Review - S 4369 Introduced – Smart Port Security

Last month, Sen Casey (D,PA) introduced S 4369, the Secure Smartports Act of 2024. The bill would require that the DNI’s National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) develop a strategy  on the risks of smartport technology of the People's Republic of China “to the national security of the United States, the security of United States supply chains, and commercial activity, including with respect to delays, interruption, and lockout of access to systems and technologies that enable the free flow of commerce.” No new funding is authorized by this legislation.

Moving Forward

Both Casey and his sole cosponsor {Sen Kelly (D,AZ)} are members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there could be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in committee. I suspect that there would be sufficient bipartisan support for this bill to be successfully reported out of committee. As we frequently see in the Senate, this bill is not politically important enough to take up the time of that body to be considered under regular order.

This bill would have a decent chance of being considered under the Senate’s unanimous consent process, but it would probably be better served as being added as an amendment to the FY 2025 intelligence authorization bill. It would fit well within the scope of that bill.

Missing Cybersecurity Focus

A frequently unmentioned, or quickly glossed over, aspect of any sort of smart technology provided by an adversarial nation, is that once that technology is attached to a critical network, it has potentially allowed that adversary behind a significant part of the protective boundaries of that network. Protecting the remainder of the network from that potentially malignant tool inside the box is an important cybersecurity issue. For that reason, CISA should be added to the list of coordination agencies specified in §2(c).

 

For more information on the provisions of this bill, including some literary concerns, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-4369-introduced - subscription required.