Protecting Critical Infrastructure Against Drones and Emerging Threats Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6620) to require the Department of Homeland Security to prepare a threat assessment relating to unmanned aircraft systems, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this legislation that will help protect the American people from threatening drones. Drones are being used to cross America more and more every year. News outlets use drones to capture footage for a breaking story. Photographers use them to take photos and videos at weddings, sporting events, and rock concerts. They also are used by law enforcement to help document crime scenes or assist with search and rescue operations. Those are all good things.

However, drones or other unmanned aerial systems can also pose a threat if they are controlled by terrorists or criminals. For example, ISIS used them to carry out attacks and conduct reconnaissance overseas. Here at home, criminals are using drones to smuggle drugs across our borders and surveil law enforcement. The FBI even disrupted a plot to attack the Pentagon with a drone loaded with grenades.

The threats we face from drones are constantly evolving as the technology becomes more accessible across the globe. We need to do more to confront these dangers.

This legislation requires the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at DHS to develop a drone threat assessment with information gathered from Federal, State, local, and private sector partners.

It also directs the Under Secretary to establish a secure communications infrastructure for receiving and analyzing such threat information.

Further, this bill sets up a voluntary mechanism for critical infrastructure owners and operators to report information on similar emerging threats.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Richmond and Congressman Ratcliffe for their hard work on this issue. I think this bill will allow us to strengthen our intelligence gathering and stay one step ahead of our enemies.

I am pleased that the Senate and House were also able to include the Preventing Emerging Threats Act, legislation I introduced with Congressman Chabot, in the FAA bill that will be on the floor tomorrow. This will give DHS the authority to counter drones in our airspace if they are determined to be a threat to national security.

This bill provides DHS and DOJ with the ability to act quickly and effectively when a drone poses a security risk to large-scale events, national security events, and government facilities.

Secretary Nielsen described this legislation as ``a critical step in enabling the Department to address this threat.''

Let's provide DHS with the tools it needs to confront these threats before they get worse.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support these bipartisan bills, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House of

Representatives,

Washington, DC, September 21, 2018.

Hon. Michael McCaul,

Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security,

Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman McCaul: I write concerning H.R. 6620, the

Protecting Critical Infrastructure Against Drones and

Emerging Threats Act. This legislation includes matters that

fall within the Rule X jurisdiction

of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

In order to expedite floor consideration of H.R. 6620, the

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will forgo

action on this bill. However, this is conditional on our

mutual understanding that forgoing consideration of the bill

would not prejudice the Committee with respect to the

appointment of conferees or to any future jurisdictional

claim over the subject matters contained in the bill or

similar legislation that fall within the Committee's Rule X

jurisdiction. I request you urge the Speaker to name members

of the Committee to any conference committee named to

consider such provisions.

Please place a copy of this letter and your response

acknowledging our jurisdictional interest in the

Congressional Record during House Floor consideration of the

bill. I look forward to working with the Committee on

Homeland Security as the bill moves through the legislative

process.

Sincerely,

Bill Shuster,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, on September 11, a United Airlines flight was headed towards the Capitol. Thank God those heroes that day brought down that airliner in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and this great building that we are standing in today was not destroyed with an image I don't think the American people could accept.

However, those terrorists are exploiting these drones. We have seen them in Iraq and Syria with explosives and chemical weapons. We have also disrupted plots for the use of drones against both the Pentagon and the United States Capitol. A drone, unlike an airplane, could hit the United States Capitol very quickly. We need to give the Department the tools and the authorities necessary to protect our American institutions.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6620, the Protecting Critical Infrastructure Against Drones and Emerging Threats Act.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6620 would require the Department of Homeland Security to take action to better understand and address an emerging threat posed by unmanned aerial systems--or drones--to our Nation's critical infrastructure.

These technologies are not new, but their applications have evolved rapidly in recent years. Some of these uses are important to keeping the public safe, growing our economy, and providing new ways to explore the world, including giving first responders better information in an emergency, for example. But, we also know that drones can be used for espionage, be weaponized, or even to carry out a terrorist attack.

My district in Louisiana has one of the Nation's highest concentrations of critical infrastructure, including pipelines, refineries, ports, airports, stadiums, and a wide range of other key assets and resources.

When I speak with critical infrastructure owners and operators, they recognize the benefits of drone technology. Many of them even put them to good use in their own businesses. At the same time, they are troubled by the risks posed by unknown, unauthorized drones operating over their facilities.

Over the past year, I have asked owners and operators what we in government can do to help them address this threat. What I heard is that, at a minimum, they need a way to report potentially dangerous drone activity to DHS when they detect it.

In a hearing this spring before the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee, where I serve as ranking member, stakeholders from the chemical industry testified about this challenge on the record. They told us that when a facility detects a drone in their airspace, they aren't sure what to do about it, or even who to tell.

H.R. 6620 would address this gap in a few ways.

First, it would require DHS to establish a channel for reporting information on drones, as well as other emerging threats, securely, through a communications infrastructure, developed in conjunction with the Department's chief information officer.

This bill would also direct DHS's Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis to develop and disseminate a threat assessment on unmanned aerial systems and other emerging threats associated with drone technology. The assessment would be informed by Federal, State, local, and private sector partners, and prepared in consultation with other DHS components, like the National Protection and Programs Directorate, that have relevant expertise.

