Committee Hearings – Week of 5-6-18

With both the House and Senate back in Washington after a week back in their districts/States the focus starts to get serious on FY 2019 spending bills. We also have two other hearings of potential interest to readers of this blog; the FY 2019 NDAA markup and a hearing on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

Spending Bills

The Senate Appropriations Committee is still looking at Trump’s budget requests. This week’s hearings of potential interest include:

• DHS – 5-8-18;

• DOD – 5-9-18;

The House Appropriations Committee is starting to markup actual spending bills. Mark-up hearings of potential interest include:

• Commerce, Science, and Justice – Subcommittee – 5-9-18;

FY 2019 NDAA

The House Armed Forces Committee will conduct a full committee markup of HR 5515, the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday. The week before last saw subcommittee markup completed. The Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities added six sections to the bill concerning cybersecurity. They were:

• §1631—Amendments to Pilot Program Regarding Cyber Vulnerabilities of Department of Defense Critical Infrastructure

• §1632—Budget Display for Cyber Vulnerability Evaluations and Mitigation Activities for Major Weapon Systems of the Department of Defense

• §1633—Transfer of Responsibility for the Department of Defense Information Network to United States Cyber Command

• §1634—Pilot Program Authority to Enhance Cybersecurity and Resiliency of Critical Infrastructure

• §1635—Procedures and Reporting Requirement on Cybersecurity Breaches and Loss of Personally Identifiable Information

• §1636—Study and Report on Reserve Component Cyber Civil Support Teams

Section 1634 would allow DOD to detail up to 50 people per year to DHS to support cybersecurity operations of DHS (including NCCIC). Section 1636 would require a joint study to be conducted by DOD and DHS about establishing Reserve Component Cyber Civil Support Teams in each State.

UAS Hearing

On Tuesday the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will hold a hearing on “Keeping Pace with Innovation – Update on the Safe Integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems into the Airspace”. The witness list includes:

• Earl Lawrence, Federal Aviation Administration;

• Brian Wynne, Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International;

• Matthew S. Zuccaro, Helicopter Association International;

• Todd Graetz, BNSF Railway Co.

I doubt that we will hear much of anything about protecting critical infrastructure from UAS based attacks on critical infrastructure, but I could be pleasantly surprised.