President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson for nomination to become the next secretary of state, the New York Times reported Monday.

Michael Shear and Maggie Haberman write Tillerson’s Senate confirmation hearings will likely focus on Exxon Mobil’s business relationships with Russia, where the company has billions of dollars in pending oil contracts after the U.S. government imposed economic sanctions on the country.

Exxon has established joint ventures with Russia-backed oil company Rosneft, and supported health and social programs in the country under Tillerson’s leadership, the Times reports.

James Baker III, secretary of state under then-President George H.W. Bush, and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended Tillerson as a candidate for the post, the report says.

The White House has released a new document that details actions to guide federal agencies on the implementation of intellectual property policies over the next three years.

The Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement sets four goals for the federal government and one of them is to increase national awareness of the social and economic impacts of IP rights infringement and trade secrets misappropriation, Danny Marti, U.S. intellectual property enforcement coordinator, wrote in a blog post published Monday.

The plan also aims to reduce counterfeiting activities on the internet, promote lawful trade and build up domestic strategies and collaboration worldwide in order to support enforcement of IP policies.

Marti noted the document’s objectives build on the accomplishments made through the previous strategic plan.

Those accomplishments include changes to how agencies collaborate in order to “leverage an all-of-government approach to IP enforcement,” passage of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 and efforts to fight illicit trade through coordination among trading partners and creation of IP attaches and IP law enforcement coordinators worldwide, Marti wrote.

The Senate has unanimously approved a bipartisan bill that would provide individuals, government agencies and other organizations access to machine-readable public information at Data.gov.

Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska) introduced the Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary Government Data Act, Schatz’s office said Monday.

Schatz said he will continue to work with Sasse to advance the bill in the next Congress.

The OPEN Government Data Act would also require federal agencies to use government data to facilitate decision making operations as well as ensure privacy and protection of national security data.

Organizations that support the bill include the Data Coalition, Sunlight Foundation, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Center for Data Innovation, BSA/The Software Alliance and the Taxpayers for Common Sense.

The Federal Aviation Administration has said it expects to bring the Data Communication service to towers at 56 U.S. airports by the end of 2016 as part of the implementation of the Next Generation Air Transportation System program.

FAA said Data Comm is an air-to-ground data link service that works to help pilots and air traffic controllers send and receive flight instructions through digital text-based messages.

FAA collected operational data on the Data Comm service through trials at Memphis and Newark airports in Tennessee and New Jersey that concluded in January.

Trials showed that Data Comm prototype tools provided tower departure clearances at the two airports.

FAA has tapped Harris Corp. to provide Data Comm engineering and integration services and expects the contractor to complete work by the end of 2019.

The agency also expects initial en route Data Comm services to start in 2019 in order to allow in-flight aircraft to connect to 20 en route centers across the continental U.S.

FAA has partnered with the airline industry in an effort to equip 1,900 airplanes with Data Comm-based avionics systems by 2019.

According to FAA, 1,687 aircraft have been equipped with Data Comm systems as of July 13.

The Commerce Department has expanded its Digital Attache Program to six additional markets such as South Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Germany and France to help U.S. firms explore the digital ecosystem in these countries.

The expansion brings the total number of digital trade officers to 12 who will work with U.S. companies to grow exports through global e-commerce channels, access the global online marketplace and navigate digital policy in foreign markets, the department said Monday.

“The Digital Attache Program is an integral part of the department’s comprehensive strategy to address 21st century digital trade barriers,” said Penny Pritzker, Commerce secretary.

In early 2016, the program started with initial markets Brazil, China, the European Union, India, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Japan and the department announced its planned expansion in September.

The department selected the new markets based on stakeholder feedback and internal evaluation and these countries will retain their digital attaches at post.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the International Trade Administration’s U.S. Commercial Service coordinated the training for attaches.

The Senate on Friday unanimously passed an amended bipartisan bill that would authorize $19.5 billion in fiscal year 2017 appropriations for NASA and require the agency to create a transition plan for the International Space Station, Space News reported Saturday.

Jeff Foust writes the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2016 will not be signed into law this year since the House approved its final bills Thursday but could serve as a basis for a new measure once the next Congress convenes in January.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the bill’s lead sponsor, said he plans to collaborate with other lawmakers in both the House and Senate on a similar bill in 2017, the report added.

The Senate bill would require NASA to study human space exploration missions to Mars by 2033 and submit an assessment of alternatives to the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission in order to demonstrate technology platforms for the Journey to Mars, according to a report by Marcia S. Smith for SpacePolicyOnline.com.

The proposed legislation would provide congressional support for the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft and would require NASA to develop a human exploration roadmap starting in December 2017, Smith reports.

Other provisions of the bill include the development of research and development plans for supersonic and hypersonic aircraft and provision of medical care for former astronauts and payload specialists with spaceflight-related medical conditions, the report added.