II 

Calendar No. 526 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7630 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 24, 2024 

Received; read twice and placed on the calendar 

AN ACT 

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: 

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

10 the Director of the National Science Foundation. 


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1 (2) OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH VESSEL.—The 

2 term ‘‘oceanographic research vessel’’ has the mean3 ing given the term in section 2101 of title 46, 

4 United States Code. 

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

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

7 United States-flagged vessels that— 

8 (A) have been accepted into, and are ac9 tively participants administered within, the Uni10 versity-National Oceanographic Laboratory Sys11 tem; 

12 (B) are operated as oceanographic research 

13 vessels by research universities and laboratories; 

14 (C) receive funding from the National 

15 Science Foundation; and 

16 (D) have achieved designation as a mem17 ber vessel of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet 

18 through the standard U.S. Academic Research 

19 Fleet evaluation process. 

20 SEC. 3. PLAN TO IMPROVE CYBERSECURITY AND TELE21 COMMUNICATIONS OF U.S. ACADEMIC RE22 SEARCH FLEET. 

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

24 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director , in con25 sultation with other Federal agency owners heads of other 


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1 Federal agencies and the head of any university or labora2 tory that owns or operates a vessel of the U.S. Academic 

3 Research Fleet, shall submit to the Committee on Com4 merce, Science, and Transportation of the U.S. Senate 

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

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

7 cybersecurity and telecommunications of the Academic Re8 search Fleet. 

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

10 shall include— 

11 (1) an assessment of the telecommunications 

12 and networking needs of the U.S. Academic Re13 search Fleet, consistent with the typical scientific 

14 mission of each vessel; 

15 (2) in accordance with guidance issued by the 

16 Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency 

17 and the National Institute for Standards and Tech18 nology, an assessment of cybersecurity needs appro19 priate for— 

20 (A) the ownership of vessels within the 

21 U.S. Academic Research Fleet; and 

22 (B) the typical research functions and top23 ics of such vessels; 


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1 (3) an assessment of the costs necessary to 

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

3 including— 

4 (A) any necessary equipment, such as sat5 ellite communications equipment, software, 

6 high-performance computing clusters shipboard 

7 and shoreside, or enterprise hardware; and 

8 (B) estimated personnel costs in excess of 

9 current expenditures, including any necessary 

10 training, support, or logistics; 

11 (4) an assessment of the time required to im12 plement any upgrades required to meet the needs 

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

14 budgets and funding scenarios; 

15 (5) a proposal for the adoption of common solu16 tions or consortial licensing agreements, or by cen17 tralizing elements of fleet cybersecurity, tele18 communications, or data management at a single fa19 cility; and 

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

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

22 spending plan for the National Science Foundation, 

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

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

25 of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, or any comVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Sep 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7630.PCS H7630

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1 bination thereof, to provide funding to cover the 

2 costs described in paragraph (3). 

3 (c) CONSIDERATIONS.—The Director in preparing 

4 the plan required by subsection (a), shall consider the fol5 lowing— 

6 (1) the network capabilities, including speed 

7 and bandwidth targets, necessary to meet the sci8 entific mission needs of each class of vessel within 

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

10 as— 

11 (A) executing the critical functions and 

12 communications of each vessel; 

13 (B) providing network access for the 

14 health and well-being of deployed personnel, in15 cluding communications to conduct telemedicine 

16 (including mental health care), counseling, 

17 interviews with crisis response providers, and 

18 other remote individual care and services; 

19 (C) as necessary to meet operations, 

20 uploading any scientific data to a shoreside 

21 server, including the copying of data off ship 

22 for disaster recovery or risk mitigation pur23 poses; 

24 (D) as appropriate, conducting real-time 

25 streaming to enable shore-based observers to 


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1 participate in ship-based maintenance or re2 search activities; 

3 (E) real-time coordinated viewing of— 

4 (i) scientific instrumentation so that it 

5 is possible to conduct scientific surveys and 

6 seafloor mapping with fully remote subject 

7 matter experts; and 

8 (ii) critical operational technology by 

9 manufacturers and vendors so that it is 

10 possible to carry out maintenance and re11 pairs to systems with limited expertise on 

12 each vessel, with fully remote subject-mat13 ter experts advising; and 

14 (F) as appropriate, enabling video commu15 nications to allow improved outreach to, and 

16 other educational services for, K–12 students, 

17 including occasional remote classroom teaching 

18 for instructors at sea to improve oceanographic 

19 access for students; and 

20 (2) In consultation with the Director of the Cy21 bersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the 

22 Director of the National Institute for Standards and 

23 Technology, and the heads of other Federal agen24 cies, as appropriate— 


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1 (A) the cybersecurity recommendations in 

2 the report of the private scientific advisory 

3 group known as JASON entitled ‘‘Cybersecurity 

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

5 dated October 2021 as applied to the U.S. Aca6 demic Research Fleet; 

7 (B) aligning with international standards 

8 and guidance for information security, including 

9 the use of encryption for sensitive information, 

10 the detection and handling of security incidents, 

11 and other areas determined relevant by the Di12 rector; 

13 (C) facilitating access to cybersecurity per14 sonnel and training of research and support 

15 personnel; and 

16 (D) the requirements for controlled unclas17 sified or classified information. 

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

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

20 the Office of Naval Research, non-Federal owners of ves21 sels of the Academic Research Fleet, users of the U.S. 

22 Academic Research Fleet, or any combination thereof, 

23 may support upgrades to the cyberinfrastructure and cy24 bersecurity of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet con25 sistent with the plan required by section 3. 


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

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

3 Director shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, 

4 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Com5 mittee on Space, Science, and Technology of the House 

6 of Representatives a report describing the progress made 

7 in implementing the plan. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 23, 

2024. 

Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, 

Clerk. 


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Calendar No. 526 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7630 

AN ACT 

To require a plan to improve the cybersecurity and 

search Fleet, and for other purposes. telecommunications of the U.S. Academic ReSEPTEMBER 24, 2024 

Received; read twice and placed on the calendar 


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