The House will consider a series of cyber-related amendments this week to its version of the next defense policy bill, which includes directives for the Pentagon to detail long-term plans for artificial intelligence (AI) and increasing security cooperation with several international partners.
Lawmakers on the House Rules Committee on Tuesday approved the FY ‘20 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) cyber amendments for consideration on the floor, with the majority of the provisions likely to pass as part of several “en bloc” packages.
Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.) is seeking an NDAA amendment that would require senior Pentagon officials to report on the expected benefits of AI to department over the next 20 years and plans to secure autonomous systems from adversarial attacks.
The provision directs the Defense Secretary and head of the new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center to submit a report within a year of the bill passing outlining current and future use of AI, and identify any ethical guidelines that are being considered.
Dunn’s amendments also call for the Pentagon to collaborate on the report with industry stakeholders on “matters relating to the research, development, test, and evaluation, contracting, acquisition, and onboarding of AI technology.”
Amendments from Reps. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) and John Shimkus (R-Ill.) would look to bolster U.S. cyber security partnerships with Taiwan, as well as countries in the Baltics.
Ratcliffe’s directive calls for a report examining the feasibility of establishing a “high-level, interagency U.S.-Taiwan working group for coordinating responses to merging issues related to cyber security.”
Shimkus’ plan looks to increase the bill’s funding for support to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from $100 million to $125 million to account for support needed to “expand their military and cyber security infrastructure.”
Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.) is proposing an amendment that would require the defense secretary to provide congressional committees with reports on cyber attacks against DoD systems over the last 12 months alleged to be carried out by Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
The amendment calls for similar reports to be delivered to Congress through FY ‘23.
A proposed directive from Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) would increase funding for the Defense Security Service by over $5 million for the procurement of advanced cyber threat detection sensors required to protect Defense Industrial Base networks from nation-state adversaries’ attacks.
Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), the chair of the Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee, is also seeking to add an amendment that would require the president to provide congressional committees with a copy of all the administration’s national security memos relating to DoD operations in cyberspace.
Langevin’s amendment arrives as the administration announced its intent to veto any NDAA legislation that includes a provision for the Secretary of Defense to provide Congress with operational documents related to cyberspace operations.
“This provision would interfere with the established process for military operations in cyberspace, unduly hinder cyber operations, and contravene the President’s constitutional prerogative not to disclose privileged information, including national security information,” White House officials wrote in a notice.
The House is set to consider the amendment and vote on its $733 billion version of the FY ‘20 NDAA this week.