S 2474 Introduced – FY 2020 DOD Spending

Last week Sen. Shelby (R,AL) introduced S 2474, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2020. The bill was reported favorably by the Senate Appropriations Committee. There are no significant mentions of cybersecurity within the bill, but the Committee does include mentions of a number of cybersecurity programs within their Report.

Cybersecurity Training

The need to ensure an adequate supply of cybersecurity expertise continues to concern the Committee. On pages 226-7 the Committee outlines spending on three initiatives to address this concern:

• $12 million increase in funding for the National Centers for Academic Excellence Cyber Defense program;

• $25 million for a workforce development pilot program that would offer certificate-based courses through the Centers for Academic Excellence in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence; and

• $10 million for Department of Defense Cyber Institutes to award scholarships, student and research support, and a K–12 cyber education program

On page 229 the Committee expresses its disappointment with “continued weaknesses in the Department of Defense’s cyber posture, to include challenges in the recruitment and retention of qualified cyber talent”. The Committee would allocate $1.5 million “to develop a program that identifies university partners and a structure to award scholarships to build a certified cyber defense workforce.”

Control System Security

Industrial control system security gets special mention in the Committee Report. On page 228 the Report notes that: “the Committee recommends $10,000,000 for industrial control systems cyber security solutions for key Department of Defense installations critical to homeland defense and overseas operations, with special emphasis on the Cheyenne Mountain Complex.

Counter UAS Research

With the unmanned aircraft system threat reaching public notice through the reported attack on Saudi oil targets, the Committee presciently addressed the issue on page 212. They note that “countering UAS operations presents a special series of unmet communications, command and control, cyber, and computation and intelligence challenges at the tactical edge.” The Committee encourages the Air

Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate to “to continue research and development into the detection and countering of UAS using advanced technologies to facilitate geo-location detection, determine individual and swarm behavior, dissect swarms to identify critical nodes, situational awareness, and mission intent.”

While this research is directed at DOD tactical concerns, the lessons learned and at least some of the techniques, tactics and equipment will find use in domestic counter UAS operations once Congress deals with the legal issues related to those operations.

Moving Forward

This bill does not look like it will make it to the floor of the Senate as a stand-alone bill. The language will almost certainly show up as proposed amendment to HR 2740 when (IF) it is considered on the floor of the Senate.

Bills Introduced – 09-12-19

Yesterday with both the House and Senate in session, there were 52 bills introduced. Of those, four will likely receive additional attention in this blog:

HR 4306 To require the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration to conduct an evaluation of the safety, security, and environmental risks of transporting liquefied natural gas by rail, and for other purposes. Rep. DeFazio, Peter A. [D-OR-4]

S 2469 A bill to amend title 49, United States Code, to require the use of advanced leak detection technology for pipelines, and for other purposes. Sen. Udall, Tom [D-NM]

S 2470 An original bill making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020, and for other purposes. Sen. Alexander, Lamar [R-TN]

S 2474 An original bill making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020, and for other purposes. Sen. Shelby, Richard C. [R-AL]

DeFazio has been fighting a PHMSA special permit for shipping LNG by rail for a couple of months now. This appears to be the latest salvo.

Two of the three spending bills that were scheduled for this week were adopted in the Senate Appropriations Committee. The failure of the Committee to vote on the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill reflects the continuing problem the Congress is having with spending bills.

This is going to have an impact on how the Senate deals with the first House spending minibus (HR 2740) that passed in the House in June. Since that minibus included all three of the spending bills mentioned above, the Senate will not be able to take up HR 2740 and substitute language from their three bills (only two have been published). They can either substitute language from the two bills that were adopted by Committee and try to just amend the House language on the LHHE portion of the bill, or just wait until the Committee can reach an internal compromise that would allow the introduction of the Senate LHHE bill. I suspect the later will be the case. If this cannot be accomplished in the next week or so, we have no real chance of seeing spending bills sent to the President and will have to wait for a continuing resolution and an omnibus bill later in the year. Not looking forward to this, haven’t been all year.