[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 24, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3462-S3464]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 6337. Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Ms. Lummis) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2027 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 appropriate place in title XVI, insert the
following:
SEC. ___. SECURE AND INTEROPERABLE DEFENSE COLLABORATION
TECHNOLOGY.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Chief information officer.--The term ``Chief
Information Officer'' means the Chief Information Officer of
the Department of Defense.
(2) Collaboration technology.--The term ``collaboration
technology'' means a software system or application that
offers one or more primary collaboration technology features.
(3) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the
Department of Defense.
(4) End-to-end encryption.--The term ``end-to-end
encryption'' means communications encryption in which data is
encrypted when being passed through a network such that no
party, other than the sender and each intended recipient of
the communication, can access the decrypted communication,
regardless of the transport technology used and the
intermediaries or intermediate steps along the sending path.
(5) Identified standards.--The term ``identified
standards'' means the standard, or set of standards,
identified under subsection (b)(2).
(6) Interoperability.--The term ``interoperability'' has
the meaning given the term in section 3601 of title 44,
United States Code.
(7) Open standard.--The term ``open standard'' means a
standard, or a set of standards, that--
(A) is available for any individual to read and implement;
(B) does not impose any royalty or other fee for use; and
(C) can be certified for low or no cost to users of the
standard or set of standards.
(8) Primary collaboration technology feature.--The term
``primary collaboration technology feature'' means a
technology feature or function that--
(A) facilitates remote work or collaboration within the
Department;
(B) facilitates the work or collaboration described in
subparagraph (A) by providing functionality that is core or
essential, rather than ancillary or secondary; and
(C) is identified by the Chief Information Officer under
subsection (b)(1).
(9) Standards-compatible collaboration technology.--The
term ``standards-compatible collaboration technology'' means
collaboration technology--
(A) each primary collaboration technology feature of which
is compatible with the identified standards for such a
primary collaboration technology feature; and
(B) that has demonstrated compliance under subsection
(d)(2).
(10) Voluntary consensus standard.--The term ``voluntary
consensus standard'' has the meaning given such term in
Circular A-119 of the Office of Management and Budget
entitled ``Federal Participation in the Development and Use
of Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity Assessment
Activities'', issued in revised form on January 27, 2016.
(11) Third-party hosting server.--The term ``third-party
hosting server'' means any computer or software system which
is not directly operated and managed by the Department.
(b) Identifying Standards for Defense Collaboration
Technology.--
(1) Identification of features.--Not later than 180 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Chief
Information Officer shall, in consultation with such others
as the Chief Information Officer considers relevant, identify
a list of primary collaboration technology features,
including--
(A) voice and video calling, including--
(i) calling between two individuals within the Department
(including any agencies or departments within the
Department); and
(ii) calling between not less than three individuals within
the Department (including any agencies or departments within
the Department);
(B) text-based messaging within the Department (including
any agencies or departments within the Department);
(C) file sharing within the Department (including any
agencies or departments within the Department);
(D) live document editing within the Department (including
any agencies or departments within the Department);
(E) scheduling and calendaring within the Department
(including any agencies or departments within the
Department); and
(F) any other technology feature or function that the Chief
Information Officer considers appropriate.
(2) Identification of standards.--Not later than two years
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Chief
Information Officer shall identify a standard, or set of
standards, for collaboration technology used by the
Department that--
(A) for each primary collaboration technology feature,
specifies interoperability protocols, and any other protocol,
format, requirement, or guidance required to create
interoperable implementations of that feature, including--
(i) protocols for applications to specify and standardize
security, including systems for--
(I) identifying and authenticating the individuals who are
party to a communication or collaboration task;
(II) controlling the attendance and security settings of
voice and video calls; and
(III) controlling access and editing rights for shared
documents; and
(ii) protocols for any ancillary feature the Chief
Information Officer identifies to support the core primary
collaboration technology feature, including participation
features available within video meetings;
(B) to the extent possible, is based on open standards;
(C) to the extent possible, is based on standards planned,
developed, established, or coordinated using procedures
consistent with those for voluntary consensus standards;
(D) subject to paragraph (3), uses end-to-end encryption
technology;
(E) incorporates protocols, guidance, and requirements
based on best practices for the cybersecurity of
collaboration technology and collaboration technology
features;
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(F) to the extent practicable, integrates cybersecurity
technology designed to protect communications from
surveillance by foreign adversaries, including technology to
protect communications metadata from traffic analysis, with
requirements developed in consultation with such others as
the Chief Information Officer considers relevant;
(G) to the extent practicable, is usable by, or offers
options for, users with internet connections that have low-
bandwidth or high-latency;
(H) subject to paragraph (5), with respect to the use of
primary collaboration technology features, adds requirements
to the identified standards that enables compliance with
record retention and disclosure obligations, and permit
internal lawful access for law enforcement purposes; and
(I) to the extent practicable, is compatible with all
relevant information management rules, regulations, and
policies, without the need for waivers or exceptions to such
requirements.
