Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1223 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1223
5	5	To require a plan to improve the cybersecurity and telecommunications of
6	6	the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	FEBRUARY12, 2025
9	9	Mr. F
10	10	ONG(for himself and Ms. STEVENS) introduced the following bill; which
11	11	was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To require a plan to improve the cybersecurity and tele-
14	14	communications of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet,
15	15	and for other purposes.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Accelerating Net-4
20	20	working, Cyberinfrastructure, and Hardware for Oceanic 5
21	21	Research Act’’ or the ‘‘ANCHOR Act’’. 6
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24	24	•HR 1223 IH
25	25	SEC. 2. PLAN TO IMPROVE CYBERSECURITY AND TELE-1
26	26	COMMUNICATIONS OF U.S. ACADEMIC RE-2
27	27	SEARCH FLEET. 3
28	28	(a) I
29	29	NGENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after 4
30	30	the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director, in con-5
31	31	sultation with other Federal agency owners and the head 6
32	32	of any university or laboratory that owns or operates a 7
33	33	vessel of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, shall submit 8
34	34	to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor-9
35	35	tation of the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, 10
36	36	and Technology of the House of Representatives a plan 11
37	37	to improve the cybersecurity and telecommunications of 12
38	38	the U.S. Academic Research Fleet. 13
39	39	(b) E
40	40	LEMENTS.—The plan required by subsection (a) 14
41	41	shall include— 15
42	42	(1) an assessment of the telecommunications 16
43	43	and networking needs of the U.S. Academic Re-17
44	44	search Fleet, consistent with the typical scientific 18
45	45	mission of each vessel; 19
46	46	(2) in accordance with guidance issued by the 20
47	47	Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency 21
48	48	and the National Institute for Standards and Tech-22
49	49	nology, an assessment of cybersecurity needs appro-23
50	50	priate for— 24
51	51	(A) the operation of vessels within the U.S. 25
52	52	Academic Research Fleet; and 26
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55	55	•HR 1223 IH
56	56	(B) the specific research functions and ac-1
57	57	tivities of such vessels; 2
58	58	(3) an assessment of the costs necessary to 3
59	59	meet the needs described in paragraphs (1) and (2), 4
60	60	including— 5
61	61	(A) any necessary equipment costs in ex-6
62	62	cess of current expenditures, such as satellite 7
63	63	communications equipment, software, high-per-8
64	64	formance computing infrastructure shipboard 9
65	65	and shoreside, or enterprise hardware; 10
66	66	(B) estimated personnel costs in excess of 11
67	67	current expenditures, including any necessary 12
68	68	training, support, or logistics; and 13
69	69	(C) the estimated impact on daily charter 14
70	70	rates associated with the costs described in sub-15
71	71	paragraphs (A) and (B); 16
72	72	(4) an assessment of the time required to im-17
73	73	plement any upgrades required to meet the needs 18
74	74	described in paragraphs (1) and (2) under varying 19
75	75	budgets and funding scenarios; 20
76	76	(5) an assessment of opportunities for the adop-21
77	77	tion of common solutions or consortial licensing 22
78	78	agreements, or for the centralization of elements of 23
79	79	fleet cybersecurity, telecommunications, or data 24
80	80	management at a single facility; and 25
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83	83	•HR 1223 IH
84	84	(6) in consultation with any non-Federal owners 1
85	85	of a vessel of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, a 2
86	86	spending plan for the National Science Foundation, 3
87	87	the Office of Naval Research, non-Federal owners of 4
88	88	vessels of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, users 5
89	89	of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, or any com-6
90	90	bination thereof, to provide funding to cover the 7
91	91	costs described in paragraph (3). 8
92	92	(c) C
93	93	ONSIDERATIONS.—The Director in preparing 9
94	94	the plan required by subsection (a), shall, as appropriate, 10
95	95	consider the following: 11
96	96	(1) The network capabilities, including speed 12
97	97	and bandwidth targets, necessary to meet the sci-13
98	98	entific mission needs of each class of vessel within 14
99	99	the U.S. Academic Research Fleet for such purposes 15
100	100	as— 16
101	101	(A) executing the critical functions and 17
102	102	communications of each vessel; 18
103	103	(B) providing network access for the 19
104	104	health and well-being of deployed personnel, in-20
105	105	cluding communications to conduct telemedicine 21
106	106	(including mental health care), counseling, 22
