Senior BIS Officials Borman, Albanese Exiting Agency
Matt Borman, a longtime senior career official overseeing export control regulations at the Bureau of Industry and Security, is expected to leave BIS soon, according to two people familiar with the matter.
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Borman, the BIS principal deputy assistant secretary for export administration, is widely regarded as one of the foremost experts on the Export Administration Regulations and has helped craft and shepherd decades of U.S. dual-use export rules. He will be departing the agency as its most senior career official in export administration after first joining the Commerce Department more than two decades ago. Borman's upcoming exit was first reported by Reuters.
Several former BIS officials reached this week said the agency is losing a crucial authority on export controls. One former government export control official questioned whether the agency will be able to replace Borman's expertise.
"The purpose of a [deputy assistant secretary] is to be a subject-matter expert and to advise the politically appointed assistant secretaries," the official said. "Are [other BIS employees] going to be able to step in and do what Matt did? Candidly, I think the answer is no."
Eileen Albanese, who had been serving as director of the BIS Office of National Security Controls, has left the agency, Reuters also reported, adding that both Borman and Albanese were "forced out" by the new Trump administration. Albanese led the office that oversaw export licenses for a range of items controlled for national security reasons, including sensitive semiconductors.
BIS and Borman didn't respond to requests for comment. Albanese couldn't be reached.
The staffing changes come amid an ongoing review of export control and licensing policies by the Trump administration, which has caused licensing delays and sparked questions and confusion among industry (see 2502190018).