Committee Hearings – Week of 12-4-22

This week with both the House and Senate in Washington trying to close out the lame duck session, there is a relatively limited committee hearing schedule. There is just one hearing of potential interest here, a House Rules Committee hearing on a new NDAA.

Today, the House Rules Committee will hold a hearing on four pieces of legislation that will include HR 7776 which will be used as the vehicle for the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. No text is currently available.

Back in July, the House passed HR 7900, the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, by a substantially bipartisan vote of 329 to 101. The Senate has attempted to take action on that bill, but has failed to come to an agreement that would be acceptable to 60 Senators to be able to move to an actual vote.

Commentary

With no language yet being offered for the substitute language that will be considered today, the Rules Committee will be relying on the backroom work being done by the bipartisan leadership of the two Armed Services Committees in developing that language. The rule that will probably be adopted today would be a closed rule with limited debate and no floor amendments. There is a distinct possibility that the HR 7776 portion of today’s hearing might be postponed until tomorrow while negotiators continue to work out the final details of the substitute language.

Senate Begins Consideration of HR 7900 – FY 2023 NDAA

On Tuesday, the Senate (meeting in a 26-minute session in the middle of their pre-election work-from-home period) began consideration of HR 7900, the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. It did little more than recognize that they would consider SA 5499 as the substitute language for the bill and introduce an additional 34 amendments.

The amendments offered Tuesday include:

SA 6443. Mr. REED - At the end, add the following: DIVISION E—Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022,

SA 6444. Mr. REED - Strike title XXXV and insert the following: TITLE XXXV—Maritime Matters Subtitle A—Short Title; Authorization of Appropriations for the Maritime Administration

Includes: SEC. 3526. Study of cybersecurity and national security threats posed by foreign manufactured cranes at united states ports. (Pg S6520)

SA 6445. Mr. REED – Add at the end the following: DIVISION E—Department of State Authorizations

Includes: TITLE LV—Information Security and Cyber Diplomacy (pg S6537)

SA 6464. Mr. REED - At the end, add the following: DIVISION E—Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Matters

Includes:

Subtitle D—Technological Hazards Preparedness and Training, and

Subtitle F—Satellite Cybersecurity Act

The Senate will resume consideration of the bill on November 14^th, 2022.

HR 7900 Amendments Proposed – FY 2023 NDAA – 9-28-22

On Wednesday, with the Senate still not officially considering HR 7900, the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, there were 285 amendments proposed to the substitute language (SA 5499) for that bill. Six of those amendments may be of interest here: 

SA 5789. Ms. ROSEN - At the appropriate place, insert the following: SEC. xx. Improving Cybersecurity of Small Entities

SA 5807. Mr. PORTMAN - At the appropriate place, insert the following: SEC. xxxxx. Technological Hazards Preparedness Training.

SA 5811. Mr. PORTMAN - At the appropriate place, insert the following: SEC. xxx. CISA Technical Corrections and Improvements.

SA 5815. Mr. PETERS - At the appropriate place, insert the following: DIVISION xx—Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2022

SA 5933. Mr. PORTMAN - At the appropriate place in subtitle G of title X, insert the following: SECTION 10xx. Requirement for Information Sharing Agreements.

SA 5950. Mr. WARNER - At the appropriate place, insert the following: DIVISION xx—Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023.

NOTE: Congress.gov has been having problems this week keeping up with the massive amount of information being included in the Congressional Record. They still have not yet published the Record for September 29^th.

HR 7900 Amendments Proposed – FY 2023 NDAA – 9-27-22

Yesterday, with the Senate still not officially considering HR 7900, the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, there were 98 amendments proposed to the substitute language (SA 5499) for that bill. Three of those amendments may be of interest here:

SA 5663. Mr. KENNEDY - At the appropriate place, insert the following: SEC. xxx. Foreign State Computer Intrusions.

SA 5713. Mr. ROUNDS - At the appropriate place in title XVI, insert the following: SEC. 16xx. Additional Amount for Cyber Partnership Activities.

