Cybersecurity Policy Report, Bill to Create Federal Task Force on Chinese Hacking Advances in House, (Sep 25, 2024)
Legislation that seeks to break down agency “siloes” and promote collaboration by federal cyber defenders to address Chinese government hacking campaigns cleared the House Homeland Security Committee by voice vote today.
The Strengthening Cyber Resilience Against State-Sponsored Threats Act (H.R. 9769, 118th Cong. (2024)) was offered by Rep. Laurel Lee (R., Fla.) and is co-sponsored by Reps. Mark Green (R., Tenn.), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and John Moolenaar (R., Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The bill would require the establishment of a federal interagency task force chaired by the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency or the director’s designee, according to the bill’s text.
The vice chair of the committee would be the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the director’s designee, and the task force’s membership would include sector risk management agencies with cybersecurity responsibilities.
The task force would specifically focus on cyber threats to the U.S. from Chinese government cyber campaigns, including Volt Typhoon, which federal officials have identified as an effort to pre-position malware in U.S. critical infrastructure in advance of a conflict between China and the U.S.
Within 18 months of the formation of the task force, it would be required to submit a report on its findings and recommendations to Congress and to submit additional reports annually for five years.
The reports would have to include an assessment “of additional resources and authorities needed by Federal departments and agencies to better counter the cybersecurity threat posed by state-sponsored cyber actors, including Volt Typhoon, of the People’s Republic of China,” the bill says.
“This bill would establish an interagency task force specifically designed to address malicious cyber activity by these PRC state-sponsored actors by bringing together the expertise of our law enforcement, intelligence, and defense agencies alongside the private sector,” Rep. Lee said during today’s committee markup.
“We’ll be better able to detect, disrupt, and deter these threats before they do irreparable damage,” she added. “In order to push back against the Chinese Communist Party’s malicious attacks, we must be quicker and smarter than the criminals attempting to infiltrate America. This bill will help us do exactly that.”
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