Weekly Round Up: October 6-10, 2025

Artificial Intelligence

Navigating America’s AI Action Plan – a guide for business leaders. The US government has published a blueprint for maintaining American dominance in the age of AI. Here’s how global firms can respond while managing opportunities and risks. Artificial intelligence is reshaping the competitive landscape, and governments are racing to position their economies for leadership. In the United States, the recently announced AI Action Plan signals a decisive shift in policy, favoring deregulation and rapid innovation over precaution and control. Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan marks an important shift in both policy and philosophy. Rather than the government coordinating and safeguarding AI development – as under previous US administrations and as continues to be the case in most other countries – the plan sets out an approach that emphasizes deregulation, private-sector development, and a “try-first” mentality.

USPTO Launches AI Pilot to Speed Patent Reviews. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) wants help as it tests a new automated search program that will give inventors a look at similar ideas to speed patent reviews and boost their quality.  In an Oct. 8 posting to the Federal Register, the USPTO said that it is looking for inventors and applicants who are willing to volunteer their patent applications as it pilots its new Automated Search Pilot Program. “With this pilot program, the USPTO aims to ascertain the impact of sharing a pre-examination search report on prosecution by applicants, evaluate the scalability of generating ASRNs, and collect data to inform next steps,” said the USPTO in its posting. 

NARA: 1 in 5 Federal Agencies Turn to AI for FOIA Requests. Around one-fifth of federal agencies use artificial intelligence to help process public records information requests, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) revealed in a new report. NARA officials warned that while AI can help with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, the technology shouldn’t substitute human decision-making in determining exemptions due to possible harm in those processes.  New research from earlier this year found that nearly 19% of agencies use AI or machine learning (ML) in processing FOIA requests, and that around 78% of agencies said they don’t use those technologies to help with searching public records. 

Management

Cao Tapped to Lead Navy’s Digital Overhaul. The U.S. Navy’s new undersecretary, Hung Cao, has been tasked with leading a broad slate of priorities, with digital modernization topping the list, following his Senate confirmation last week. Cao was sworn in as the Navy’s second-highest civilian official. Shortly after, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan assigned him a “wide-ranging cross departmental portfolio” aimed at improving service member quality of life and reinforcing the Navy’s warfighting culture. Under this partnership, Cao is tasked with cutting downtime; simplifying processes; and accelerating access to digital tools for sailors, Marines, civilian personnel and military families.

SSA Administrator Tapped to Newly Created Role of IRS CEO. Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano has been tapped to serve in the newly created position of CEO of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), while continuing to serve as the head of the SSA. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Bisignano’s new role on Monday, noting that the role includes managing the agency and overseeing all day-to-day IRS operations. Bisignano will report directly to Bessent, who also serves as the acting commissioner of the IRS. Bisignano has recently touted key milestones in SSA’s ongoing efforts to improve customer service, including technology enhancements to the agency’s phone platform and website.

‘Substantial’ layoffs begin at federal agencies, White House says. “The RIFs have begun,” Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought said in a post on X Friday afternoon, referring to “reductions in force.”  An OMB spokesperson confirmed the layoff notices were going out and would be “substantial.”  No previous shutdown has triggered such action. Typically, as in the current lapse, shutdowns lead to large numbers of employees being sent home on furlough, who are then recalled when the government reopens. Here are details on the layoffs Government Executive has learned.

Which agencies do Americans think are doing a good job? According to Gallup, there is a sharp partisan split in most agencies’ ratings. This phenomenon is typical when the presidential administration changes parties, but the polling organization noted that some agencies’ ratings have decreased significantly since 2024.

Oversight  

Congress Warns US Chips Still Flowing to China Despite Export Controls. Congress is warning that billions of dollars’ worth of advanced semiconductor equipment is continuing to flow to China, undermining U.S. efforts to slow Beijing’s technological rise – and some of those semiconductors are coming from America. That’s according to a new report published Tuesday from the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. After a months-long investigation, lawmakers pointed to $38 billion in semiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME) that was sent to China in 2023, making up more than half of the world’s total exports of those tools.  

Space Force

Space Force Launches New Commercial Space Fund. The U.S. Space Force is expanding warfighter access to commercial space services by launching a new working capital fund, projected to exceed $1 billion annually, to help military users purchase services such as commercial satellite communications. The Enterprise Space Activity Group (ESAG), activated on Oct. 1 under the Air Force Working Capital Fund (WCF), is designed to enhance support for U.S. warfighters and allied partners by integrating more commercial capabilities into military space operations. ESAG is managed by Space Systems Command’s Commercial SATCOM Communications Office (CSCO).

Reorganization

Army Launches Transformation, Training Command. The U.S. Army has consolidated two of its major commands as part of its efforts to “modernize and streamline its operations,” marking the end of one era and the beginning of another. The new command will be led by Gen. David Hodne. Hodne was nominated for a fourth star earlier this year, which is currently awaiting Senate confirmation. The move marks a significant structural shift within the Army, as it seeks to unify critical functions like force design, development, and generation under one umbrella to better meet the demands of modern warfare.

THIS WEEK @ THE CENTER 

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