SA 5733. Mr. - At the appropriate place in subtitle G of title X, insert the following: SEC. 10xx. Institute a 5-Year Term for the Director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security.

HR 7900 Amendments Proposed – FY 2023 NDAA – 9-22-22

While the Senate has not yet started the consideration process for HR 7900, the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), amendments continue to be proposed in the Senate for that bill. Yesterday 75 amendments were proposed. Three of those amendments may be of interest here:

SA 5615. Mrs. BLACKBURN - At the appropriate place, insert the following: SEC. xxx. Study On National Laboratory Consortium for Cyber Resilience. (Pg S4998-9)

SA 5620. Mr. MENENDEZ - At the end of the bill, add the following: DIVISION E—Department of State Authorizations (Pg S4999) which includes:

TITLE LV—Information Security and Cyber Diplomacy (Pg S5011), and

SA 5634. Mr. CARDIN - At the appropriate place, insert the following: SEC. xx. Chemical Security Analysis Center (Pg S5027)

Senate Substitute Language for HR 7499 Proposed – FY 2023 NDAA

On Thursday, before the Senate adjourned for the weekend, Sen Reed (D,RI) proposed SA 5499 for HR 7900, the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act which passed in the House back in July. The amendment proposes to substitute the language from S 4543 for the language in the House bill. This is the first step in the process of the consideration of HR 7900, which should probably begin this week.

Senate Consideration of S 4543 – FY 2023 NDAA

While the Senate has not yet officially taken up S 4543, the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, the first steps in that consideration were reflected in yesterday’s Congressional Record, eight amendments were proposed for consideration when the bill is brought to the floor of the Senate. While none of the amendments are of specific interest here, these amendments reflect the understanding of the proposers that the Senate will be taking up the bill.

All of yesterday’s amendments were proposed to S 4543. It is not clear at this point if the Senate will take up that bill or the House version of the NDAA, HR 7900, that was passed in the House back in July. If the Senate takes up the House bill, the first amendment that will be considered is substituting the language of S 4543 for the House language.

House Passes HR 7900 – FY 2023 NDAA

Yesterday, the House concluded their action on HR 7900, the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. The bill passed on a bipartisan vote of 329 to 101 (Nays were also bipartisan; 39 Democrats and 62 Republicans).  In floor action earlier Wednesday and Thursday, the 14 cyber related amendments that I identified earlier all passed as part of the en bloc consideration of amendments. Those cyber amendments were:

#68 Bergman (R,MI) - Foreign State Computer Intrusions [HR 1607, no action],

#183 Houlahan (D,PA) - Department of Defense Cyber and Digital Service Academy,

#260 Moulton (D,MA) - Tailored Cyberspace Operations Organizations,

#261 Murphy (D,FL) - Cyber Operations-Peculiar Awards,

#262 Murphy - Manning Review of Space Force Cyber Squadrons,

#277 Panetta (D,CA) - Review of Definitions Associated with Cyberspace Operations Forces,

#425 Torres (D,CA) - Building Cyber Resilience after SolarWinds [HR 8279, no action],

#427 Garbarino (R,NY) - CISA Director Appointment and Term [HR 5186, no action],

#511 Foster (D,IL) - Strengthening Cybersecurity for the Financial Sector,

#515 Garbarino - Duties of Small Business Development Center Counselors,

#519 Gonzales (R,TX) - National Digital Reserve Corps [HR 4818, no action],

#537 Houlahan - Pilot Program on Cybersecurity Training for Veterans and Military Spouses,

#554 Langevin (D,RI) - Systemically Important Entities [HR 5491, no action],

#564 Malinowski (D,NJ) - Report on Commercial Satellite Cybersecurity [HR 7629, no action],

HR 7900 now heads to the Senate. The Senate typically starts their consideration process by substituting language from the Senate version of the bill and begins the amendment process all over again. While the Senate Armed Services Committee announced back on June 16^th, that it had completed work on the FY 2023 NDAA, no bill has yet been published or introduced. The version that the Senate eventually passes will be significantly different than the House version, so a conference committee will have to work out the details. The final version of the bill will not be ready for final House and Senate action until late this year.

