keynote by Washington state governor Jay Inslee (D), a Tuesday panel discussion of AGU’s framework for geoengineering research, and a Thursday keynote by White House climate official John Podesta. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy staff will also participate in a Wednesday session on open science policies being enacted by federal agencies and a Thursday session on the new federal research strategy for marine carbon dioxide removal.

Also on our radar

The U.S. expanded export controls on China’s semiconductor manufacturing sector last week, citing the potential for advanced chips to support AI and other advanced computing technologies with military applications. China retaliated by banning the export of certain high-tech elements and materials to the U.S., including gallium, germanium, and antimony.
Legislation to update the National Quantum Initiative Act was introduced in the Senate last week by a bipartisan group of senators. The act aims to shift the initiative’s focus from basic research to technology development and would recommend Congress appropriate up to $2.7 billion for the initiative over five years across NIST, NSF, and NASA. (Separate legislation focuses on DOE’s portion of the initiative.) The House Science Committee approved its own version of the NQI Reauthorization Act in November 2023 but it has not moved since.
Last week the Senate passed the Invent Here, Make it Here Act, which would restrict the ability of certain organizations to grant exclusive sales rights for U.S. inventions unless they are “substantially” manufactured in the U.S. The act would also direct NIST to maintain a public database of domestic manufacturers and their capabilities to commercialize federally funded research. The legislation, which is sponsored by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Vice President-elect JD Vance (R-OH), now awaits a vote in the House.