107	107	interviews with crisis response providers, and 23
108	108	other remote individual care and services; 24
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111	111	•HR 1223 IH
112	112	(C) as necessary to meet operations, 1
113	113	uploading any scientific data to a cloud-based 2
114	114	server or shoreside server, including the copying 3
115	115	of data off ship for disaster recovery or risk 4
116	116	mitigation purposes; 5
117	117	(D) conducting real-time streaming to en-6
118	118	able shore-based observers to participate in 7
119	119	ship-based maintenance or research activities; 8
120	120	(E) scientific instrumentation so that it is 9
121	121	possible to conduct scientific surveys and 10
122	122	seafloor mapping with fully remote subject mat-11
123	123	ter experts; 12
124	124	(F) critical operational technology by man-13
125	125	ufacturers and vendors so that it is possible to 14
126	126	carry out maintenance and repairs to systems 15
127	127	with limited expertise on each vessel, with fully 16
128	128	remote subject matter experts advising; and 17
129	129	(G) enabling video communications to 18
130	130	allow improved outreach to, and other edu-19
131	131	cational services for, K–12 students, including 20
132	132	occasional remote classroom teaching for in-21
133	133	structors at sea to improve oceanographic ac-22
134	134	cess for students. 23
135	135	(2) In consultation with the Director of the Cy-24
136	136	bersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the 25
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139	139	•HR 1223 IH
140	140	Director of the National Institute for Standards and 1
141	141	Technology, and the heads of other Federal agen-2
142	142	cies, as appropriate— 3
143	143	(A) the cybersecurity recommendations in 4
144	144	the report of the private scientific advisory 5
145	145	group known as JASON entitled ‘‘Cybersecurity 6
146	146	at NSF Major Facilities’’ (JSR–21–10E) and 7
147	147	dated October 2021 as applied to the U.S. Aca-8
148	148	demic Research Fleet; 9
149	149	(B) aligning with international standards 10
150	150	and guidance for information security, including 11
151	151	the use of encryption for sensitive information, 12
152	152	the detection and handling of security incidents, 13
153	153	and other areas determined relevant by the Di-14
154	154	rector; 15
155	155	(C) facilitating access to cybersecurity per-16
156	156	sonnel and training of research and support 17
157	157	personnel; and 18
158	158	(D) the requirements for controlled unclas-19
159	159	sified or classified information. 20
160	160	(d) I
161	161	MPLEMENTATION OF AND REPORT ONPLAN.— 21
162	162	(1) I
163	163	N GENERAL.—The Director, in coordina-22
164	164	tion with the Office of Naval Research, non-Federal 23
165	165	owners of vessels of the Academic Research Fleet, 24
166	166	users of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, or any 25
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169	169	•HR 1223 IH
170	170	combination thereof, may support upgrades to the 1
171	171	cyberinfrastructure and cybersecurity of the U.S. 2
172	172	Academic Research Fleet consistent with the plan 3
173	173	required by subsection (a). 4
174	174	(2) R
175	175	EPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than two 5
176	176	years after the submission of the plan required by 6
177	177	subsection (a), the Director shall submit to the Com-7
178	178	mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 8
179	179	the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, 9
180	180	and Technology of the House of Representatives a 10
181	181	report describing the progress made in implementing 11
182	182	the plan. 12
183	183	(e) D
184	184	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 13
185	185	(1) D
186	186	IRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 14
187	187	the Director of the National Science Foundation. 15
188	188	(2) O
189	189	CEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH VESSEL .—The 16
190	190	term ‘‘oceanographic research vessel’’ has the mean-17
191	191	ing given the term in section 2101 of title 46, 18
192	192	United States Code. 19
193	193	(3) U.S.
194	194	ACADEMIC RESEARCH FLEET .—The 20
195	195	term ‘‘U.S Academic Research Fleet’’ means the 21
196	196	United States-flagged vessels that— 22
197	197	(A) are operated as oceanographic research 23
198	198	vessels by research universities and laboratories; 24
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201	201	•HR 1223 IH
202	202	(B) have achieved designation as a member 1
203	203	vessel of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet 2
204	204	through the standard U.S. Academic Research 3
205	205	Fleet evaluation process; and 4
206	206	(C) have been accepted into, and are active 5
207	207	participants within, the University-National 6
208	208	Oceanographic Laboratory System. 7
209	209	Æ
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