[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 117 (Thursday, June 25, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3514-S3515]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 2071. Mr. GARDNER submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
by him to the bill S. 4049, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2021 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of subtitle E of title XII, add the following:
SEC. 1262. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON ESTABLISHMENT OF A CYBER
LEAGUE OF INDO-PACIFIC STATES TO ADDRESS CYBER
THREATS..
(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The world has benefitted greatly from technological
innovations under the leadership of the United States in the
post-World War era, including the creation of the World Wide
Web which has provided an entirely new platform for wealth
creation and human flourishing through cyber-commerce and
connectivity.
[[Page S3515]]
(2) Cybercrime affects companies large and small, as well
as infrastructure that is vital to the economy as a whole.
(3) A 2018 study from the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, in partnership with McAfee, estimates
that the global economic losses from cybercrime are
approximately $600,000,000,000 annually and rising.
(4) According to the Pew Charitable Trust, 64 percent of
people in the United States had fallen victim to
cybercriminals as of 2017.
(5) On July 9, 2012, General Keith Alexander, then-Director
of the National Security Agency, termed theft of United
States intellectual property ``the greatest transfer of
wealth in history''.
(6) On September 25, 2015, the United States and the
People's Republic of China announced a commitment that
``neither country's government will conduct or knowingly
support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property,
including trade secrets or other confidential business
information, with the intent of providing competitive
advantages to companies or commercial sectors''.
(7) The People's Republic of China nonetheless continues to
contribute to the rise of cybercrime, exploiting weaknesses
in the international system to undermine fair competition in
technology and cyberspace, including through theft of
intellectual property and state-sponsored malicious actions
to undermine and weaken competition.
(8) According to the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment by
the Director of National Intelligence: ``China, Russia, Iran,
and North Korea increasingly use cyber operations to threaten
both minds and machines in an expanding number of ways--to
steal information, to influence our citizens, or to disrupt
critical infrastructure.''
(9) From 2011 to 2018, more than 90 percent of cases
handled by the Department of Justice alleging economic
espionage by or to benefit a foreign country involved the
People's Republic of China.
(10) More than \2/3\ of the cases handled by the Department
of Justice involving theft of trade secrets have a nexus to
the People's Republic of China.
(11) Experts have asserted that the Made in China 2025
strategy of the Government of the People's Republic of China
will incentivize Chinese entities to engage in unfair
competitive behavior, including additional theft of
technologies and intellectual property.
(12) The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has also
contributed to the rise of cybercrime and according to the
2018 Worldwide Threat Assessment by the Director of National
Intelligence: ``We expect the heavily sanctioned North Korea
to use cyber operations to raise funds and to gather
intelligence or launch attacks on South Korea and the United
States. . . . North Korean actors developed and launched the
WannaCry ransomware in May 2017, judging from technical links
to previously identified North Korean cyber tools,
tradecraft, and operational infrastructure. We also assess
that these actors conducted the cyber theft of $81 million
from the Bank of Bangladesh in 2016.''
(13) Section 2(a)(8) of the North Korea Sanctions and
Policy Enhancement Act of 2016 (22 U.S.C. 9201(a)(8)) states,
``The Government of North Korea has provided technical
support and conducted destructive and coercive cyberattacks,
including against Sony Pictures Entertainment and other
United States persons.''
(14) The United States has taken action on its own against
international cybercrime, including through--
(A) the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of
2016 (Public Law 114-122), which imposed mandatory sanctions
against persons engaging in significant activities
undermining cybersecurity on behalf of the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea; and
(B) criminal charges filed by the Department of Justice on
October 25, 2018, in which the Department alleged that the
Chinese intelligence services conducted cyber intrusions
against at least a dozen companies in order to obtain
information on a commercial jet engine.
(15) The March 2016 Department of State International
Cyberspace Policy Strategy noted that ``the Department of
State anticipates a continued increase and expansion of our
cyber-focused diplomatic efforts for the foreseeable
future''.
(16) Concerted action by countries that share concerns
about state-sponsored cyber theft is necessary to prevent the
growth of cybercrime and other destabilizing national
security and economic outcomes.
(17) Section 215 of the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of
2018 (Public Law 115-409) calls for ``robust cybersecurity
cooperation between the United States and nations in the
Indo-Pacific region'' and ``authorized to be appropriated
$100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2019 through 2023
to enhance cooperation between the United States and the
Indo-Pacific nations for the purpose of combatting
cybersecurity threats''.
(b) Sense of Congress.--Congress--
(1) urges the President to propose and champion the
negotiation of a cooperative agreement with like-minded
partners in the Indo-Pacific to ensure a free and open
Internet free from economically crippling cyberattacks;
(2) calls for the cooperative agreement, which can be
referred to as the Cyber League of Indo-Pacific States (in
this section referred to as ``CLIPS''), to include the
creation of an Information Sharing Analysis Center to provide
around-the-clock cyber threat monitoring and mitigation for
governments that are parties to the cooperative agreement;
and
(3) calls for members of CLIPS--
(A) to consult on emerging cyber threats;
(B) to pledge not to conduct or support theft of
intellectual property, including trade secrets or other
confidential business information;
(C) to introduce and enforce minimum criminal punishment
for cyber theft;
(D) to extradite alleged cyber thieves, consistent with
existing agreements and respecting national sovereignty;
(E) to enforce laws protecting intellectual property,
including patents;
(F) to ensure that government agencies comply with software
license terms;
(G) to minimize data localization requirements (consistent
with the Agreement between the United States of America, the
United Mexican States, and Canada, signed at Buenos Aires
November 30, 2018 (commonly known as the ``United States-
Mexico-Canada Agreement''));
(H) to seek cooperation with respect to the standards
described in the Arrangement on the Recognition of Common
Criteria Certificates in the field of Information Technology
Security, dated May 14, 2014;
(I) to provide for public input when devising legislation
on cybersecurity; and
(J) to cooperate on the attribution of cyberattacks and
impose appropriate consequences.
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