National Defense Cybersecurity Consortia Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2234 To establish a consortia of universities to advise the Secretary of Defense on cybersecurity matters, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 23, 2019 Mr. ROUNDS (for himself and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To establish a consortia of universities to advise the Sec- retary of Defense on cybersecurity matters, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘National Defense Cy- 4 bersecurity Consortia Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2234.IS S2234 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2234 IS SEC. 2. CONSORTIA OF UNIVERSITIES TO ADVISE SEC- 1 RETARY OF DEFENSE ON CYBERSECURITY 2 MATTERS. 3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Defense 4 shall establish one or more consortia to advise and assist 5 the Secretary on matters relating to cybersecurity. 6 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The consortium or consortia es- 7 tablished under subsection (a) shall consist of universities 8 that have been designated as centers of academic excel- 9 lence by the Director of the National Security Agency or 10 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 11 (c) ORGANIZATION.— 12 (1) DESIGNATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE CHAIR 13 AND TERMS.—For each consortium established 14 under subsection (a), the Secretary, based on rec- 15 ommendations from the members of the consortium, 16 shall designate one member of the consortium to 17 function as an administrative chair of the consor- 18 tium for a term with a specific duration specified by 19 the Secretary. 20 (2) SUBSEQUENT TERMS.—No member of a 21 consortium designated under paragraph (1) may 22 serve as the administrative chair of that consortium 23 for two consecutive terms. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2234.IS S2234 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2234 IS (3) DUTIES OF ADMINISTRATIVE CHAIR.—Each 1 administrative chair designated under paragraph (1) 2 for a consortium shall— 3 (A) act as the leader of the consortium for 4 the term specified by the Secretary under para- 5 graph (1); 6 (B) be the liaison between the consortium 7 and the Secretary; 8 (C) distribute requests from the Secretary 9 for advice and assistance to appropriate mem- 10 bers of the consortium and coordinate responses 11 back to the Secretary; and 12 (D) act as a clearinghouse for Department 13 of Defense requests relating to advice and as- 14 sistance on matters relating to cybersecurity 15 and to provide feedback to the Secretary from 16 members of the consortium. 17 (d) FUNCTIONS.—The functions of a consortium es- 18 tablished under subsection (a) are as follows: 19 (1) To provide to the Secretary access to the 20 expertise of the members of the consortium on mat- 21 ters relating to cybersecurity. 22 (2) To align the efforts of such members in 23 support of the Department. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2234.IS S2234 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2234 IS (3) To act as a facilitator in responding to De- 1 partment requests relating to advice and assistance 2 on matters relating to cybersecurity and to provide 3 feedback to the Secretary from members of the con- 4 sortium. 5 (e) PROCEDURES.—The Secretary shall establish pro- 6 cedures for organizations within the Department to access 7 the work product produced by and the research, capabili- 8 ties, and expertise of a consortium established under sub- 9 section (a) and the universities that constitute the consor- 10 tium. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2234.IS S2234 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS