By Calvin Biesecker
A House panel on Tuesday approved an authorization bill for the Science and Technology (S&T) branch of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that would boost the agency’s funding by $103 million over the Obama administration’s budget request in FY ’11, including doubling funding for research and development related to cyber security.
The mark-up of the $1.1 billion Homeland Security Science and Technology Act of 2010 (H.R. 4842) by the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology was approved unanimously by voice vote. The act, which has been referred to the full committee, would authorize the appropriation of $75 million in both FY ’11 and FY ’12 for cyber security-related R&D by the DHS S&T Directorate.
As part of the proceedings, the panel approved by voice vote an amendment by Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio) that calls for development and support of cyber forensics and attack attribution capabilities.
“Working through multiple computer systems and often through countries that do not cooperate with investigations into cyber crime, these criminals are difficult if not impossible to bring to justice with the current set of tools available to American businesses, academics, and the public at large,” Kilroy said during the mark-up. “Ensuring that federal research dollars can be spent on attack attribution and cyber forensics research is the first step in expanding our capability to trace these criminals and make it easier to bring them to justice.”
The proposed bill also requires DHS to get help from the National Research Council to “assess methods that might be used to promote market mechanisms that further cyber security and make recommendations” related to this. The bill also includes an amendment by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) that calls for an analysis of the current marketplace and the need to promote cyber security insurance.
Also in the area of cyber security, the bill requires S&T to “conduct research and determine if the security of federally owned programmable electronic devices and communications networks, including hardware, software, and data, essential to reliable operation of essential electric infrastructure have been compromised.”
In other matters, the bill requires that DHS submit a report on the current role of the venture capital community in funding advanced homeland security technologies and also wants recommendations on the establishment of a non-profit organization that would be focused on delivering advanced homeland security technologies to “the homeland security community.” The report should address whether the CIA’s In-Q-Tel venture capital entity could serve as a model for this non-profit organization, the bill says.
The bill also proposes $305.8 million be authorized for the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office in FY ’11, the same level proposed by the administration. The bill requires that DNDO develop a strategic plan for the domestic component of the Global Nuclear Detection Strategy with a focus on timeframes and costs for select areas such as land areas between ports of entry and aviation.
For DNDO, the bill wants alternatives identified to the Advanced Spectroscopic Portal (ASP) monitors and current Radiation Portal Monitors (RPM) for primary screening applications. DHS recently decided to focus the ASP program on secondary screening and continue relying on RPMs for primary screening of cargo and vehicles at the nation’s ports of entry for potential radiological and nuclear threats entering the country.
The bill also authorized $20 million in FY ’11 and $10 million the following year for DNDO’s Securing the Cities (STC) initiative, which is currently focused on developing and deploying radiation detection architecture in the New York City region. The administration isn’t requesting any monies in FY ’11 for the program, saying sufficient funds are available from prior years.
The bill goes further though, and wants DNDO to implement and eventually new STC efforts in at least two more cities that currently receive DHS grants under the Urban Areas Security Initiative.