 

For more details about the cybersecurity issues in the pre-amendment version of HR 7900, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-7900-reported-in-house - subscription required.

House to Begin Consideration of HR 7900 – FY 2023 NDAA

Today, the House is scheduled to take up HR 7900, the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, under a structured rule. The Rule for the consideration of the bill allows 650 of the 1212 amendments proposed to the Rules Committee to be considered on the floor. Many (most) of those amendments will be considered en bloc, but it will still take some time to get through the amendment process. A final vote on the bill will probably come tomorrow.

Of the 650 amendments that may be offered, the following are the ones that include significant ‘cyber’ language:

#68 Bergman (R,MI) - Foreign State Computer Intrusions [HR 1607, no action],

#183 Houlahan (D,PA) - Department of Defense Cyber and Digital Service Academy,

#260 Moulton (D,MA) - Tailored Cyberspace Operations Organizations,

#261 Murphy (D,FL) - Cyber Operations-Peculiar Awards,

#262 Murphy - Manning Review of Space Force Cyber Squadrons,

#277 Panetta (D,CA) - Review of Definitions Associated with Cyberspace Operations Forces,

#425 Torres (D,CA) - Building Cyber Resilience after SolarWinds [HR 8279, no action],

#427 Garbarino (R,NY) - CISA Director Appointment and Term [HR 5186, no action],

#511 Foster (D,IL) - Strengthening Cybersecurity for the Financial Sector,

#515 Garbarino - Duties of Small Business Development Center Counselors,

#519 Gonzales (R,TX) - National Digital Reserve Corps [HR 4818, no action],

#537 Houlahan - Pilot Program on Cybersecurity Training for Veterans and Military Spouses,

#554 Langevin (D,RI) - Systemically Important Entities [HR 5491, no action],

#564 Malinowski (D,NJ) - Report on Commercial Satellite Cybersecurity [HR 7629, no action],

Most of the cybersecurity related bills that affect folks outside of DOD have been previously covered in this blog as the stand-alone bills noted above.

Committee Hearings – Week of 7-10-22

With both the House and Senate in session this week, and both trying to get a lot accomplished before the summer recess starts at the end of the month, there is a moderate load of hearings scheduled for this week. We have the NDAA Rules Committee hearing that I have been talking about in the House. There are two Senate hearings of interest: BIS oversight hearing and a counter UAS hearing. The House version of the NDAA will hit the floor this week and there might be along delayed vote on the cyber forensics bill from last month.

NDAA Hearing

Today, the House Rules Committee will take up HR 7900, the FY 2023 NDAA in a rule hearing. The rule will include two abortion bills and an active shooter bill, so there will be some contentious debates in the House this week. Depending on the order that the bills are taken up, we might not see a final vote on the NDAA this week.

The Rules Committee also announced an amendment deadline for a mini-bus spending bill. It looks like the plan is to combine six of the less controversial spending bills into a single bill to bring to the floor next week. This might allow the Senate to actually take up the bill before the end of the fiscal year, something they have not been able to do in a number of years. The deadline for amendments is Wednesday. The rule hearing will likely be next week.  More on this later.

BIS Oversight

On Thursday, the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee will hold an oversight hearing on “Advancing National Security and Foreign Policy Through Export Controls: Oversight of the Bureau of Industry and Security”. The sole witness will be Alan Estevez, DOC’s Under Secretary for Industry and Security. There is a possibility that questions will be asked about cybersecurity export controls, but I expect that the focus will be on sanctions on Russia, China, Iran and North Korea; BIS also manages the details of those programs.

Counter UAS Hearing

On Thursday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on “Protecting the Homeland from Unmanned Aircraft Systems”. The witness list includes: 

• Robert Silvers, DHS,

• Brad Wiegmann, DOJ,

• Tonya D. Coultas, FAA

This hearing may be a lead up to legislation reauthorizing the very limited authority that DHS and DOJ have for taking out UAS that endanger a limited number of federal activities. That authorization expires later this year. At the very least there should be an interesting discussion about what changes need to be made to the criminal code to allow wider spread counter UAS actions. 

