Bills Introduced – 10-21-20

Yesterday with just the Senate in session, there were 20 bills introduced. One of those bills will see additional coverage in this blog:

S 4833 A bill to amend title 32, United States Code, to authorize cybersecurity operations and missions to protect critical infrastructure by members of the National Guard in connection with training or other duty. Sen. Hassan, Margaret Wood [D-NH]

I will be watching this bill for language and definitions that would specifically cover industrial control system cybersecurity operations or operations at high-risk chemical facilities.

Amendments to S 2943, FY 2017 NDAA – 04-25-16

On Wednesday the Senate voted 98 – 0 on a cloture vote to proceed with consideration of S 2943, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017. Additionally, 93 new amendments were proposed to be considered for that bill. Two of those amendments may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

SA 4205 (pg S3212) – Sen. Rounds (R,SC) - SEC. 1227. Imposition of sanctions with respect to significant activities undermining cybersecurity conducted on behalf of or at the direction of the government of Iran; and

SA 4226 (pg S3221) – Sen. Cantwell (D,WA) - SEC. 1641. Pilot program on training for national guard personnel on cyber skills for the protection of industrial control systems associated with critical infrastructure.

The Amendments

SA 4205 is almost identical to S 2756 that had been introduced by Rounds last month.

SA 4226 would require the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to establish a pilot program “to provide National Guard personnel with training on cyber skills for the protection of industrial control systems associated with critical infrastructure” {new §1641(a)}. The three year pilot program would be designed to “permit personnel who receive such training to assist National Guard Cyber Protection Teams in carrying out activities to protect systems and infrastructure” {new §1641(c)}. A report to Congress would be required after the pilot program was completed.

Moving Forward

It is still too early to see which amendments will actually reach the floor for consideration. The publication of the Congressional Record for Thursdays session later today may include a partial listing of the amendments that will be considered, but we will probably not know until the Senate returns from their Memorial Day weekend on June 6^th exactly what all of those favored amendments will be.

Senate to Close S 1197 Debate Friday

A cloture motion to end debate on S 1197, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014, was filed yesterday and there will be a vote on the motion on Friday. This raises the possibility that a final vote on the bill could take place before the Thanksgiving recess.

Amendments

As part of the unanimous consent motion to continue debate today on the bill, a deadline for 1 pm today was established for the filing of first-degree amendments to the bill. Yesterday there were again a large number of amendments offered to S 1197. This time there were a number of cybersecurity related amendments. Four of those were minor wording changes to existing cybersecurity provisions (SA 2352 – SA 2355) offered by Sen. Landrieu (D,LA).

The only other cybersecurity related amendment was offered by Sen. Moran (R,KS) would modify the wording of §945 concerning the use of National Guard personnel in a cybersecurity role. I have not had a chance to review all of the substitute wording but the significant provisions that I described in the original bill are still there.