II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 719 

To establish a grant program at the Department of Homeland Security 

to promote cooperative research and development between the United 

States and Israel on cybersecurity. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 23, 2017 

Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself, Mr. DAINES, Mr. PETERS, Ms. DUCKWORTH, 

and Mr. GARDNER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 

and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

Affairs 

A BILL 

To establish a grant program at the Department of Homeland Security to promote cooperative research and development between the United States and Israel on cybersecurity. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States-Israel 

5 Cybersecurity Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. UNITED STATES-ISRAEL CYBERSECURITY CO2 OPERATION. 

3 (a) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

4 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary, in ac5 cordance with the agreement entitled the ‘‘Agree6 ment between the Government of the United States 

7 of America and the Government of the State of 

8 Israel on Cooperation in Science and Technology for 

9 Homeland Security Matters’’, done at Jerusalem 

10 May 29, 2008 (or successor agreement), and the re11 quirements specified in paragraph (2), shall estab12 lish a grant program at the Department to sup13 port— 

14 (A) cybersecurity research and develop15 ment; and 

16 (B) demonstration and commercialization 

17 of cybersecurity technology. 

18 (2) REQUIREMENTS.— 

19 (A) APPLICABILITY.—Notwithstanding any 

20 other provision of law, in carrying out a re21 search, development, demonstration, or com22 mercial application program or activity that is 

23 authorized under this section, the Secretary 

24 shall require cost sharing in accordance with 

25 this paragraph. 

26 (B) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.— 


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1 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

2 in clause (ii), the Secretary shall require 

3 not less than 50 percent of the cost of a 

4 research, development, demonstration, or 

5 commercial application program or activity 

6 described in subparagraph (A) to be pro7 vided by a non-Federal source. 

8 (ii) REDUCTION.—The Secretary may 

9 reduce or eliminate, on a case-by-case 

10 basis, the percentage requirement specified 

11 in clause (i) if the Secretary determines 

12 that such reduction or elimination is nec13 essary and appropriate. 

14 (C) MERIT REVIEW.—In carrying out a re15 search, development, demonstration, or com16 mercial application program or activity that is 

17 authorized under this section, awards shall be 

18 made only after an impartial review of the sci19 entific and technical merit of the proposals for 

20 such awards has been carried out by or for the 

21 Department. 

22 (D) REVIEW PROCESSES.—In carrying out 

23 a review under subparagraph (C), the Secretary 

24 may use merit review processes developed under 


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1 section 302(14) of the Homeland Security Act 

2 of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 182(14)). 

3 (3) ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.—An applicant shall 

4 be eligible to receive a grant under this subsection 

5 if the project of such applicant— 

6 (A) addresses a requirement in the area of 

7 cybersecurity research or cybersecurity tech8 nology, as determined by the Secretary; and 

9 (B) is a joint venture between— 

10 (i)(I) a for-profit business entity, aca11 demic institution, National Laboratory (as 

12 defined in section 2 of the Energy Policy 

13 Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801)), or non14 profit entity in the United States; and 

15 (II) a for-profit business entity, aca16 demic institution, or nonprofit entity in 

17 Israel; or 

18 (ii)(I) the Federal Government; and 

19 (II) the Government of Israel. 

20 (4) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a 

21 grant under this subsection, an applicant shall sub22 mit to the Secretary an application for such grant 

23 in accordance with procedures established by the 

24 Secretary, in consultation with the advisory board 

25 established under paragraph (5). 


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1 (5) ADVISORY BOARD.— 

2 (A) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary 

3 shall establish an advisory board to— 

4 (i) monitor the method by which 

5 grants are awarded under this subsection; 

6 and 

7 (ii) provide to the Secretary periodic 

8 performance reviews of actions taken to 

9 carry out this subsection. 

10 (B) COMPOSITION.—The advisory board 

11 established under subparagraph (A) shall be 

12 composed of three members, to be appointed by 

13 the Secretary, of whom— 

14 (i) one shall be a representative of the 

15 Federal Government; 

16 (ii) one shall be selected from a list of 

17 nominees provided by the United States18 Israel Binational Science Foundation; and 

19 (iii) one shall be selected from a list 

20 of nominees provided by the Israel-United 

21 States Binational Industrial Research and 

22 Development Foundation. 

23 (6) CONTRIBUTED FUNDS.—Notwithstanding 

24 any other provision of law, the Secretary may accept 

25 or retain funds contributed by any person, governVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Mar 28, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S719.IS S719

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1 ment entity, or organization for purposes of carrying 

2 out this subsection. Such funds shall be available, 

3 subject to appropriation, without fiscal year limita4 tion. 

5 (7) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 

6 the date of completion of a project for which a grant 

7 is provided under this subsection, the grant recipient 

8 shall submit to the Secretary a report that con9 tains— 

10 (A) a description of how the grant funds 

11 were used by the recipient; and 

12 (B) an evaluation of the level of success of 

13 each project funded by the grant. 

14 (8) CLASSIFICATION.—Grants shall be awarded 

15 under this subsection only for projects that are con16 sidered to be unclassified by both the United States 

17 and Israel. 

18 (b) TERMINATION.—The grant program and the ad19 visory board established under this section shall terminate 

20 on the date that is 7 years after the date of the enactment 

21 of this Act. 

22 (c) NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED.—No addi23 tional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry 

24 out the requirements of this Act. Such requirements shall 

25 be carried out using amounts otherwise appropriated. 


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1 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

2 (1) the term ‘‘cybersecurity research’’ means re3 search, including social science research, into ways 

4 to identify, protect against, detect, respond to, and 

5 recover from cybersecurity threats; 

6 (2) the term ‘‘cybersecurity technology’’ means 

7 technology intended to identify, protect against, de8 tect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity 

9 threats; 

10 (3) the term ‘‘cybersecurity threat’’ has the 

11 meaning given such term in section 102 of the Cy12 bersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (6 

13 U.S.C. 1501); 

14 (4) the term ‘‘Department’’ means the Depart15 ment of Homeland Security; and 

16 (5) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

17 of Homeland Security. 

Æ 


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