Policy & Regulation

Congress allocates $2 million from the USGS ShakeAlert budget to begin building Alaska's first earthquake early warning system, targeting 90 percent of the state's population.

The FCC will vote April 30 on replacing 1990s-era power limits for LEO satellite constellations, a move that could reshape competition between Starlink, Amazon Leo, and legacy operators.

FinCEN and OFAC jointly proposed anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance rules for stablecoin issuers on April 8, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged Congress to advance the CLARITY Act to complete the federal digital asset regulatory framework.

Public Notice DA 26-314 invites industry comment on opening the 5030-5091 MHz, 960-1164 MHz, CBRS 3.5 GHz, 450 MHz, and 24 GHz bands to drone operations, creating innovation zones, and modernizing counter-UAS experimental licensing, with responses due May 1.

The Netherlands signed a $627 million contract with Raytheon for a complete Patriot fire unit to rebuild air defense capacity after donating systems to Ukraine, rushing to secure a production slot before a 2033 backlog.

Attacks on desalination facilities in Bahrain, Iran, and Kuwait have demonstrated that the Gulf's water infrastructure — supplying up to 90 percent of drinking water for some nations — is an exploitable strategic weakness in the ongoing regional conflict.

The warrantless surveillance program authorized under FISA Section 702 is set to expire on April 20, with Congress divided between a clean reauthorization backed by the White House and reform proposals that would require warrants for searches of Americans' communications.

Apple asks the Supreme Court to review a contempt ruling and injunction scope in its Epic Games case, while the Ninth Circuit grants a stay on fee calculations.

Spain's MiDNI app gained mandatory legal acceptance on April 2, positioning the country among the first EU member states with a fully operational national digital ID as the bloc's December 2026 EUDI wallet deadline approaches with uneven progress.

The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act expires September 30, 2026, threatening to slash highway, bridge, transit, and broadband funding to pre-2021 levels as Congress struggles to agree on reauthorization.

The EU and US are finalizing a non-binding agreement to coordinate critical minerals supply chains and challenge China's processing dominance, while the DOE launches a $69 million funding program for domestic extraction and refining.

Colorado, California, and Oregon are all enforcing or adopting wildfire-resistant construction standards in 2026, though municipal capacity and cost concerns threaten to slow the rollout.