Review - HR 3388 Introduced - Protecting Critical Infrastructure Act

Rep Fallon (R,TX) introduced HR 3388, the Protecting Critical Infrastructure Act of 2021. The bill adds enhanced penalties for cyber fraud against critical infrastructure and establishes sanction requirements for foreign persons that “knowingly accesses or attempts to access critical infrastructure”.

CI Computer Fraud

Section 2 of the bill amends 18 USC 1030(c) adding an additional penalty listing as paragraph (5):

“(5) a fine under this title and imprisonment for not less than 30 years or for life, in the case of an offense that involves critical infrastructure (as such term is defined in section 1016(e) of Public Law 107–56 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e))).”.

Sanctions

Section 3 requires the President to “impose the sanctions described in subsection (b) with respect to any foreign person that the President determines knowingly accesses or attempts to access critical infrastructure”. The sanction listed in subsection (b) are:

• Asset blocking,

• Ineligibility for visas, admission, or parole, and

• Revoking current visas,

The President is also specifically allowed to apply the sanctions listed in 50 USC 1702 and 1704.

Moving Forward

Fallon is not a member of either the House Judiciary Committee or the Committee on Foreign Affairs. This means that the bill is unlikely to receive a hearing in either committee. This is one of those feel good bills that sounds like it would address a clearly dangerous situation. I suspect that the bill would receive some bipartisan support if it were considered on the floor of the House, but there would be enough members in either committee that would vote against the bill because of the inherent problems associated with the poorly considered sanctions program. In short, this bill is not going anywhere except into Fallon’s campaign literature.

For a more detailed look at this bill, including potential changes, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-3388-introduced - subscription required.