S 1589 Report Printed in Senate – Intel Authorization Act

Last week the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence printed their Report to accompany S 1589, the Damon Paul Nelson and Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2018, 2019, and 2020. As I reported earlier, the Committee favorably reported the bill last month without a report.

There was one interesting bit on control system security in the report on page 31:

National Security Threats to Critical Infrastructure

The Committees are aware of significant threats to our critical infrastructure and industrial control systems posed by foreign adversaries. The sensitive nature of the information related to these threats make the role of the IC of vital importance to United States defensive efforts. The Committees have grave concerns that current IC resources dedicated to analyzing and countering these threats are neither sufficient nor closely coordinated. The Committees include provisions within this legislation to address these concerns.

Unfortunately, I could find nothing in the bill that covered this topic. If it is in there, and congresscritters would never fib, it is buried in a section titled with something that does not deal with cybersecurity.

S 1589 Reported in the Senate – FY 2018, 2019, and 2020 Intel Authorization

Last week Sen. Burr (R,NC) introduced (and the Senate Intelligence Committee reported – without a written report) S 1589, the Damon Paul Nelson and Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2018, 2019, and 2020. This bill is essentially S 245 (introduced earlier this year) as division B with a relatively short Division A tacked onto the front for FY 2020.

Moving Forward

Okay, I have no clue. The Senate has not taken up an intelligence authorization bill since Trump came into office. This bill has been one of the annual ‘must pass’ bills for as long as I remember, but that is apparently no longer true.

Commentary

There is nothing in the new Division A language that I would care to take time to comment upon. See my comments on S 245 for the cybersecurity provisions in Division B.

Bills Introduced – 05-22-19

Yesterday with both the House and Senate in session, there were 102 bills introduced. Two of those bills may see future coverage in this blog:

HR 2915 To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require physicians and physician's offices to be treated as covered device users required to report on certain adverse events involving medical devices, and for other purposes.  Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1] 

S 1589 An original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2018, 2019, and 2020 for intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States Government, the Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for other purposes. Sen. Burr, Richard [R-NC]

I will be watching HR 2915 to see if the ‘certain adverse events’ covered in the bill specifically include cyber events.