Review - S 3505 Introduced – DOD Cyber Emergencies Response

Last month, Sen Peters (D,MI) introduced S 3505, the Defense Support for Cyber Emergencies Response Act of 2023. The bill would amend 10 USC 12304, to specifically allow DOD to recall “any unit of the Selected Reserve or any member of the Selected Reserve not assigned to a unit organized to serve as a unit, or any member of the Individual Ready Reserve” to respond to certain cyber incidents. No funding is authorized by the legislation.

The bill is very similar to S 2153 (removed from paywall) of the same name that Peter’s introduced in June. No action has been taken on that legislation, beyond its referral to the Senate Armed Services Committee. This new version of the bill specifically includes the Coast Guard reserves in the coverage of the bill and changes the definition of the term ‘covered incident’ added by the legislation.

Moving Forward

Peters is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there should be sufficient influence to see this bill considered in Committee. I suspect that there would be some level of bipartisan support for this bill, and it would probably be sufficient to see the bill recommended by the Committee. This bill is not politically important enough to be considered under regular order, a time-consuming process. There is a chance that the bill could be considered under the unanimous consent process, but that is a politically fraught process.

 

For more details about the differences between this bill and S 2135, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-3505-introduced - subscription required.

Review - S 2153 Introduced – Cybersecurity Reserve Response

In June, Sen Peters (D,MI) introduced S 2153, the Defense Support for Cyber Emergencies Response Act. The bill would amend 10 USC 12304, to specifically allow DOD to recall “any unit of the Selected Reserve or any member of the Selected Reserve not assigned to a unit organized to serve as a unit, or any member of the Individual Ready Reserve” to respond to certain cyber incidents. No funding is authorized by the legislation.

Moving Forward

Peters is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there should be sufficient influence to see this bill considered in Committee. Since the provisions of this bill have been include (§522) in the version of HR 2670, the FY 2024 NDAA, passed in the Senate, no further action is expected on this bill unless §522 does not make it into the final version of the bill approved out of conference.

 

For more details about the provisions of the legislation, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-2153-introduced - subscription required.

Bills Introduced – 6-22-23

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate in session, there were 191 bills introduced. Six of those bills may receive additional coverage in this blog:

S 2103 An original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2024 for intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States Government, the Intelligence Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for other purposes. Warner, Mark R. [Sen.-D-VA] 

S 2127 An original bill making appropriations for military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes. Murray, Patty [Sen.-D-WA]

S 2131 An original bill making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes. Heinrich, Martin [Sen.-D-NM] 

S 2153 A bill to provide for the use of members of the Selected Reserve and Individual Ready Reserve to respond to significant cyber events. Peters, Gary C. [Sen.-D-MI]

S 2178 A bill to extend the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Program of the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes. Peters, Gary C. [Sen.-D-MI] 

S 2201 A bill to increase knowledge and awareness of best practices to reduce cybersecurity risks in the United States. Klobuchar, Amy [Sen.-D-MN] 

I will be covering S 2103, S 2153, and S 2178. A special note on S 2178, the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program will terminate on July 27^th, 2023, unless it is reauthorized by Congress. S 2178 is the first bill introduced in either the 117^th or 118^th Congress that would reauthorize the program.

I will be watching the two spending bills, S 2127 and S 2131, for language addressing cybersecurity issues, particularly those addressing control system issues.

I will be watching S 2201 for language and definitions that include control system cybersecurity risks within the scope of the legislation’s requirements.

Mentioned in Passing

There are three bills that I would like to mention in passing:

HR 4310 To ban the sale of products with a high concentration of sodium nitrite to individuals, and for other purposes. Rep. Trahan, Lori [D-MA-3]

H Res 537 Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to clarify that the payment of a bail bond constitutes a gift for purposes of the Rules.  Rep. Cohen, Steve [D-TN-9]

S 2168 A bill to rescind discretionary appropriations in the event of a debt ceiling crisis period and to honor the full faith and credit of the debts of the United States in the event of a debt ceiling crisis. Braun, Mike [Sen.-R-IN]

RE HR4310 - In trying to figure out why Trahan would want to see sodium nitrate sales banned leads to two possibilities, sodium nitrate capsules are being used as poison for feral hogs (there is a certain level of appropriateness in that) and there has apparently been an increase in the number of individuals that use sodium nitrate as a poison for suicide.

RE H Res 537 – This is a further attempt to deal with the ‘Santos’ problem in Congress. Making bail bond payments gifts would require a congress critter to report them to the Ethics Committee.

RE S 2168 – This is a radical ‘solution’ to the debt limit ceiling problem. It would (really?) keep the financial community happy because debt service payments could continue to be made while Congress dithered. It would also protect military pay, Social Security checks, and other mandatory spending.