HR 1850 Introduced - Supporting Research and Development for First Responders Act

Last week Rep Rice (D,NY) introduced HR 1850 (GPO version not available, link to Committee Print), the Supporting Research and Development for First Responders Act. The bill would authorize DHS S&T to establish the current National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL) “to test and evaluate emerging technologies and conduct research and development to assist emergency response providers in preparing for, and protecting against, threats of terrorism” { new §322(a)}.

NUSTL

This bill amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 by adding a new section 322 to Title III of the Act. It provides for the establishment of the NUSTL and mandates that the laboratory will {new §322(b)(2)}:

• Conduct tests, evaluations, and assessments of current and emerging technologies, including, as appropriate, the cybersecurity of such technologies that can connect to the internet, for emergency response providers,

• Act as a technical advisor to emergency response providers, and

• Carry out other such activities as the Secretary determines appropriate.

Moving Forward

The House Homeland Security Committee is taking up this bill today. I expect that it will receive substantial bipartisan support. It will move to the floor of the House, where it will be considered under the suspension of the rules process. That will limit debate, prevent amendments from the floor, and require a supermajority for passage. The bill will pass in the House with substantial bipartisan support.

Commentary

This bill is a housekeeping measure. The NUSTL already exits and has been funded for sometime. The housekeeping nature is further evidenced by the fact that there is no authorization (MONEY) language in the bill, it is already a line-item in the S&T budget.

But, housekeeping also means straightening up things, and there is one item that should be addressed in the bill. Since the language specifically addresses cybersecurity research, I think that it is only proper that it should specifically include language establishing a cybersecurity information sharing requirement. So I would like to propose two subparagraphs being inserted in the §322(c):

“(3) act as a clearing house for first responder information on cybersecurity issues related to discovered and reported vulnerabilities and indicators of compromise on technologies used by first responders that can connect to the internet,

“(4) coordinate vulnerability reporting with vendors and developers for vulnerabilities identified by research at the Lab and by those vulnerabilities reported to the Lab by independent cybersecurity researchers,”

HR 542 Introduced – Urban Security Lab

Earlier this month Rep. Rice (D,NY) introduced HR 542, the Supporting Research and Development for First Responders Act. The bill would authorize the current DHS National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL). This is essentially the same bill as HR 4991 from last session. That bill passed in the House by a voice vote under the suspension of the rules process.

NUSTL

The NUSTL has been in the DHS Science and Technology Directorate since 2003. As outlined in this bill the purpose of the NUSTL is to “test and evaluate emerging technologies and conduct research and development to assist emergency response providers in preparing for, and protecting against, threats of terrorism” {new §321(a)}. The bill would require the NUSTL to {new §321(c)}:

• Conduct tests, evaluations, and assessments of current and emerging technologies, including, as appropriate, cybersecurity of such technologies that can connect to the internet, for emergency response providers;

• Conduct research and development on radiological and nuclear response and recovery;

• Act as a technical advisor to emergency response providers; and

• Carry out other such activities as the Secretary determines appropriate.

Moving Forward

Rice is the Chair of the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Innovation Subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee. As such she certainly has the influence to ensure that the bill is addressed in Committee, if it does not go directly to the floor of the House. There is no reason to suspect that last sessions bipartisan support for HR 4991 would not be transferred to this bill.

As always, the question is whether or not the bill would be considered in the Senate. In the last session the bill was referred to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee which never took up the bill. This may be because of the efforts of the Trump administration to close the NUSTL as a budgetary move.

Commentary

I did not cover HR 4991 last year as there did not seem to be enough of a connection to cybersecurity concerns. The wording of the bill has not changed, but there has been a significant increase in cybersecurity concerns with a variety of urban security technologies. I suspect that the Lab is going to be spending more time on cybersecurity research in the coming years.

An interesting political aspect of this bill is that the greatest support for the NUSTL comes from officials in New York City. The lab is located in NYC and has always received strong support from the NY congressional delegation.