[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 719 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 719

To establish a grant program at the Department of Homeland Security to 
promote cooperative research and development between the United States 
                      and Israel on cybersecurity.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 23, 2017

Mr. Whitehouse (for himself, Mr. Daines, Mr. Peters, Ms. Duckworth, and 
 Mr. Gardner) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To establish a grant program at the Department of Homeland Security to 
promote cooperative research and development between the United States 
                      and Israel on cybersecurity.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``United States-Israel Cybersecurity 
Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. UNITED STATES-ISRAEL CYBERSECURITY COOPERATION.

    (a) Grant Program.--
            (1) Establishment.--The Secretary, in accordance with the 
        agreement entitled the ``Agreement between the Government of 
        the United States of America and the Government of the State of 
        Israel on Cooperation in Science and Technology for Homeland 
        Security Matters'', done at Jerusalem May 29, 2008 (or 
        successor agreement), and the requirements specified in 
        paragraph (2), shall establish a grant program at the 
        Department to support--
                    (A) cybersecurity research and development; and
                    (B) demonstration and commercialization of 
                cybersecurity technology.
            (2) Requirements.--
                    (A) Applicability.--Notwithstanding any other 
                provision of law, in carrying out a research, 
                development, demonstration, or commercial application 
                program or activity that is authorized under this 
                section, the Secretary shall require cost sharing in 
                accordance with this paragraph.
                    (B) Research and development.--
                            (i) In general.--Except as provided in 
                        clause (ii), the Secretary shall require not 
                        less than 50 percent of the cost of a research, 
                        development, demonstration, or commercial 
                        application program or activity described in 
                        subparagraph (A) to be provided by a non-
                        Federal source.
                            (ii) Reduction.--The Secretary may reduce 
                        or eliminate, on a case-by-case basis, the 
                        percentage requirement specified in clause (i) 
                        if the Secretary determines that such reduction 
                        or elimination is necessary and appropriate.
                    (C) Merit review.--In carrying out a research, 
                development, demonstration, or commercial application 
                program or activity that is authorized under this 
                section, awards shall be made only after an impartial 
                review of the scientific and technical merit of the 
                proposals for such awards has been carried out by or 
                for the Department.
                    (D) Review processes.--In carrying out a review 
                under subparagraph (C), the Secretary may use merit 
                review processes developed under section 302(14) of the 
                Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 182(14)).
            (3) Eligible applicants.--An applicant shall be eligible to 
        receive a grant under this subsection if the project of such 
        applicant--
                    (A) addresses a requirement in the area of 
                cybersecurity research or cybersecurity technology, as 
                determined by the Secretary; and
                    (B) is a joint venture between--
                            (i)(I) a for-profit business entity, 
                        academic institution, National Laboratory (as 
                        defined in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act 
                        of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801)), or nonprofit entity 
                        in the United States; and
                            (II) a for-profit business entity, academic 
                        institution, or nonprofit entity in Israel; or
                            (ii)(I) the Federal Government; and
                            (II) the Government of Israel.
            (4) Applications.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
        this subsection, an applicant shall submit to the Secretary an 
        application for such grant in accordance with procedures 
        established by the Secretary, in consultation with the advisory 
        board established under paragraph (5).
            (5) Advisory board.--
                    (A) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish 
                an advisory board to--
                            (i) monitor the method by which grants are 
                        awarded under this subsection; and
                            (ii) provide to the Secretary periodic 
                        performance reviews of actions taken to carry 
                        out this subsection.
                    (B) Composition.--The advisory board established 
                under subparagraph (A) shall be composed of three 
                members, to be appointed by the Secretary, of whom--
                            (i) one shall be a representative of the 
                        Federal Government;
                            (ii) one shall be selected from a list of 
                        nominees provided by the United States-Israel 
                        Binational Science Foundation; and
                            (iii) one shall be selected from a list of 
                        nominees provided by the Israel-United States 
                        Binational Industrial Research and Development 
                        Foundation.
            (6) Contributed funds.--Notwithstanding any other provision 
        of law, the Secretary may accept or retain funds contributed by 
        any person, government entity, or organization for purposes of 
        carrying out this subsection. Such funds shall be available, 
        subject to appropriation, without fiscal year limitation.
            (7) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        completion of a project for which a grant is provided under 
        this subsection, the grant recipient shall submit to the 
        Secretary a report that contains--
                    (A) a description of how the grant funds were used 
                by the recipient; and
                    (B) an evaluation of the level of success of each 
                project funded by the grant.
            (8) Classification.--Grants shall be awarded under this 
        subsection only for projects that are considered to be 
        unclassified by both the United States and Israel.
    (b) Termination.--The grant program and the advisory board 
established under this section shall terminate on the date that is 7 
years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (c) No Additional Funds Authorized.--No additional funds are 
authorized to be appropriated to carry out the requirements of this 
Act. Such requirements shall be carried out using amounts otherwise 
appropriated.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``cybersecurity research'' means research, 
        including social science research, into ways to identify, 
        protect against, detect, respond to, and recover from 
        cybersecurity threats;
            (2) the term ``cybersecurity technology'' means technology 
        intended to identify, protect against, detect, respond to, and 
        recover from cybersecurity threats;
            (3) the term ``cybersecurity threat'' has the meaning given 
        such term in section 102 of the Cybersecurity Information 
        Sharing Act of 2015 (6 U.S.C. 1501);
            (4) the term ``Department'' means the Department of 
        Homeland Security; and
            (5) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Homeland 
        Security.
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