(3) End-to-end encryption requirements.--
(A) In general.--The end-to-end encryption technology
selected as part of the identified standards under paragraph
(2), to the extent practicable, shall ensure that
collaboration and communications content data cannot be
compromised if a third-party hosting server is compromised.
(B) End-to-end encryption not available.--Subject to
subparagraph (C), if the Chief Information Officer has
identified an ancillary feature or function for a primary
collaboration technology feature and is unable to identify a
standard, or set of standards, that uses end-to-end
encryption and that is compatible with such ancillary feature
or function, the Chief Information Officer may identify a
standard or set of standards that does not utilize end-to-end
encryption that may be used to support the ancillary feature
or function.
(C) End-to-end encryption by default.--
(i) In general.--Subject to clause (ii), the Chief
Information Officer shall ensure that, with respect to the
use of standards-compatible collaboration technology that
offers an ancillary technology feature or function described
in subparagraph (B)--
(I) the ancillary feature or function is disabled by
default; and
(II) the primary collaboration technology feature uses end-
to-end encryption.
(ii) Exception.--Clause (i) shall not apply to the use of a
primary collaboration technology feature with an ancillary
feature or function described in subparagraph (B) if--
(I) the Chief Information Officer has enabled the use of
the ancillary feature or function within the Department;
(II) each user of the ancillary feature or function has
been notified of the additional cybersecurity and
surveillance risks accompanying the use of the ancillary
feature or function;
(III) each user of the ancillary feature or function has
explicitly opted into the use of the ancillary feature or
function; and
(IV) the primary collaboration technology feature offers a
means for the Chief Information Officer to collect aggregate
statistics about the use of the options that are not end-to-
end encrypted.
(D) Encryption status transparency.--To the extent
practicable, the Chief Information Officer shall identify
protocols, guidance, or requirements to ensure that
standards-compatible collaboration technology provides users
the ability to easily see the encryption status of any
collaboration feature in use.
(4) Considerations.--In identifying the identified
standards, the Chief Information Officer shall consider
secure, standards-based technologies adopted by a component
or element of the Department, allies of the United States,
State and local governments, and the private sector.
(5) Compliance with record-keeping requirements.--The Chief
Information Officer shall ensure, to the greatest extent
practicable, that the requirements added to the identified
standards to achieve compliance with record retention and
disclosure obligations, and to permit internal lawful access
for law enforcement purposes--
(A) preserve the security benefits of end-to-end
encryption, including that only specifically authorized
personnel of the Department can access retained records of
collaboration;
(B) avoid storing information, like plaintext messages or
decryption keys, that would compromise the security of
communications content data if a third-party hosting server
were compromised;
(C) minimize other cybersecurity risks; and
(D) require that all users party to a communication be
notified that the communications content data is being saved
for archival purposes.
(6) Waiver to extend deadline for standards
identification.--
(A) In general.--If the Chief Information Officer
determines that it is infeasible to identify a standard for a
particular primary collaboration technology feature not later
than two years after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Chief Information Officer may issue a waiver to extend the
deadline for the identification of such standard for the
particular primary collaboration technology feature.
(B) Waiver requirements.--A waiver described in
subparagraph (A) shall include--
(i) the particular primary collaboration technology feature
for which the waiver is issued; and
(ii) an explanation of the reason for which it is currently
infeasible to identify a standard meeting the requirements
under paragraph (2).
(C) Waiver duration.--A waiver issued by the Chief
Information Officer under subparagraph (A) shall be valid for
one year.
(D) Waiver re-issuance.--The Chief Information Officer may
re-issue a waiver under paragraph (1) for a primary
collaboration technology feature not more than ten times.
(c) Requirement to Use Identified Standards.--
(1) In general.--On and after the date that is four years
after the date on which the Chief Information Officer
identifies the identified standards, the head of a component
or element of the Department may only procure collaboration
technology if the collaboration technology is standards-
compatible collaboration technology.
(2) Exception for particular collaboration systems.--The
following collaboration systems shall not be subject to the
requirements under paragraph (1):
(A) Email.
(B) Voice services, as defined in section 227(e) of the
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(e)).
(C) National security systems, as defined in section
11103(a) of title 40, United States Code.
(3) Exception for post-purchase configuration.--If a
software product or a device with a software operating system
has built-in primary collaboration technology features that
are not compatible with the identified standards, and the
Chief Information Officer cannot procure the product or
device with those primary collaboration technology features
disabled before purchase, the Chief Information Officer may
comply with this subsection by disabling the primary
collaboration technology features that are not compatible
with the identified standards before provisioning the
software product or device to an employee of the Department.
(4) Certification for waiver.--
(A) Certification.--The Chief Information Officer may issue
a certification for waiver of the prohibition under paragraph
(1) with respect to a particular collaboration technology.
