A $1.5 trillion omnibus spending measure that President Joe Biden signed into law on Tuesday includes a bill that provides authorities for emerging technologies and other priorities and authorizes funding for agencies within the intelligence community, Federal News Network reported.

The 2022 Intelligence Authorization Act will direct the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office to come up with a plan to create an integrated commercial GEOINT data program office within three months.

The NRO, which oversees the procurement of commercial space imagery, will house the proposed integrated office that will be embedded with staff at NGA.

The bill will require the head of the Office of Personnel Management and the director of national intelligence to publish in the Federal Register a policy outlining standards and guidelines for the implementation of the Trusted Workforce 2.0 initiative by federal agencies and industry within six months.

The Intelligence Authorization Act also includes data sharing requirements with regard to unidentified aerial phenomena, post-employment restrictions for certain intelligence agency leaders and protections for IC whistleblowers.

A group of senators introduced a bill that would discourage foreign cryptocurrency firms from engaging with sanctioned Russian elites to prevent the latter from evading international sanctions using digital assets.

The Digital Asset Sanctions Compliance Enhancement Act “will crack down on foreign actors who help sanctioned Russians use digital assets like cryptocurrencies to circumvent the crippling measures we’ve put in place to punish Russia for its barbaric invasion of Ukraine,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said in a statement published Thursday.

The bill would direct the U.S. president to identify and sanction foreign digital asset actors that enable Russia to evade sanctions and require the Department of the Treasury to release a public report that identifies foreign digital asset trading platforms that are considered to be high risk for money laundering, sanctions evasion and other illicit activities.

The legislation would provide the Treasury secretary authority to bar digital asset trading systems from transacting with Russia-linked cryptocurrency addresses and direct the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to require U.S. taxpayers with offshore cryptocurrency transactions worth more than $10,000 to file FinCEN Form 114.

Among the lawmakers that introduced the bill were Warner, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

The U.S. government and defense companies have seen an increase in inquiries from European allies about U.S.-made missiles, drones and other weapons systems in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported Thursday.

Reuters cited sources that say Germany has inquired about platforms that can counter ballistic missiles. The country decided to buy the Lockheed Martin-built F-35 fighter jets to replace its Panavia Tornado fighter aircraft by 2030.

A spokesperson for Poland’s defense ministry said the country intends to buy General Atomics-made MQ-9 Reaper drones through an accelerated process.

Other Eastern European countries have also inquired about Raytheon Technologies-built Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, anti-tank Javelin missiles jointly produced by Lockheed and Raytheon and other weapons that Ukraine has used against Russia’s military.

“The Department of Defense is exploring options to support Ukraine’s needs, rapidly replenish U.S. inventories and backfill depleted stocks of allies and partners,” said a senior DOD official.

The official added that the department was working with defense companies on ways to speed up production timelines and mitigate supply chain challenges.

The Internal Revenue Service intends to grow its technology workforce by 200 people in support of the agency’s modernization efforts.

IRS said Wednesday that it sees modern technology as the means to streamline taxpayer experience, reduce current inventories and respond to as many queries as possible.

The planned workforce expansion is part of a larger hiring effort at the agency, which also recently announced plans to fill over 5,000 processing center positions in Missouri, Utah and Texas.

“This is an excellent opportunity to join the IRS Information Technology team and make a real difference for our tax system and the nation’s taxpayers,” said Nancy Sieger, chief information officer at IRS.

Open IRS jobs include positions for entry-level, experienced and supervisory IT practitioners.