118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7630 

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, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Accelerating Net3 working, Cyberinfrastructure, and Hardware for Oceanic 

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

5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

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

8 the Director of the National Science Foundation. 

9 (2) OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH VESSEL.—The 

10 term ‘‘oceanographic research vessel’’ has the mean11 ing given the term in section 2101 of title 46, 

12 United States Code. 

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

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

15 United States-flagged vessels that— 

16 (A) have been accepted into, and are ac17 tively participants administered within, the Uni18 versity-National Oceanographic Laboratory Sys19 tem; 

20 (B) are operated as oceanographic research 

21 vessels by research universities and laboratories; 

22 (C) receive funding from the National 

23 Science Foundation; and 

24 (D) have achieved designation as a mem25 ber vessel of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet 
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1 through the standard U.S. Academic Research 

2 Fleet evaluation process. 

3 SEC. 3. PLAN TO IMPROVE CYBERSECURITY AND TELE4 COMMUNICATIONS OF U.S. ACADEMIC RE5 SEARCH FLEET. 

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

7 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director , in con8 sultation with other Federal agency owners heads of other 

9 Federal agencies and the head of any university or labora10 tory that owns or operates a vessel of the U.S. Academic 

11 Research Fleet, shall submit to the Committee on Com12 merce, Science, and Transportation of the U.S. Senate 

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

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

15 cybersecurity and telecommunications of the Academic Re16 search Fleet. 

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

18 shall include— 

19 (1) an assessment of the telecommunications 

20 and networking needs of the U.S. Academic Re21 search Fleet, consistent with the typical scientific 

22 mission of each vessel; 

23 (2) in accordance with guidance issued by the 

24 Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency 

25 and the National Institute for Standards and Tech-
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1 nology, an assessment of cybersecurity needs appro2 priate for— 

3 (A) the ownership of vessels within the 

4 U.S. Academic Research Fleet; and 

5 (B) the typical research functions and top6 ics of such vessels; 

7 (3) an assessment of the costs necessary to 

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

9 including— 

10 (A) any necessary equipment, such as sat11 ellite communications equipment, software, 

12 high-performance computing clusters shipboard 

13 and shoreside, or enterprise hardware; and 

14 (B) estimated personnel costs in excess of 

15 current expenditures, including any necessary 

16 training, support, or logistics; 

17 (4) an assessment of the time required to im18 plement any upgrades required to meet the needs 

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

20 budgets and funding scenarios; 

21 (5) a proposal for the adoption of common solu22 tions or consortial licensing agreements, or by cen23 tralizing elements of fleet cybersecurity, tele24 communications, or data management at a single fa25 cility; and 
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1 (6) in consultation with any non-Federal owners 

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

3 spending plan for the National Science Foundation, 

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

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

6 of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, or any com7 bination thereof, to provide funding to cover the 

8 costs described in paragraph (3). 

9 (c) CONSIDERATIONS.—The Director in preparing 

10 the plan required by subsection (a), shall consider the fol11 lowing— 

12 (1) the network capabilities, including speed 

13 and bandwidth targets, necessary to meet the sci14 entific mission needs of each class of vessel within 

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

16 as— 

17 (A) executing the critical functions and 

18 communications of each vessel; 

19 (B) providing network access for the 

20 health and well-being of deployed personnel, in21 cluding communications to conduct telemedicine 

22 (including mental health care), counseling, 

23 interviews with crisis response providers, and 

24 other remote individual care and services; 
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1 (C) as necessary to meet operations, 

2 uploading any scientific data to a shoreside 

3 server, including the copying of data off ship 

4 for disaster recovery or risk mitigation pur5 poses; 

6 (D) as appropriate, conducting real-time 

7 streaming to enable shore-based observers to 

8 participate in ship-based maintenance or re9 search activities; 

10 (E) real-time coordinated viewing of— 

11 (i) scientific instrumentation so that it 

12 is possible to conduct scientific surveys and 

13 seafloor mapping with fully remote subject 

14 matter experts; and 

15 (ii) critical operational technology by 

16 manufacturers and vendors so that it is 

17 possible to carry out maintenance and re18 pairs to systems with limited expertise on 

19 each vessel, with fully remote subject-mat20 ter experts advising; and 

21 (F) as appropriate, enabling video commu22 nications to allow improved outreach to, and 

23 other educational services for, K–12 students, 

24 including occasional remote classroom teaching 
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1 for instructors at sea to improve oceanographic 

2 access for students; and 

3 (2) In consultation with the Director of the Cy4 bersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the 

5 Director of the National Institute for Standards and 

6 Technology, and the heads of other Federal agen7 cies, as appropriate— 

8 (A) the cybersecurity recommendations in 

9 the report of the private scientific advisory 

10 group known as JASON entitled ‘‘Cybersecurity 

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

12 dated October 2021 as applied to the U.S. Aca13 demic Research Fleet; 

14 (B) aligning with international standards 

15 and guidance for information security, including 

16 the use of encryption for sensitive information, 

17 the detection and handling of security incidents, 

18 and other areas determined relevant by the Di19 rector; 

20 (C) facilitating access to cybersecurity per21 sonnel and training of research and support 

22 personnel; and 

23 (D) the requirements for controlled unclas24 sified or classified information. 
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1 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF AND REPORT ON PLAN. 

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

3 the Office of Naval Research, non-Federal owners of ves4 sels of the Academic Research Fleet, users of the U.S. 

5 Academic Research Fleet, or any combination thereof, 

6 may support upgrades to the cyberinfrastructure and cy7 bersecurity of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet con8 sistent with the plan required by section 3. 

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

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

11 Director shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, 

12 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Com13 mittee on Space, Science, and Technology of the House 

14 of Representatives a report describing the progress made 

15 in implementing the plan. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 23, 

2024. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

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 Re-