I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7630 

To require a plan to improve the cybersecurity and telecommunications of 

the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 12, 2024 

Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California (for himself and Ms. STEVENS) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, 

and Technology 

A BILL 

To require a plan to improve the cybersecurity and telecommunications of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, 

and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Accelerating Net5 working, Cyberinfrastructure, and Hardware for Oceanic 

6 Research Act’’ or the ‘‘ANCHOR Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 


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1 (1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

2 the Director of the National Science Foundation. 

3 (2) OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH VESSEL.—The 

4 term ‘‘oceanographic research vessel’’ has the mean5 ing given the term in section 2101 of title 46, 

6 United States Code. 

7 (3) U.S. ACADEMIC RESEARCH FLEET.—The 

8 term ‘‘U.S Academic Research Fleet’’ means the 

9 United States-flagged vessels that— 

10 (A) have been accepted into, and are ac11 tively participants administered within, the Uni12 versity-National Oceanographic Laboratory Sys13 tem; 

14 (B) are operated as oceanographic research 

15 vessels by research universities and laboratories; 

16 (C) receive funding from the National 

17 Science Foundation; and 

18 (D) have achieved designation as a mem19 ber vessel of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet 

20 through the standard U.S. Academic Research 

21 Fleet evaluation process. 


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1 SEC. 3. PLAN TO IMPROVE CYBERSECURITY AND TELE2 COMMUNICATIONS OF U.S. ACADEMIC RE3 SEARCH FLEET. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 

5 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director , in con6 sultation with other Federal agency owners heads of other 

7 Federal agencies and the head of any university or labora8 tory that owns or operates a vessel of the U.S. Academic 

9 Research Fleet, shall submit to the Committee on Com10 merce, Science, and Transportation of the U.S. Senate 

11 and the Committee on Space, Science, and Technology of 

12 the U.S. House of Representatives a plan to improve the 

13 cybersecurity and telecommunications of the Academic Re14 search Fleet. 

15 (b) ELEMENTS.—The plan required by subsection (a) 

16 shall include— 

17 (1) an assessment of the telecommunications 

18 and networking needs of the U.S. Academic Re19 search Fleet, consistent with the typical scientific 

20 mission of each vessel; 

21 (2) in accordance with guidance issued by the 

22 Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency 

23 and the National Institute for Standards and Tech24 nology, an assessment of cybersecurity needs appro25 priate for— 


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1 (A) the ownership of vessels within the 

2 U.S. Academic Research Fleet; and 

3 (B) the typical research functions and top4 ics of such vessels; 

5 (3) an assessment of the costs necessary to 

6 meet the needs described in paragraphs (1) and (2), 

7 including— 

8 (A) any necessary equipment, such as sat9 ellite communications equipment, software, 

10 high-performance computing clusters shipboard 

11 and shoreside, or enterprise hardware; and 

12 (B) estimated personnel costs in excess of 

13 current expenditures, including any necessary 

14 training, support, or logistics; 

15 (4) an assessment of the time required to im16 plement any upgrades required to meet the needs 

17 described in paragraphs (1) and (2) under varying 

18 budgets and funding scenarios; 

19 (5) a proposal for the adoption of common solu20 tions or consortial licensing agreements, or by cen21 tralizing elements of fleet cybersecurity, tele22 communications, or data management at a single fa23 cility; and 

24 (6) in consultation with any non-Federal owners 

25 of a vessel of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, a 


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1 spending plan for the National Science Foundation, 

2 the Office of Naval Research, non-Federal owners of 

3 vessels of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, users 

4 of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, or any com5 bination thereof, to provide funding to cover the 

6 costs described in paragraph (3). 

7 (c) CONSIDERATIONS.—The Director in preparing 

8 the plan required by subsection (a), shall consider the fol9 lowing— 

10 (1) the network capabilities, including speed 

11 and bandwidth targets, necessary to meet the sci12 entific mission needs of each class of vessel within 

13 the U.S. Academic Research Fleet for such purposes 

14 as— 

15 (A) executing the critical functions and 

16 communications of each vessel; 

17 (B) providing network access for the 

18 health and well-being of deployed personnel, in19 cluding communications to conduct telemedicine 

20 (including mental health care), counseling, 

21 interviews with crisis response providers, and 

22 other remote individual care and services; 

23 (C) as necessary to meet operations, 

24 uploading any scientific data to a shoreside 

25 server, including the copying of data off ship 


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1 for disaster recovery or risk mitigation pur2 poses; 

3 (D) as appropriate, conducting real-time 

4 streaming to enable shore-based observers to 

5 participate in ship-based maintenance or re6 search activities; 

7 (E) real-time coordinated viewing of— 

8 (i) scientific instrumentation so that it 

9 is possible to conduct scientific surveys and 

10 seafloor mapping with fully remote subject 

11 matter experts; and 

12 (ii) critical operational technology by 

13 manufacturers and vendors so that it is 

14 possible to carry out maintenance and re15 pairs to systems with limited expertise on 

16 each vessel, with fully remote subject-mat17 ter experts advising; and 

18 (F) as appropriate, enabling video commu19 nications to allow improved outreach to, and 

20 other educational services for, K–12 students, 

21 including occasional remote classroom teaching 

22 for instructors at sea to improve oceanographic 

23 access for students; and 

24 (2) In consultation with the Director of the Cy25 bersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the 


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1 Director of the National Institute for Standards and 

2 Technology, and the heads of other Federal agen3 cies, as appropriate— 

4 (A) the cybersecurity recommendations in 

5 the report of the private scientific advisory 

6 group known as JASON entitled ‘‘Cybersecurity 

7 at NSF Major Facilities’’ (JSR–21–10E) and 

8 dated October 2021 as applied to the U.S. Aca9 demic Research Fleet; 

10 (B) aligning with international standards 

11 and guidance for information security, including 

12 the use of encryption for sensitive information, 

13 the detection and handling of security incidents, 

14 and other areas determined relevant by the Di15 rector; 

16 (C) facilitating access to cybersecurity per17 sonnel and training of research and support 

18 personnel; and 

19 (D) the requirements for controlled unclas20 sified or classified information. 

21 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF AND REPORT ON PLAN. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director, in coordination with 

23 the Office of Naval Research, non-Federal owners of ves24 sels of the Academic Research Fleet, users of the U.S. 

25 Academic Research Fleet, or any combination thereof, 


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1 may support upgrades to the cyberinfrastructure and cy2 bersecurity of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet con3 sistent with the plan required by section 3. 

4 (b) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 2 years 

5 after the submission of the plan required by section 3, the 

6 Director shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, 

7 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Com8 mittee on Space, Science, and Technology of the House 

9 of Representatives a report describing the progress made 

10 in implementing the plan. 

Æ 


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