House NDAA Amendments Tackle Spectrum, Drones, Cybersecurity

House Armed Services Committee leaders want to include a spectrum amendment to their National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2017 (HR-4909), up for a floor vote next week. They filed the bipartisan amendment Wednesday among more than 300 others, some of which involve cybersecurity, telecom and drone policy. The legislation and committee report already include some spectrum policy issues (see 1605100056).

The amendment from Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, and ranking member Adam Smith, D-Wash., would codify the requirements for surrender of spectrum, its added section title said. The amendment “restates current law concerning spectrum auction process, which requires Secretary of Defense-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff approval prior to withdrawal of Department of Defense spectrum for an auction,” the Rules Committee description said.

The committee listed 361 amendments submitted for the NDAA bill, which had a floor amendment deadline of Wednesday. The Congressional Budget Office “estimates that appropriation of the authorized amounts would result in outlays of $587 billion over the 2017-2021 period” and “would lower direct spending by about $206 million over the 2017-2026 period,” a scoring report released Wednesday said. The Rules Committee hasn't decided which amendments are in order and likely for floor consideration and which won’t advance.

One bipartisan drone amendment would provide “for a limitation on use of funds to conduct domestic surveillance by unmanned aerial systems,” its description said. That proposal was filed by Reps. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Ted Poe, R-Texas. Poe also filed an amendment without other backers that would direct “the Secretary of Defense to give preference to State and Federal agencies who conduct border security functions for distribution of surveillance unmanned aerial vehicles including the MQ-9 Reaper, the Aerostat radar system; night-vision goggles; and Humvees as part of the DOD's Excess Property Program (1033 program),” the description said.

Multiple bipartisan amendments involve cybersecurity. One amendment from Reps. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., and Steve Israel, D-N.Y., would require “U.S. Army Cyber Command to submit a strategy within 180 days to U.S. Cyber Command outlining how Army National Guard Cyber Protection Teams will be incorporated into the Cyber Mission Force. U.S. Cyber Command would be required to respond to the strategy within 90 days of receiving it.” Another amendment from Hanna and Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., would direct the “Small Business Development Centers to provide, to the extent practicable, cyber assistance to small businesses” and require it and the Department of Homeland Security “to develop a joint ‘SBDC Cyber Strategy’ to provide necessary guidance to Small Business Development Centers regarding how they can improve the coordination and provision of federal cyber assistance to small businesses.” Reps. Jim Himes, D-Conn., and Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., filed one to require “the President to develop a policy, based on included considerations, for determining when an action carried out in cyberspace constitutes a use of force against the United States,” for inclusion in the DOD Law of War Manual. An amendment from Reps. David Young, R-Iowa, and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., would require DOD “to report to Congress on the Department’s efforts to protect our service members and their families’ personal information from data breaches, including their work with other agencies to protect them from identity theft and fraud,” which would “include any trends DoD is aware of on fraudulent activity targeting service members and their families specifically.”

A group of lawmakers filed amendments on surveillance issues. One amendment from Poe and Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., would forbid “using funds for warrantless searches of government databases for information that pertains to U.S. persons.” The lawmakers also filed language to forbid “using funds to mandate or request ‘backdoors’ into commercial products that can be used to circumvent encryption or security protections” and another forbidding “using funds for warrantless searches of communications acquired outside the United States for information that pertains to U.S. persons.” Lofgren led the filing of all three amendments.

Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., filed an amendment to allow cyber institutes to "place a special emphasis on entering into a partnership ... with a local educational agency located in a rural, underserved, or underrepresented community.” Rep Jackie Speier, D-Calif., filed one to establish “cybersecurity as a performance parameter for Department systems to protect critical information, mitigate cyber vulnerabilities, and respond to cyber-attacks.” One from Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., would create “a pilot program to improve the ability of the Army and Air Force ... to recruit cyber professionals.”

Reps. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., and Ryan Costello, R-Pa., filed an amendment to express “a sense of Congress that reiterates the importance of strong communications systems for the National Guard in the event of a cyber or terrorist attack.” An amendment from Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., would say “the President may not pursue bilateral cyber security working groups with the Russian Federation or the People’s Republic of China unless the President certifies to Congress that Russia and China ... ceased carrying out state-sponsored economic, military, or industrial espionage in cyberspace against the United States or persons of the United States.” Reps. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., and Randy Forbes, R-Va., filed one to strengthen “DOD's telecommunication supply chain protection efforts by prohibiting acquisition from providers that maintain close affiliations with foreign governments identified as state-sponsors of cyber-espionage.” Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, attempted to hitch language encouraging DOD “to enter into contracts with third party vendors to provide free access to wireless high-speed internet to all members of the Armed Forces who are deployed overseas at any United States military facility.”

The Rules Committee will meet 5 p.m. Monday to decide how it will handle the many amendments or the rules for the NDAA bill’s floor consideration next week.