United States-Israel Cybersecurity Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2659 To establish a grant program at the Department of Homeland Security to promote cooperative research and development between the United States and Israel on cybersecurity. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 19, 2021 Mr. LANGEVIN (for himself and Mr. GARBARINO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security A BILL To establish a grant program at the Department of Home- land Security to promote cooperative research and devel- opment between the United States and Israel on cyberse- curity. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States-Israel 4 Cybersecurity Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. UNITED STATES-ISRAEL CYBERSECURITY CO- 6 OPERATION. 7 (a) GRANT PROGRAM.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2659.IH H2659 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2659 IH (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary, in ac- 1 cordance with the agreement entitled the ‘‘Agree- 2 ment between the Government of the United States 3 of America and the Government of the State of 4 Israel on Cooperation in Science and Technology for 5 Homeland Security Matters’’, dated May 29, 2008 6 (or successor agreement), and the requirements 7 specified in paragraph (2), shall establish a grant 8 program at the Department to support— 9 (A) cybersecurity research and develop- 10 ment; and 11 (B) demonstration and commercialization 12 of cybersecurity technology. 13 (2) REQUIREMENTS.— 14 (A) APPLICABILITY.—Notwithstanding any 15 other provision of law, in carrying out a re- 16 search, development, demonstration, or com- 17 mercial application program or activity that is 18 authorized under this section, the Secretary 19 shall require cost sharing in accordance with 20 this paragraph. 21 (B) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.— 22 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 23 in clause (ii), the Secretary shall require 24 not less than 50 percent of the cost of a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2659.IH H2659 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2659 IH research, development, demonstration, or 1 commercial application program or activity 2 described in subparagraph (A) to be pro- 3 vided by a non-Federal source. 4 (ii) REDUCTION.—The Secretary may 5 reduce or eliminate, on a case-by-case 6 basis, the percentage requirement specified 7 in clause (i) if the Secretary determines 8 that such reduction or elimination is nec- 9 essary and appropriate. 10 (C) MERIT REVIEW.—In carrying out a re- 11 search, development, demonstration, or com- 12 mercial application program or activity that is 13 authorized under this section, awards shall be 14 made only after an impartial review of the sci- 15 entific and technical merit of the proposals for 16 such awards has been carried out by or for the 17 Department. 18 (D) REVIEW PROCESSES.—In carrying out 19 a review under subparagraph (C), the Secretary 20 may use merit review processes developed under 21 section 302(14) of the Homeland Security Act 22 of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 182(14)). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2659.IH H2659 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2659 IH (3) ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.—An applicant shall 1 be eligible to receive a grant under this subsection 2 if the project of such applicant— 3 (A) addresses a requirement in the area of 4 cybersecurity research or cybersecurity tech- 5 nology, as determined by the Secretary; and 6 (B) is a joint venture between— 7 (i)(I) a for-profit business entity, aca- 8 demic institution, National Laboratory (as 9 such term is defined in section 2 of the 10 Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 11 15801)), or nonprofit entity in the United 12 States; and 13 (II) a for-profit business entity, aca- 14 demic institution, or nonprofit entity in 15 Israel; or 16 (ii)(I) the Federal Government; and 17 (II) the Government of Israel. 18 (4) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a 19 grant under this subsection, an applicant shall sub- 20 mit to the Secretary an application for such grant 21 in accordance with procedures established by the 22 Secretary, in consultation with the advisory board 23 established under paragraph (5). 24 (5) ADVISORY BOARD.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2659.IH H2659 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2659 IH (A) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary 1 shall establish an advisory board to— 2 (i) monitor the method by which 3 grants are awarded under this subsection; 4 and 5 (ii) provide to the Secretary periodic 6 performance reviews of actions taken to 7 carry out this subsection. 8 (B) COMPOSITION.—The advisory board 9 established under subparagraph (A) shall be 10 composed of three members, to be appointed by 11 the Secretary, of whom— 12 (i) one shall be a representative of the 13 Federal Government; 14 (ii) one shall be selected from a list of 15 nominees provided by the United States- 16 Israel Binational Science Foundation; and 17 (iii) one shall be selected from a list 18 of nominees provided by the United States- 19 Israel Binational Industrial Research and 20 Development Foundation. 21 (6) CONTRIBUTED FUNDS.—Notwithstanding 22 any other provision of law, the Secretary may accept 23 or retain funds contributed by any person, govern- 24 ment entity, or organization for purposes of carrying 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2659.IH H2659 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2659 IH out this subsection. Such funds shall be available, 1 subject to appropriation, without fiscal year limita- 2 tion. 3 (7) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 4 the date of completion of a project for which a grant 5 is provided under this subsection, the grant recipient 6 shall submit to the Secretary a report that con- 7 tains— 8 (A) a description of how the grant funds 9 were used by the recipient; and 10 (B) an evaluation of the level of success of 11 each project funded by the grant. 12 (8) CLASSIFICATION.—Grants shall be awarded 13 under this subsection only for projects that are con- 14 sidered to be unclassified by both the United States 15 and Israel. 16 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 17 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section not 18 less than $6,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 19 2026. 20 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 21 (1) the term ‘‘cybersecurity research’’ means re- 22 search, including social science research, into ways 23 to identify, protect against, detect, respond to, and 24 recover from cybersecurity threats; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2659.IH H2659 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2659 IH (2) the term ‘‘cybersecurity technology’’ means 1 technology intended to identify, protect against, de- 2 tect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity 3 threats; 4 (3) the term ‘‘cybersecurity threat’’ has the 5 meaning given such term in section 102 of the Cy- 6 bersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (6 7 U.S.C. 1501; enacted as title I of the Cybersecurity 8 Act of 2015 (division N of the Consolidated Appro- 9 priations Act, 2016 (Public Law 114–113))); 10 (4) the term ‘‘Department’’ means the Depart- 11 ment of Homeland Security; and 12 (5) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 13 of Homeland Security. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2659.IH H2659 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS