Review – Bills Introduced – 4-27-26

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate in session, there were 72 bills introduced. Two of those bills will receive additional coverage in this blog: 

S 4395 A bill to reauthorize the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, and for other purposes. McCormick, David [Sen.-R-PA]. 

S 4397 A bill to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to improve transparency of the regulatory process and coordination of science among Federal agencies, and for other purposes. Ricketts, Pete [Sen.-R-NE]. 

For more information on these bills, including legislative history for similar bills in the 118th Congress, as well as a brief look at an AI governance bill in the House, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/bills-introduced-4-27-26 - subscription required. 

S 4397 Introduced – Counter-Drone Support

Last week, Sen Lankford (R,OK) introduced S 4397, the Strengthening Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operations (C-UAS) Partnerships Act. The bill would authorized DOD to provide C-UAS support under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. No new spending is authorized by this bill.

The bill would amend 10 USC 333(a) adding “Counter-unmanned aircraft systems operations.” To the list of operations for which DOD could provide training and equipment to foreign national security forces.

Moving Forward

Lankford is not a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there is probably not sufficient influence to see this bill considered in Committee. I see nothing in this bill that would draw organized opposition to the bill. I suspect that the bill would receive bipartisan support in Committee.

This bill could be added to either the National Defense Authorization Act or the FY 2023 DOD spending bill as an amendment from the floor.

Commentary

I do not see this bill, even if passed, having any significant impact on developing or providing C-UAS support for critical infrastructure in the United States. This will almost certainly be the last mention of this bill in this blog.

Bills Introduced – 6-14-22

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate in session, there were 44 bills introduced. Three of those bills may receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 8053 To provide the Secretary of Energy with the authority to enter into contracts and cooperative agreements to improve the resilience of defense critical electric infrastructure and reduce the vulnerability of critical defense facilities to the disruption of the supply of electric energy to those facilities. Rep. Crow, Jason [D-CO-6]

HR 8064 To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to establish demonstration and pilot projects to facilitate education and training programs in the field of advanced manufacturing. Rep. Torres, Norma J. [D-CA-35] 

S 4397 A bill to authorize the Secretary of Defense to build capacity for counter-unmanned aircraft systems operations. Sen. Lankford, James [R-OK] 

I will be watching both HR 8053 and HR 8064 for language or definitions that specifically include cybersecurity of industrial control systems within the scope of the coverage of the bill.

I will be watching S 4397 for language in the bill that could allow for transfer of DOD counter-drone technology to private sector for critical infrastructure defense. I am not really expecting this because of the other legal obstacles to such transfer, but….