The Financial Intelligence Authorization Act of 2025 includes a little bit of everything, from workforce development to assessments of China’s biotechnology efforts.
The bill, which is included in the 2025 Final National Defense Authorization representsdoes not include any major reforms or headline-grabbing provisions. But it continues to work on many familiar topics, while pushing the intelligence community to expand into areas such as geospatial intelligence and artificial intelligence security.
Here are some key provisions related to technology and workforce:
Talent exchange between the public and private sectors
The authorization bill seeks to “promote” the exchange of public-private talent in the intelligence community by extending the maximum duration of temporary details from three years to five years.
It adds a requirement that any private sector employee participating in the program “shall not have access to any trade secrets or proprietary information of commercial value or competitive advantage to the private sector organization from which such employee is detailed.”
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence launched the exchange program in 2023. The goal of the program is for intelligence officers to learn new skills and techniques in the private sector, while also introducing private sector employees to how CIA works.
The program focused on employee exchanges in specific sectors, including commercial space; Artificial intelligence and machine learning; Finance and economic security; And human capital.
China and biotechnology
The legislation relates to the People’s Republic of China and requires reporting on topics ranging from the PRC’s biotechnology efforts to China’s efforts to evade US national security regulations.
The bill also requires the Director of National Intelligence to send to congressional committees a “comprehensive assessment” on the recruitment and training of individuals who speak Mandarin Chinese. The report must be submitted within 180 days.
Biosecurity and biological threats are a key area of focus for intelligence committees as well. In addition to the China report, the authorization act also requires a new intelligence strategy to counter attempts by U.S. adversaries to use critical technologies “in ways that threaten the national security of the United States.”
It also requires the intelligence community to strengthen the role of the National Center for Combating Weapons Proliferation and Biosecurity. This includes ensuring that the center “enhances coordination between elements of the intelligence community and private sector entities on information relevant to biosecurity, biotechnology, and foreign biological threats, and coordinates this information with relevant federal departments and agencies.”
Center for Artificial Intelligence Security
The bill formalizes the NSA’s new Artificial Intelligence Security Center into law. The National Security Agency established the center last September within its Cybersecurity Collaboration Center.
The legislation establishes two main roles for the AI Security Center: developing guidance to prevent adversaries from tampering with U.S. AI systems; And promoting the safe use of artificial intelligence within secret state security systems.
Over the past year, the Artificial Intelligence Security Center has already begun implementing these tasks. Earlier this year, the center published its first unclassified article guidance On “Deploying Secure and Resilient AI Systems.” Officials say they want to establish relationships with leading AI companies to prevent foreign countries from tampering with their models or stealing their developments.
Under the Intelligence Authorization Act, the NSA will not be able to cancel the establishment of the center for at least three years.
Polygraph data
Lawmakers are pressing intelligence agencies to speed up their recruitment process, including by streamlining the security clearance process.
One of the challenges facing agencies dealing in top secret work is the time it takes to complete a polygraph examination. A recent industry report estimates that passing a polygraph test can take between 30 days and 18 months, thanks to a shortage of qualified examiners.
The latest intelligence authorization bill includes a new requirement for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to report to Congress on the “timing of polygraph examinations.” This data should be included in the compliance reports that ODNI already sends to Congress regarding timely employee screening.
Geospatial workforce pilot
The authorization bill also requires the Pentagon to launch a geospatial workforce development pilot program. The program is required to “evaluate the feasibility and desirability of establishing a program to develop a workforce skilled in geospatial technologies, methodologies, and capabilities in support of Defense Intelligence requirements” for the Department of Defense.
This provision was supported by Senator Eric Schmidt (Republican from Missouri). The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is headquartered in St. Luce, Missouri.
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