S 4673 Passed in Senate – NCFI Reauthorization

Yesterday, the Senate discharged the Senate Judiciary Committee from the responsibility of considering S 4673, the National Computer Forensics Institute Reauthorization Act of 2022, and passed the bill under the Senate’ unanimous consent process. There was no debate and no formal vote. The House passed an entirely different version of the reauthorization, HR 7174 back in June.

It will be interesting to see if the House takes up S 4673 and if they then amend the bill by substituting the language from HR 7174. With the Senate ignoring HR 7174 and taking up a bill that was introduced two months after HR 7174 was passed, I do not expect that the Senate would agree to a version of the bill amended in that manner. Insisting on the Senate version of the language would require a conference committee.

Since the major difference between the two bills in the expansion of the definition of information systems to include industrial control systems, I suspect that it is that expansion of coverage that the Senate leadership objects to. If that is the case, working out a compromise might be a problem.

Review – S 4673 Introduced – NCIF Reauthorization

Back in late July, Sen Grassley introduced S 4673, the National Computer Forensics Institute Reauthorization Act of 2022. While the bill shares a title with HR 7174 that was passed in the House back in July, there are significant differences between the two bills. For instance, this bill will only reauthorize the program through 2028 instead of the 2032 set in the House bill. Nor does it specifically expand the scope of the NCIF.

Moving Forward

Grassley is the Ranking Member, and four {Sen Feinstein (D,CA), Sen Klobuchar (D,MN), Sen Cornyn (R,TX), and Sen Whitehouse (D,RI)} of his seven cosponsors are members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there should be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. I see nothing in the bill that would engender any organized opposition. I suspect that the bill would pass with significant bipartisan support in Committee.

The timing problem that I have been talking about the last couple of months now is further aggravated in the Judiciary Committee. With there being a chance that the Republicans will ‘control’ (NOTE: anything less than 60 votes is not really controlling” the Senate, the Senate leadership is pushing to see as many judicial nominations as possible moved out of Committee to the floor of the Senate. Nomination hearings (and the requisite staff work) means that there is time for little else, at least between now and the first week in November.

 

There is a chance that the Senate could take up the House bill under the unanimous consent process. They could also adopt the language of this bill as substitute language under the same process. It all depends on if the Senate leadership {Schumer (D,NY) and Chairman Durbin (D,IL)} supports the House or Senate language. Alternatively, language from either bill could be included as part of the year-end spending bill.

Commentary

The changes made by this bill are mainly window dressing, important only to political infighters. They would have no real influence in the operation of the NCIF. The House bill, makes many similar meaningless changes, but it does expand the scope of coverage from strictly IT related issues to include (in passing) control system incidents and crimes in the scope of the systems covered by forensics training and research conducted by NCIF.

 

For more details about the changes to the NCIF authorization made in this bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-4673-introduced - subscription required.

Bills Introduced – 7-28-22

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate in Washington and looking toward the beach, there were 92 bills introduced. Fourteen of those bills may see additional coverage in this blog:

HR 8578 To amend the Federal Power Act and the Natural Gas Act with respect to the enforcement of certain provisions, and for other purposes.  Rep. Schakowsky, Janice D. [D-IL-9]

S 4659 A bill making appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, and for other purposes. Sen. Murray, Patty [D-WA]

S 4660 A bill making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, and for other purposes. Sen. Feinstein, Dianne [D-CA]

S 4661 A bill making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, and for other purposes. Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI] 

S 4662 A bill making appropriations for the Department of State, foreign operations, and related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, and for other purposes. Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE] 

S 4663 A bill making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, and for other purposes. Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT]

S 4664 A bill making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, and for other purposes. Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH]

S 4670 A bill making appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, and for other purposes. Sen. Schatz, Brian [D-HI]

S 4673 A bill to reauthorize the National Computer Forensics Institute of the United States Secret Service, and for other purposes. Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA]

S 4678 A bill making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, and for other purposes. Sen. Murphy, Christopher [D-CT] 

S 4679 A bill to amend the Federal Power Act and the Natural Gas Act with respect to the enforcement of certain provisions, and for other purposes. Sen. Cortez Masto, Catherine [D-NV] 

S 4685 A bill making appropriations for financial services and general government for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, and for other purposes.  Sen. Van Hollen, Chris [D-MD]

S 4686 A bill making appropriations for the Department of the Interior, environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, and for other purposes. Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR]

S 4687 A bill to enhance the authority granted to the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice with respect to unmanned aircraft systems and unmanned aircraft, and for other purposes. Sen. Peters, Gary C. [D-MI]

I will probably not be covering S 4662 and S 4685; these two spending bills seldom have anything of specific interest here. I do expect to be covering the remainder of the spending bills.

I will be watching HR 8578 and S 4679 for language and definitions that specifically include cybersecurity in the covered enforcement processes.

I will be watching S 4673 for differences between it and the recently passed House version; HR 7174.

I will be covering S 4687.