[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1544 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1544

 To prevent Federal funds from being used to establish a cybersecurity 
            unit in cooperation with the Russian Federation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 12, 2017

   Ms. Klobuchar (for herself, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Reed, Ms. 
   Warren, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Markey, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Franken, Mr. 
Blumenthal, Mr. Whitehouse, Mrs. Murray, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Harris, and 
 Mr. Merkley) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prevent Federal funds from being used to establish a cybersecurity 
            unit in cooperation with the Russian Federation.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``No Funds for Cyber 
Coordination with Russia Act of 2017''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Definitions.
Sec. 3. Purpose.
Sec. 4. Findings.
Sec. 5. Funding prohibition.
Sec. 6. Sense of Congress.
Sec. 7. Termination.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Rules and Administration, the 
                Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Armed 
                Services, the Committee on Homeland Security and 
                Governmental Affairs, the Committee on Appropriations, 
                and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; 
                and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee 
                on House Administration, the Committee on Armed 
                Services, the Committee on Homeland Security, the 
                Committee on Appropriations, and the Permanent Select 
                Committee on Intelligence of the House of 
                Representatives.
            (2) Cybersecurity.--The term ``cybersecurity'' means the 
        protection or defense of cyberspace from cyberattacks.
            (3) Cybersecurity unit.--The term ``cybersecurity unit'' 
        means any organization or entity established for the purpose of 
        cybersecurity.
            (4) Cyberspace.--The term ``cyberspace'' means the global 
        domain within the information environment consisting of the 
        interdependent network of information systems infrastructures 
        (including the Internet, telecommunications networks, computer 
        systems, and embedded processors and controllers).
            (5) Significant activities undermining cybersecurity.--The 
        term ``significant activities undermining cybersecurity'' 
        includes--
                    (A) significant efforts--
                            (i) to deny access to or degrade, disrupt, 
                        or destroy an information and communications 
                        technology system or network; or
                            (ii) to exfiltrate, degrade, corrupt, 
                        destroy, or release information from such a 
                        system or network without authorization for 
                        purposes of--
                                    (I) conducting influence 
                                operations; or
                                    (II) causing a significant 
                                misappropriation of funds, economic 
                                resources, trade secrets, personal 
                                identifications, or financial 
                                information for commercial or 
                                competitive advantage or private 
                                financial gain;
                    (B) significant destructive malware attacks; and
                    (C) significant denial of service activities.

SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to protect United States cybersecurity 
and critical infrastructure by preventing the President from 
establishing a cybersecurity unit in coordination with the Government 
of the Russian Federation, a known foreign adversary.

SEC. 4. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) On January 6, 2017, an assessment of the United States 
        intelligence community entitled, ``Assessing Russian Activities 
        and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections'' concluded, ``Russian 
        efforts to influence the 2016 US presidential election 
        represent the most recent expression of Moscow's longstanding 
        desire to undermine the US-led liberal democratic order, but 
        these activities demonstrated a significant escalation in 
        directness, level of activity, and scope of effort compared to 
        previous operations.''. The report concluded with high 
        confidence, ``Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an 
        influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential 
        election. Russia's goals were to undermine public faith in the 
        US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm 
        her electability and potential presidency. We further assess 
        Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference 
        for President-elect Trump.''.
            (2) On December 29, 2016, President Barack Obama issued 
        Executive Order 13757, ``Taking Additional Steps To Address The 
        National Emergency With Respect To Significant Malicious Cyber-
        Enabled Activities''. Executive Order 13757 amended Executive 
        Order 13694, ``Blocking the Property of Certain Persons 
        Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities''. 
        E.O. 13694 authorized sanctions on ``individuals and entities 
        determined to be responsible for or complicit in malicious 
        cyber-enabled activities that result in enumerated harms that 
        are reasonably likely to result in, or have materially 
        contributed to, a significant threat to the national security, 
        foreign policy, or economic health or financial stability of 
        the United States''. E.O. 13757 expanded executive authority to 
        allow for the imposition of sanctions against ``individuals and 
        entities determined to be responsible for tampering, altering, 
        or causing the misappropriation of information with the purpose 
        or effect of interfering with or undermining election processes 
        or institutions''.
            (3) The Government of the Russian Federation has repeatedly 
        launched cyber-attacks against United States agencies, 
        including the Department of State in November 2014, the 
        Department of Defense in 2015, and the White House computer 
        networks in 2014.
            (4) On March 15, 2017, the Department of Justice charged 
        Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers and criminal 
        coconspirators for hacking Yahoo and the email accounts of 
        millions of United States citizens.
            (5) On May 8, 2017, former Director of National 
        Intelligence James Clapper testified before the Committee on 
        the Judiciary of the Senate, ``Russia's influence activities in 
        the run-up to the 2016 election constituted the high water mark 
        of their long running efforts since the 1960s to disrupt and 
        influence our elections. They must be congratulating themselves 
        for having exceeded their wildest expectations with a minimal 
        expenditure of resource. And I believe they are now emboldened 
        to continue such activities in the future both here and around 
        the world, and to do so even more intensely. If there has ever 
        been a clarion call for vigilance and action against a threat 
        to the very foundation of our democratic political system, this 
        episode is it.''.
            (6) On June 7, 2017, former Director of the Federal Bureau 
        of Investigation James Comey testified before the Select 
        Committee on Intelligence of the Senate that the Government of 
        the Russian Federation, ``using technical intrusion, lots of 
        other methods, tried to shape the way we think, we vote, we 
        act. That is a big deal. And people need to recognize it. It's 
        not about Republicans or Democrats. They're coming after 
        America, which I hope we all love equally. They want to 
        undermine our credibility in the face of the world. They think 
        that this great experiment of ours is a threat to them, and so 
        they're going to try to run it down and dirty it up as much as 
        possible.''.
            (7) On July 9, 2017, President Donald Trump stated, ``I 
        strongly pressed President Putin twice about Russian meddling 
        in our election. He vehemently denied it . . . now it is time 
        to move forward in working constructively with Russia! Putin & 
        I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that 
        election hacking, & many other negative things, will be 
        guarded''.

SEC. 5. FUNDING PROHIBITION.

    No Federal funds may be used to establish a cybersecurity unit, or 
any variation thereof, in cooperation or connection with the Government 
of the Russian Federation.

SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the President should publicly endorse the assessment of 
        the United States Armed Forces and the intelligence community 
        that the Government of the Russian Federation interfered in the 
        2016 election and take appropriate measures to deter such 
        activities in the future;
            (2) the President must not use taxpayer funds to engage in 
        cyber coordination with the Government of the Russian 
        Federation, a foreign adversary; and
            (3) the President should work with Congress to establish a 
        non-partisan, independent commission of experts to determine, 
        examine, and report on the facts regarding the extent of 
        Russian official and unofficial cyber operations and other 
        attempts to interfere in the 2016 United States national 
        election.

SEC. 7. TERMINATION.

    The prohibitions under this Act shall terminate on the date the 
President submits to the appropriate congressional committees a written 
certification that the Government of the Russian Federation has--
            (1) ceased ordering, controlling, or otherwise directing, 
        supporting, or financing acts intended to undermine democracies 
        around the world; and
            (2) submitted a written statement acknowledging 
        interference in the 2016 United States Presidential election.
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