(B) Requirement.--A certification under subparagraph (A)
shall cite not less than one specific reason, which shall not
be a generalized national security claim, for which the
Department is unable to procure standards-compatible
collaboration technology that meets the needs of the
Department.
(C) Submission.--The Chief Information Officer shall submit
to the congressional defense committees a copy of each
certification issued under subparagraph (A).
(D) Publishing.--
(i) Accessible posting.--The Chief Information Officer
shall publish a copy of each certification issued under
subparagraph (A) on the website of the Department.
(ii) National security.--The Secretary of Defense may waive
the requirement of subclause (i) on a case-by-case basis if
the Secretary certifies, in writing, to the congressional
defense committees that publicly posting the waiver described
in subparagraph (A) would harm the national security of the
United States.
(E) Duration; renewal.--A certification with respect to a
particular collaboration technology under this paragraph
shall result in a waiver of the prohibition for that
particular collaboration technology under paragraph (1)(B)
that--
(i) shall be valid for a four-year period; and
(ii) may be renewed by the Chief Information Officer, after
conducting a new assessment of available standards-
collaboration technology.
(d) Attestation of Compliance and Interoperability Test
Results.--
(1) Interoperability test.--Not later than one year after
the date on which the Chief Information Officer identifies
the identified standards, the Chief Information Officer shall
identify third-party online interoperability test suites,
including not less than one free test suite, or develop a
free online interoperability test suite if no suitable third-
party test suite can be identified, which shall--
(A) enable any entity to test whether an implementation of
a primary collaboration technology feature has
interoperability with the identified standards; and
(B) offer an externally-shareable version of the
interoperability test results that can be provided as part of
a demonstration of compliance under paragraph (2).
(2) Demonstration of compliance.--In order to demonstrate
that a collaboration technology is a standards-compatible
collaboration technology, the provider of the collaboration
technology shall provide to the Chief Information Officer--
(A) an attestation that includes an affirmation that--
(i) each primary collaboration technology feature of the
collaboration technology, by default--
(I) uses the relevant standard or standards from the
identified standards for the primary collaboration technology
feature to interoperate with other instances of standards-
compatible collaboration technology; and
(II) follows all guidance and requirements from the
identified standards that is applicable to the primary
collaboration technology feature; and
(ii) the collaboration technology enables the Chief
Information Officer to disable the
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ability of users to use modes of the collaboration technology
that are not compatible with the identified standards; and
(B) interoperability test results described in paragraph
(1)(B) that demonstrate interoperability with the identified
standards for each primary collaboration technology feature
the collaboration technology offers.
(3) Publication of standards-compatible collaboration
technology vendors.--Upon a review of the materials submitted
under paragraph (2), the Chief Information Officer shall
publish on the website of the Department a list of each
collaboration technology that the Chief Information Officer
has determined to be a standards-compatible collaboration
technology.
(4) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this subsection shall
be construed to require a collaboration technology vendor to
directly test the interoperability of a primary collaboration
technology feature with the product of another collaboration
technology vendor.
(e) Cybersecurity Reviews of Collaboration Technology
Products.--
(1) In general.--Not later than four years after the date
on which the Chief Information Officer identifies the
identified standards, the Chief Information Officer shall
conduct security reviews of collaboration technology products
used within the Department, to identify any cybersecurity
vulnerability or threat relating to those collaboration
technology products.
(2) Selection and prioritization.--With respect to
collaboration technology products selected for security
reviews under paragraph (1), the Chief Information Officer
shall determine the number of products, the specific
products, and the prioritization of products for security
review, considering factors including--
(A) the total number of users across the Department using a
collaboration technology product; and
(B) an estimation of the likelihood of a collaboration
technology product being targeted for hacking.
(3) Report.--Not later than 30 days after the date on which
the Chief Information Officer conducts security reviews under
paragraph (1), the Chief Information Officer shall submit to
the congressional defense committees a report on the results
of the security reviews.
(f) Updates to Identified Standards.--
(1) Solicitation of feedback.--The Chief Information
Officer shall regularly solicit feedback from within the
Department to identify areas of improvement of the identified
standards, desired collaboration technology features, and
barriers to the adoption of standards-compatible
collaboration technology.
(2) Updates authorized.--The Chief Information Officer may
update the identified standards based on feedback received
under paragraph (1), evolutions in collaboration technology
feature offerings, cybersecurity best practices, or any other
factor the Chief Information Officer determines.
(g) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed--
(1) to limit the ability of the Department to communicate
with other entities using standards-compatible collaboration
technology;
(2) to limit the ability of other entities to use the
identified standards or standards-compatible collaboration
technology;
(3) to limit the ability of the Department to apply,
implement, and enforce other information management policies,
regulations, and requirements with respect to standards-
compatible collaboration technology;
(4) to affect any of the authorities of the Director of
National Intelligence or the Office of the Director of
National Intelligence; or
(5) to affect information technology-related procurement
for the intelligence community (as defined in section 3 of
the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003)).
______