Review - S 1425 Introduced – Satellite Cybersecurity

Earlier this month, Sen Peters (D,MI) introduced S 1425, the Satellite Cybersecurity Act. The bill would require the GAO to publish a report on government actions to support cybersecurity of commercial satellite systems. It also outlines new responsibilities for CISA on satellite cybersecurity. No new funding is authorized by this legislation.

This bill is very similar to S 3511 introduced in the last session by Peters. That bill passed (removed from paywall) in Committee but was not taken up by the Senate.

Moving Forward

As I mentioned earlier, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will take up S 1425 (along with 14 other bills) in a business meeting on Wednesday. This typically means that there is at least some bipartisan support for the measure, though amendments may be offered to improve the bill. I suspect that there will be substantial bipartisan support for the bill.

It is unlikely that the bill would be considered in the Senate under regular order, that process is just too time consuming. There is a chance that it could be considered under the unanimous consent process, but that is just too fraught with potential for unrelated political concerns to interfere with the process. I suspect that this is a prime candidate to be included in some must pass spending or authorization bill.

 

For more details about the provisions of the bill, including a commentary about the importance of legislative definitions, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-1425-introduced - subscription required.