ANCHOR Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7630) to require a plan to improve the cybersecurity and telecommunications of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 7630, the bill now under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be here in support of the ANCHOR Act sponsored by my friend, Mr. Mike Garcia of California.

The ANCHOR Act establishes the crucial need for better cybersecurity in the U.S. Academic Research Fleet. This fleet of 18 vessels operates in the oceans, the Great Lakes, and the polar regions where they conduct crucial research on our marine environments.

They are studying ecosystems and food webs, offshore energy resources, and how we can better forecast and respond to hazards like earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions.

Much of what we know about the ocean, from the wave dynamics to the deepest trenches, is thanks to research done aboard one of these vessels.

They operate a wide range of specialized equipment, including deep- towing cameras, state-of-the-art acoustic sensors, and sea floor mapping systems. They do this all over the globe, often sailing to remote locations far from land.

This creates a unique challenge because the fleet needs secure and reliable communications and data transmissions, whether they are just off the coast of California or in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

That means that each individual vessel needs a specialized infrastructure that protects their scientific equipment and ensures the security of their data, both on board and in transmission.

They need this level of security, but they don't have it. This bill will change that. The ANCHOR Act directs the National Science Foundation to submit a plan for much-needed upgrades to our Academic Research Fleet to improve cybersecurity and modernize telecom equipment.

We are directing the NSF to take into account the types of research done on each vessel, where they operate, their specialized equipment, and the necessary bandwidth for communication.

This plan is necessary to protect the taxpayer-funded research that is being performed by our Academic Research Fleet.

My fellow Representatives have often heard me talk about the threat to our research and intellectual property from the Chinese Communist Party.

We have taken strong steps to protect research done at our Federal agencies and in partnership with academic institutions. Now we must take the next step and secure the research being done off our coasts.

I appreciate Representative Mike Garcia's work on this issue and his commitment to strengthen our research enterprise and give it the protection it deserves.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Mike Garcia), to speak on his bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Mike Garcia, Congresswoman Stevens, and Congresswoman Lofgren, my colleague from California and the ranking member. This is a good piece of legislation. Let's vote for it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the ANCHOR Act and yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the U.S. Academic Research Fleet is made up of an impressive array of marine research assets consisting of large and small oceanographic vessels, sophisticated submersibles, and high-tech autonomous vehicles.

More impressive is the invaluable research conducted by this fleet. It supports critical ocean environmental science that leads to a deeper understanding of our Earth system, improved and continuous assessments of our Nation's marine natural resources, and serves national security interests as well.

This diverse fleet is managed and operated by a diverse group that includes NSF, the Office of Naval Research, Federal research labs, and U.S. universities. These various entities bring with them assorted cyber infrastructure and networking challenges and vulnerabilities as well. This technological struggle has had real detrimental impacts, has hindered the production of needed scientific outputs,

and has placed important expensive projects at risk.

This legislation directs NSF to collaborate with other appropriate agencies and ARF operators on the creation of a networking and cybersecurity improvement plan that could address these challenges by assessing equipment and personnel costs and time requirements for upgrading the fleet and developing a proposal for funding these upgrades.

The Senate companion to this bill, led by California's own Senators Padilla and Sullivan, recently passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee, so we have a real opportunity to get this bill passed and begin the process of closing this unfortunate gap so that the science gets done.

I thank the bill's sponsors, Mr. Mike Garcia and Ms. Stevens, for their work on the ANCHOR Act. I thank the chairman for his continuing bipartisanship on the committee.

We have made tremendous progress this year. I urge everyone to join me in supporting the act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support and thank Chairman Lucas and the committee staff for their support as well of H.R. 7630, the ANCHOR Act, which protects our scientific infrastructure from CCP espionage.

I also thank my colleague from across the aisle, Ms. Stevens, for her support in cosponsoring this bill as well.

As I said during the markup of this very important piece of legislation, the U.S. is the proud home to some of the best minds in the world, minds that keep our Nation on the cutting edge of scientific research, driving our national security, our economy, our healthcare, and so much more. Those advantages would immediately disappear if we allow lapses in our research security to occur.

The NSF currently owns 17 ships that make up the Academic Research Fleet. This fleet enables scientists across the Nation to conduct complex research on the ocean, the sea floor, the Great Lakes, remote polar regions, and throughout our Nation's borders maritime regions.

Unfortunately, this fleet is also aging and has become susceptible to cyber espionage from the CCP. According to The Wall Street Journal, in 2019 the fleet was the largest target to more than two-dozen cybersecurity attacks by the CCP as part of an elaborate scheme to steal research about maritime technology being developed for military use.

Following these attacks, Mr. Speaker, the NSF ordered an independent advisory group to provide recommendations for strengthening the cybersecurity capabilities of the Academic Research Fleet.

The ANCHOR Act implements these recommendations to protect the fleet and is the tool that the taxpayers will fund to make sure that the research they conduct is secure and protected.

We can't afford to wait, and we can't let China continue to rob us of precious American innovations paid for by our constituents.

I thank Chairman Lucas, again, for his support of my bill, and I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support it.