Amendments to S 2943, FY 2017 NDAA – 04-25-16

On Wednesday the Senate voted 98 – 0 on a cloture vote to proceed with consideration of S 2943, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017. Additionally, 93 new amendments were proposed to be considered for that bill. Two of those amendments may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

SA 4205 (pg S3212) – Sen. Rounds (R,SC) - SEC. 1227. Imposition of sanctions with respect to significant activities undermining cybersecurity conducted on behalf of or at the direction of the government of Iran; and

SA 4226 (pg S3221) – Sen. Cantwell (D,WA) - SEC. 1641. Pilot program on training for national guard personnel on cyber skills for the protection of industrial control systems associated with critical infrastructure.

The Amendments

SA 4205 is almost identical to S 2756 that had been introduced by Rounds last month.

SA 4226 would require the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to establish a pilot program “to provide National Guard personnel with training on cyber skills for the protection of industrial control systems associated with critical infrastructure” {new §1641(a)}. The three year pilot program would be designed to “permit personnel who receive such training to assist National Guard Cyber Protection Teams in carrying out activities to protect systems and infrastructure” {new §1641(c)}. A report to Congress would be required after the pilot program was completed.

Moving Forward

It is still too early to see which amendments will actually reach the floor for consideration. The publication of the Congressional Record for Thursdays session later today may include a partial listing of the amendments that will be considered, but we will probably not know until the Senate returns from their Memorial Day weekend on June 6^th exactly what all of those favored amendments will be.