Cybersecurity Policy Report, House OKs Bill to Strengthen Supply Chain Security Council, (Nov 13, 2024)
Legislation designed to strengthen a federal interagency council that seeks to keep untrustworthy technology products out of federal networks cleared the House late yesterday by voice vote.
The Federal Acquisition Security Council (FASC) Improvement Act (H.R. 9597, 118th Cong. (2024)) would overhaul the structure and duties of the Federal Acquisition Security Council (FASC), an office that became operational in 2021 pursuant to the 2018 Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act (CPR, Aug. 26, 2021).
Currently chaired by a representative from the Office of Management and Budget, the FASC, under the bill, would move to the White House Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) and be placed under the leadership of ONCD’s director or the director’s designee, according to the bill’s text.
The bill would require the FASC to issue binding removal and exclusion orders when directed to do so by Congress, and its mission would be expanded to include acquisition security more broadly. Its focus would continue to be technology supply chain threats from “covered” nations, including North Korea, Iran, China, and Russia.
The bill cleared the House Oversight and Accountability Committee by a vote of 39-0 in September (CPR, Sept. 19). It’s sponsored by Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.), chairman of the committee, and co-sponsored by Reps. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.), the committee’s ranking member, and John Moolenaar (R., Mich.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D., Ill.), chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
“Our foreign adversaries have been using information technology and telecommunications equipment to infiltrate and exploit the systems of federal agencies,” Rep. Comer noted yesterday on the House floor.
“The FASC has the authority to recommend that agencies exclude certain sources from federal procurement processes or remove certain technologies from federal information systems,” he said.
“However, Congress must have a more active role in directing the FASC to consider the exclusion and removal of certain sources of concern from federal systems. This bill, the FASC Improvement Act, authorizes the FASC to issue binding removal and exclusion orders when directed by Congress,” he explained.
“We need to ensure the executive branch can promptly act to protect the federal supply chain and agency information systems from nefarious technology influenced by a foreign adversary,” Rep. Comer added. “This bipartisan bill provides the FASC with the teeth and resources it needs to protect the federal supply chain.”
MainStory: TopStory DataSecurity FederalLegislation