The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a $51 billion spending bill with stipulations to appease concerns over a potential State Department reorganization effort by blocking the use of funds for a move that would eliminate the department’s cyber diplomacy office.
The committee approved the FY 2018 State & Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill on Thursday. The legislation includes $8.6 billion for State Department diplomatic and consular programs, including $5.5 million for the Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues, despite Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s plans to eliminate the cyber office.
Tillerson sent a letter on Aug. 28 to Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) detailing plans to eliminate his office charged with promoting cyber diplomacy abroad along with several other of the department’s special envoys (Defense Daily, Aug. 29)
“The August 28, 2017, notification on special envoys and representatives raises further questions on the integrity of the process, as the Committee notes that any proposal for significant personnel changes should be a component of the reorganization or redesign,” the committee writes in its report accompanying the bill. “The Committee is concerned that the administration has a predetermined outcome for the reorganization or redesign.”
If passed by Congress, the bill would require the State Department to submit a reorganization plan for committee approval and block it from using appropriated funds to eliminate, downgrade or consolidate the cyber office.
Under the bill, the secretary of State would also have to seek approval for any replacement or change to the department’s internal information technology system.
“None of the funds appropriated by this Act may be made available to replace or change the scope of a major information technology system of the Department of State until the Secretary of State submits a report to the Committees on Appropriations detailing the conclusions and recommendations from the Information Technology Platform Planning workstream of the Department of State redesign initiative,” says the report.
The secretary of State is also required to submit a report, no later than 90 days after the bill is enacted, detailing the effectiveness of the cyber security practices of the department. The committee is seeking details on the steps being taken to improve the department’s networks, which cyber defense practices are being utilized, the accountability structure to prevent intrusions, descriptions of intrusions into department networks and how the secretary is promoting cyber diplomacy.