The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Subcommittee for Emerging Threats and Capabilities quickly approved its markup of a portion of the defense authorization bill on Wednesday.
The panel’s recommendations for the FY ’18 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will now be presented to the HASC for final approval.
In her opening remarks, Subcommittee Chairwoman Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) emphasized the main cyber themes of the NDAA mark as increasing congressional oversight of cyber operations, bolstering international partnerships to counter cyber threats perpetrated by Russia, China and North Korea, and enhancing U.S. cyber capabilities.
“The Emerging Threats and Capabilities subcommittee mark this year focuses heavily on providing for stronger cyber warfare capabilities, safeguarding technological superiority, enabling our Special Operations Forces across the globe, providing resources and authorities to counter terrorism and unconventional warfare threats, and energizing programs and activities that counter the spread of weapons of mass destruction,” Stefanik said.
Proposals in the mark include authorizing increasing authorized funds for NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence, calling for briefings on sensitive cyber operations to be given to all congressional defense committees and moving to legitimize the Department of Defense’s Cyber Scholarship Program.
“Strengthening collaboration with NATO allies in the cyberspace and other domains to counter Russian aggression is a hallmark of this year’s [NDAA], although I believe there is still more that we can do,” Ranking Member Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) said in his remarks.
The mark was approved by the subcommittee with a unanimous vote and no new amendments or proposals were added. The full committee will mark up House version of the NDAA next Wednesday.