Finally, H.R. 6620 would require DHS to report its findings to Congress within 1 year.

Together, these provisions call on DHS to take a closer look at a significant threat to our Nation's critical infrastructure--the threat of drone-enabled attacks--while also creating an enduring mechanism for DHS to continue gathering information on emerging threats from the owners and operators who stand on the front line of defense.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6620 would direct the Department of Homeland Security to do more to understand, assess, and respond to the threat posed by drones, while also creating an avenue for two-way information sharing about emerging threats.

My bill creates a new channel for critical infrastructure owners and operators to report potentially dangerous drone activity in their airspace, and other new threats as they evolve. Creating a way for owners and operators to relay this information, on a voluntary basis, would give DHS access to better data and a more comprehensive view of the threat environment.

Before I yield back, I would like to also express support for a related provision in the FAA package that is expected to be considered tomorrow. It would allow DHS to research technologies to counter threats of unmanned aerial systems being exploited to carry out terrorism or dangerous activity.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6620, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6620, the Protecting Critical Infrastructure Against Drones and Emerging Threats Act.

This much needed measure would direct the Department of Homeland Security to complete a vulnerability assessment of the threat posed by Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) to our critical infrastructure assets.

The results of the assessment would be reported to Congress, providing policymakers with much needed information to better protect our critical infrastructure assets.

Unmanned Air Systems, or drones, hold great promise, and may one day change the world as we know it.

As the technology develops however, there is always the risk that malicious actors may seek to use it to cause harm or destruction.

Drones offer the ability for almost anyone to bypass most physical security measures of our critical infrastructure facilities.

These facilities, such as nuclear power plants and oil refineries, depend on physical security and access control to ensure that operations are secured and remain operational.

Drones could potentially allow a malicious actor to bypass the security of a facility, carry out an explosive or chemical attack, or conduct surveillance of prohibited areas.

At a time when our critical infrastructure assets are under constant attack, and have suffered serious breaches in recent years, we must take action to ensure that the ability of our citizens and the ability of federal agencies to carry out their duties are resilient.

As a long-time advocate of a government that works efficiently for the people, it is clear that current security practices protecting our critical infrastructure are neither sufficient nor consistent.

Without an honest effort to even get a obtain view of the security risks facing critical infrastructure assets we will continue to be increasingly vulnerable.

While conducting threat assessments like this will harden the security posture of the federal government and our critical infrastructure assets, we are still suffering from a shortage of workers with the requisite skills to secure them.

To address this, I have introduced the Cyber Security Education and Federal Workforce Enhancement Act (H.R. 1981), which would address our cyber workforce shortage by establishing an Office of Cybersecurity Education and Awareness within DHS which will focus on:

Recruiting information assurance, cybersecurity, and computer security professionals;

Providing grants, training programs, and other support for kindergarten through grade 12, secondary, and post-secondary computer security education programs;

Supporting guest lecturer programs in which professional computer security experts lecture computer science students at institutions of higher education;

Identifying youth training programs for students to work in part-time or summer positions at federal agencies; and

Developing programs to support underrepresented minorities in computer security fields with programs at minority-serving institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Native American colleges, Asian-American institutions, and rural colleges and universities.

Mr. Speaker, government agencies and the owners of critical infrastructure alike continue to struggle to identify the factors and technologies that put them at risk.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I urge all members to join me in voting to pass H.R. 6620, the ``Protecting Critical Infrastructure Against Drones and Emerging Threats Act''.

Mr. Speaker, the following cost estimate for H.R. 6742, the Secure Border Communications Act prepared by the Congressional Budget Office was not available to the Committee at the time of filing of the legislative report.

Department of Homeland Security Legislation

As passed by the House of Representatives on September 25, 2018

On September 25, the House of Representatives passed the

following three pieces of legislation:

H.R. 6620, the Protecting Critical Infrastructure Against

Drones and Emerging Threats Act, which would require the

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to prepare assessments

of the threats presented by unmanned aircraft systems (often

called drones) and other emerging threats associated with

such new technologies;

H.R. 6735, the Public-Private Cybersecurity Cooperation

Act, which would require DHS to establish procedures for

people or organizations to report vulnerabilities in the

department's information systems; and

H.R. 6740, the Border Tunnel Task Force Act, which would

direct DHS to establish task forces to combat threats from

cross-border tunnels; the task forces could include personnel

from federal, state, local, and tribal agencies.

CBO estimates that enacting the legislation would not

significantly affect spending by DHS in any fiscal year

because the department could largely implement each act with

existing personnel.

Enacting the legislation would not affect direct spending

or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not

apply.

CBO estimates that enacting the legislation would not

increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of

the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.

None of the acts contain intergovernmental or private-

sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform

Act.

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Mark Grabowicz.

The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy

Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

U.S. Congress,

Congressional Budget Office,

Washington, DC, September 27, 2018.

Hon. Michael McCaul,

Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security,

House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has

prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 6620, H.R. 6735,

and H.R. 6740, three bills concerning the Department of

Homeland Security that were ordered reported by the Committee

on Homeland Security on September 13, 2018.

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be

pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Mark

Grabowicz.

Sincerely,

Keith Hall.

Enclosure.