The news that the US government (Department of Defense) was considering selling its 13 /8 blocks appeared on a number of mailing lists last month. The possible sale appeared in a version of the House appropriations bill. The Senate bill contained no such provision and the directive was stuck by the conference committee. Any future action on this area is unknown, but the fact that this appeared leads one to assume that it may come back in the future.

IPv4.global also recently published a commentary about the issue that discusses some of the possible impacts such a sale might make on the IPv4 market.

https://ipv4.global/u-s-department-of-defense-ipv4-address-space/

Previously, the US Government’s position on IPv4 block was that it would return them to the registry when they were no longer needed.

Consistent with the policies developed through the current multistakeholder model, the USG believes that all IP numbers are allocated for use on a needs basis and should be returned to the numbering pool when no longer needed.

https://www.ntia.doc.gov/blog/2012/united-states-government-s-internet-protocnumbering-principles

Times change and governments change too so its not surprising that given the value of the IPv4 holdings in today’s IPv4 market that politicians are revisiting what should happen to the DoD’s IPv4 resources.