I do expect that Coultas will be asked about the FAA’s continuing lack of action on the rulemaking on allowing critical infrastructure facilities to ask FAA to be declared ‘No Fly Zones’ for UAS. I expect that a reasonable answer might include the reality that a ‘no fly zone’ with no local enforcement capability is just a waste of time.

On the Floor

As noted above, HR 7900 is scheduled to come to the floor this week in the House, along with three other controversial bills. Fifteen new bills are on the schedule to be considered under the suspension of the rules process, including a cybersecurity bill (HR 7535, the Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act) that I have not covered. Additionally, there should be (well, ‘may be’ is probably a better term) votes on seven bills that were debated last month under the suspension of the rules process, including HR 7174, the National Computer Forensics Institute Reauthorization Act of 2022. There are going to be a lot of late nights in the House this week.

Review - HR 7900 Reported in House – FY 2023 NDAA – Part 2

As I mentioned in my earlier post, the Senate Armed Services Committee published their report on HR 7900. That report was published in two parts: Part 1 was essentially the Committee’s Report on the bill while Part 2 was the Congressional Budget Office Report. Topics of interest in Part 1 of the Report include:

• DOD cybersecurity,

• Cybersecurity training,

• Defense Industrial Base (DIB) cybersecurity,

• MIL–STD–1553, and

• Industrial control systems on Army bases.

Cybersecurity Amendments

As I mentioned Saturday, the House Rules Committee will be holding a hearing tomorrow on this bill. There have been 1212 amendments submitted to the Committee for possible floor action when the bill is considered later this week. Eighteen of those amendments deal with cyber issues. Five of those amendments are effectively trying to add previously introduced bills, none of those bills has seen any action in committee to date. Those five amendments are listed below [Note: Links below are to my posts about the bill]:

#190 – Torres (D,NY) - HR 8279,

#666 – Gonzales (R,TX) - HR 4818,

#951 – Bergman (R,MI) - HR 1607,

#955 – Langevin (D,RI) - HR 5491, and

#965 – Garbarino (R,NY) - HR 5186

The Rules Committee will select which bills will be allowed to be offered on the floor of the House during the debate.

 

For more details about these cybersecurity issues in the Committee Report, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-7900-reported-in-house-476 - subscription required.

Review - HR 7900 Reported in House – FY 2023 NDAA – Part 1

Earlier this month, the House Armed Services Committee published their report on HR 7900, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023. Along with the report the completed version (marked up by the full committee and each of the subcommittees) of the bill has also been published. The provisions of the Committee Report will be considered in Part 2.

As is to be expected, there are a number of cyber related provisions in the bill; four of those provisions have potential cybersecurity impact outside of DOD. Additionally, one title of the bill (Title LII) contains four sections that do not directly impact DOD, but rather address issues at DHS.

Moving Forward

The bill is currently scheduled to be considered by the House Rules Committee on Tuesday. There are currently 1212 amendments listed on the Rules Committee page. Some large-subset of those amendments will be selected by the Committee to be considered later in the week by the Full House. The bill will likely take at least two days to work through the amendments and the bill will pass on a near party-line vote.

The Senate will substitute their own language (not yet published) when the bill is considered in that body. Passage in the Senate will be more of a challenge, but when it finally does pass a conference committee will work out the differences between the two bills.

 

For more details about the cybersecurity and DHS related provisions within the bill, see my Article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-7900-reported-in-house - subscription required.

Bills Introduced – 5-27-22

Yesterday, with the House meeting in pro forma session, there were 38 bills introduced. One of those bills will receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 7900 To authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2023 for military activities of the Department of Defense and for military construction, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes. Rep. Smith, Adam [D-WA-9]

This bill will be the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2023. Actually, as introduced, this bill is the skeleton for that Act. The House Armed Services Committee and its various subcommittees will be holding hearings over the next couple of weeks to markup that skeleton, producing the final bill that will further amended by the full House.