Weekly WHAT: Congressional Outlook, Cyber in the States, and the FCC's Broadband Efforts

By Mitch Herckis posted Jul 22,2014 10:35 AM

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Key Takeaway: The Outlook For Congress
It’s almost August, which means we’re coming to the end of the Congressional session. As of today, there are only two weeks left until Congressional representatives flee the Capitol for their ~~summer recess~~ district work period. After that, 10 days of session are planned in September, 2 in October, and that’s it until the end of the 2014 fiscal year.

To get a sense of the outlook for key tech legislation such as cybersecurity, I thought it might make sense to present what the House and Senate list of general ‘must pass’ bills looks like. In addition to funding the government for 2015, which has stalled in the Senate, the parties must resolve differences regarding how to provide additional funding to deal with a massive influx of children crossing our southern border. Members of both parties have also promised to act on reform of the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as on ambassadorial nominations as a lack of action on appointments has left 1 in 4 countries without an ambassador. With international crises in Ukraine and the Middle East sucking up oxygen and focus, breakthroughs on these concerns are even more difficult. (UPDATE: a more comprehensive 'to do' list here from the AP)

All that said, gridlock sometimes that means bills that are not as controversial or ‘hot’ will get some floor time. Theoretically, some of the less controversial elements of cybersecurity—such as authorizing current cybersecurity efforts at DHS and NIST—could be passed through both chambers. However, time is very short.

Other Buzz:

Council of Governors Delves Into Cybersecurity
The Council of Governors, which has served as a liaison between Governors and the Department of Defense on National Guard issues, met last week during the NGA meeting. During the meeting the Council approved a Joint Action Plan for State-Federal Unity of Effort on Cybersecurity. The plan is a framework under which states, DHS and DoD hope to work together to improve the nation’s cybersecurity posture. It establishes a framework to guide state-federal discussions in areas such as information sharing, operational coordination and incident response. More can be found about the plan in this press release from the National Governors Association (NGA), which provides support for the Council.

The plan marks both an expansion of the role of the Council of Governors beyond the National Guard activities to wider homeland defense, as well as an acknowledgement of the role the Guard is playing in some states in supporting cybersecurity activities. NASCIO has been actively working with key staff at NGA for some time regarding the CIO’s role in securing state systems against attacks.

The FCC Broadband Agenda
Last week I mentioned the major headline that came out of the FCC’s June meeting—reforms to the E-rate program that will provide billions for installing Wi-Fi capacity in schools and libraries, as well as incentives for consortia and bulk purchasing. However, the FCC also took other actions that will promote broadband deployment.

This includes the allocation of $100 million for “experiments” in rural broadband. A review of the positive industry reaction is available from LightReading. The funding, which will be distributed through a competitive application process is intended to assist entities such as utilities, wireless operators, or competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) that are seeking to deploy broadband to high-cost, underserved areas. More can be found about the rural broadband experiments from the FCC, including the order which outlines the methodology for selecting projects among formal applications.

In addition, the FCC and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) put out a joint public notice seeking input on the establishment of a 'Model City' program to test advanced wireless spectrum sharing technologies. The goal would to be test ways to efficiently share spectrum, particularly between federal users and non-federal entities. Even the FCC and NTIA admit they don’t know what this might look like, but want to use it as an opportunity to “spark private sector initiative to help turn this rough concept into a more specific plan.” You can learn more on the FCC Blog and FCC/NTIA Joint Notice.