Last month Sen Rosen (D,NV) introduced S 1193, the United States-Israel Cybersecurity Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2021. The bill would require DHS to establish a grant program to support joint US-Israeli cybersecurity research, development, and commercialization efforts. The bill authorizes a minimum of $6 million to support the grant program each year through 2026.
Definitions
Section 2 of the bill provides definitions for five key-terms used in the legislation. Two of those terms are specific to this bill:
Cybersecurity research, and
Cybersecurity technology
‘Cybersecurity research’ is defined as research, including social science research, into ways to identify, protect against, detect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity threats. The term ‘cybersecurity technology’ is defined as technology intended to identify, protect against, detect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity threats.
Grant Program
The grant program that would be established under this program would be used to support joint efforts in support of cybersecurity research, development and commercialization. The joint programs to be funded would be cooperative arrangements between a for-profit business entity, academic institution, or National Laboratory {42 USC 15801(3)} in the United States and a similar organization in Israel, or between an agency of the Federal Government and the State of Israel.
Generally, the grants would be for no more than 50% of the project cost and would be approved 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. Grantees would be required to provide a report to DHS on how the grant funds had been used and the efficacy of the supported program.
Grants would only be issued to programs that are considered to be unclassified by both the United States and Israel.
Advisory Board
DHS would be required to establish an advisory board. The board would consist of three members who would be tasked with responsibility to:
Monitor the method by which grants are awarded under this subsection, and
Provide to the Secretary periodic performance reviews of actions taken to carry out bill.
The board would consist of:
A representative of the Federal Government,
An individual selected from a list of nominees provided by the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation, and
An individual selected from a list of nominees provided by the United States-Israel Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation.
Moving Forward
Rosen is not a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to which this bill was referred for consideration. One of her three cosponsors {Sen Young (R,IN)} is a member and is the Ranking Member of the appropriate subcommittee. This means that there is probably sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. I suspect that there would be bipartisan support for this bill in Committee.
Unfortunately, as with most bills introduced in the Senate, it would be very unlikely for this bill to make it to the floor of the Senate for consideration under normal order. It is just not a significant enough bill to take up the time necessary for the normal debate and amendment process.
Because of the current flare-up of hostilities between Hamas and Israel, it is very probable that this bill would raise an objection if it were brought to the floor of the Senate under the unanimous consent process. A single objection, and not necessarily an objection to the language of the bill, would stop that consideration from proceeding.
Similar bills have been introduced reaching back to at least 2017 in both the Senate and House. The House has been able to pass such bills, but the Senate has been unable to move them out of Committee.
Rosen has submitted language similar to this bill as a potential amendment to S 1260, the Endless Frontiers Act that is currently being considered in the Senate. It is not currently on the list of amendments that is planned for consideration on Monday.