[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 170 (Tuesday, November 29, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H6335-H6336]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





 UNITED STATES-ISRAEL CYBERSECURITY COOPERATION ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2016

  Mr. RATCLIFFE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 5843) 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, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5843

       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 2016''.

     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'', dated 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 United States-Israel 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 terminate on the date that is 
     seven years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
       (c) Prohibition on Additional Funding.--No additional funds 
     are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act.
       (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 (enacted as title I of the Cybersecurity 
     Act of 2015 (division N of the Consolidated Appropriations 
     Act, 2016 (Public Law 114-113)));
       (4) the term ``Department'' means the Department of 
     Homeland Security; and
       (5) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Homeland 
     Security.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Ratcliffe) and the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. 
Langevin) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.


                             General Leave

  Mr. RATCLIFFE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
to include any extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. RATCLIFFE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I thank my colleague, Mr. Langevin, for offering this very important 
piece of legislation today.
  As I mentioned earlier, both H.R. 5843 and H.R. 5877 were the result 
of our successful congressional delegation to the State of Israel, 
where we heard and learned firsthand about the importance of strong 
collaboration between our two nations--the United States and Israel.
  This legislation further builds on the existing agreements between 
the United States and Israel by authorizing the Secretary to carry out 
a grant program to bolster the cyber defenses of both countries. It is 
vitally important that the United States and Israel have robust and 
innovative cyber defenses in order to stay ahead of our adversaries, 
and this legislation will help ensure that that is achieved.
  Again, I thank Mr. Langevin and his staff for their partnership on 
this very important issue, and I urge all Members to join me in 
supporting this bill.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in strong support of H.R. 5843, the United States-Israel 
Cybersecurity Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2016. Much like the 
previous bill, H.R. 5843 is about enhancing cooperation with our allies 
in Israel to develop innovative cybersecurity solutions that are 
directly responsive to the needs of our national security.
  Specifically, the bill creates a cybersecurity grant program for 
joint research and development ventures between Israeli and American 
entities. Projects would be selected after a merit-review--peer-
review--process and would have to address requirements in cybersecurity 
that are determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security. The grants 
would also be subject to a cost-sharing requirement, with at least 50 
percent of project funds coming from a non-Federal source.
  Importantly, H.R. 5843 leverages existing United States-Israel R&D 
infrastructure, specifically the Binational Industrial Research and 
Development, or BIRD, Foundation and the Binational Science Foundation, 
or BSF. Both organizations have a proven track record of encouraging 
joint research efforts.

[[Page H6336]]

  BIRD, for instance, has financed R&D and commercialization projects 
that have led to a cumulative $8 billion in commercial sales since its 
founding while BSF regularly funds collaborations between the top 
scientists in our respective countries, as 45 Nobel laureates have 
received support from the foundation. Using the existing 
infrastructure, as was done in 2007 when Congress passed the Energy 
Independence and Security Act, which led to the creation of BIRD 
Energy, also allows us to capitalize on both foundations' robust 
networks of American and Israeli entities to help seed these joint 
efforts.
  All of these factors are particularly critical in the fast-moving 
cybersecurity domain where offensive and defensive tactics and 
techniques change on a monthly or on even a weekly basis.

                              {time}  1630

  As such, advances in the discipline require a near constant 
reexamining of assumptions, and having people from different 
backgrounds and security cultures working together engenders an 
environment where such reexamination is encouraged.
  While both the U.S. and Israel have robust cybersecurity communities, 
further collaboration is needed to spur more advances to combat the 
threats that we face. Although some of these advances are technological 
in nature, basic cybersecurity research, such as investigations into 
the psychology of secure interface design and social engineering, is 
also supported by the bill.
  All told, the programs authorized in H.R. 5843 and H.R. 5877 will 
both address urgent homeland security needs and build capacity for 
further transnational collaboration on cybersecurity, all while 
matching Federal investment with private dollars and funds from the 
Israeli Government.
  As with any bill to make it to the floor, both H.R. 5843 and H.R. 
5877 owe much to the dedicated staff who spent hours behind the scenes 
reviewing the legislation. In particular, I would like to thank Brett 
DeWitt, Christopher Schepis, and Erik Peterson from the Committee on 
Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure 
Protection, and Security Technologies, who joined Representative 
Ratcliffe and me on the congressional delegation trip that we took to 
Israel, as well as Emily Leviner on Mr. Ratcliffe's personal staff and 
Nick Leiserson on my own staff.
  I am also very grateful, of course, to Chairman McCaul, Ranking 
Member Thompson, and Subcommittee Ranking Member Richmond for their 
continued leadership on the issue of cybersecurity and for their 
assistance in quickly actualizing the lessons we learned on our trip to 
Israel.
  Finally, once again, I owe a debt of gratitude to the gentleman 
across the aisle, Mr. Ratcliffe, who, in just in his first term, has 
immediately had a substantial impact on our Nation's cybersecurity, as 
I said previously, and with whom it has been a great pleasure to work.
  Mr. Speaker, taken together, H.R. 5843 and H.R. 5877 do three things: 
they encourage innovative approaches to address top priorities in 
homeland security R&D they strengthen ties with Israel, one of our 
closest allies; and they do so in a public-private partnership that 
matches Federal investment.
  I urge Members to support H.R. 5843.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. RATCLIFFE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Langevin for his kind 
words. I would also like to congratulate him on his hard work and his 
leadership in bringing this bill to the floor today.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  This bill is about innovation. It is a bill about bringing together 
the best minds in the U.S. and in Israel to help manage what has become 
an intractable problem. It is a bill that is sorely needed.
  In the past year, just by way of example, we have seen the first 
cyber attack on a power grid in Ukraine. Many devices that are part of 
the Internet of Things have been compromised and used to attack Web 
sites and services.
  Most disturbingly, the very foundation of our democracy, our voting 
system, has been targeted in a Russian information warfare campaign 
that leverages hacked documents. These are the national and Homeland 
Security threats that keep me up at night, and they are also the same 
types of threats that motivate the Israel National Cyber Bureau.
  Working together, I believe that we can make meaningful progress to 
reduce the nation-state specific risk both countries face and better 
secure the entire Internet ecosystem.
  I hope my colleagues in the Senate will move quickly to take up this 
issue. I would like to particularly thank my dear friend and home State 
colleague, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, for his efforts in this regard. 
He has been the leader in so many ways on the Senate side on 
cybersecurity, among other things, and has been an invaluable partner 
to me in this effort.
  Again, let me thank Representative Ratcliffe for his work on this 
bill and his leadership on the committee.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. RATCLIFFE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Langevin, and I urge 
my colleagues to support his bill, H.R. 5843.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ratcliffe) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 5843, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. RATCLIFFE. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a 
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not 
present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

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