II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1544 

To prevent Federal funds from being used to establish a cybersecurity unit 

in cooperation with the Russian Federation. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 12, 2017 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. REED, Ms. 

WARREN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. MARKEY, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. FRANKEN, 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mrs. MURRAY, Mrs. SHAHEEN, 

Ms. HARRIS, and Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To prevent Federal funds from being used to establish a 

cybersecurity unit in cooperation with the Russian Federation. 

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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘No Funds for Cyber Coordination with Russia Act of 

6 2017’’. 

7 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

8 this Act is as follows: 


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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 

Sec. 3. Purpose. 

Sec. 4. Findings. 

Sec. 5. Funding prohibition. 

Sec. 6. Sense of Congress. 

Sec. 7. Termination. 

1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT4 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com5 mittees’’ means— 

6 (A) the Committee on Rules and Adminis7 tration, the Committee on Foreign Relations, 

8 the Committee on Armed Services, the Com9 mittee on Homeland Security and Govern10 mental Affairs, the Committee on Appropria11 tions, and the Select Committee on Intelligence 

12 of the Senate; and 

13 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

14 Committee on House Administration, the Com15 mittee on Armed Services, the Committee on 

16 Homeland Security, the Committee on Appro17 priations, and the Permanent Select Committee 

18 on Intelligence of the House of Representatives. 

19 (2) CYBERSECURITY.—The term ‘‘cybersecu20 rity’’ means the protection or defense of cyberspace 

21 from cyberattacks. 


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1 (3) CYBERSECURITY UNIT.—The term ‘‘cyber2 security unit’’ means any organization or entity es3 tablished for the purpose of cybersecurity. 

4 (4) CYBERSPACE.—The term ‘‘cyberspace’’ 

5 means the global domain within the information en6 vironment consisting of the interdependent network 

7 of information systems infrastructures (including the 

8 Internet, telecommunications networks, computer 

9 systems, and embedded processors and controllers). 

10 (5) SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITIES UNDERMINING CY11 BERSECURITY.—The term ‘‘significant activities un12 dermining cybersecurity’’ includes— 

13 (A) significant efforts— 

14 (i) to deny access to or degrade, dis15 rupt, or destroy an information and com16 munications technology system or network; 

17 or 

18 (ii) to exfiltrate, degrade, corrupt, de19 stroy, or release information from such a 

20 system or network without authorization 

21 for purposes of— 

22 (I) conducting influence oper23 ations; or 

24 (II) causing a significant mis25 appropriation of funds, economic reVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:42 Jul 19, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1544.IS S1544

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1 sources, trade secrets, personal identi2 fications, or financial information for 

3 commercial or competitive advantage 

4 or private financial gain; 

5 (B) significant destructive malware at6 tacks; and 

7 (C) significant denial of service activities. 

8 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

9 The purpose of this Act is to protect United States 

10 cybersecurity and critical infrastructure by preventing the 

11 President from establishing a cybersecurity unit in coordi12 nation with the Government of the Russian Federation, 

13 a known foreign adversary. 

14 SEC. 4. FINDINGS. 

15 Congress makes the following findings: 

16 (1) On January 6, 2017, an assessment of the 

17 United States intelligence community entitled, ‘‘As18 sessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent 

19 U.S. Elections’’ concluded, ‘‘Russian efforts to influ20 ence the 2016 U.S. presidential election represent 

21 the most recent expression of Moscow’s longstanding 

22 desire to undermine the U.S.-led liberal democratic 

23 order, but these activities demonstrated a significant 

24 escalation in directness, level of activity, and scope 

25 of effort compared to previous operations.’’ The reVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:42 Jul 19, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1544.IS S1544

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1 port concluded with high confidence, ‘‘Russian Presi2 dent Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign 

3 in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election. Rus4 sia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the 

5 U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clin6 ton, and harm her electability and potential presi7 dency. We further assess Putin and the Russian 

8 Government developed a clear preference for Presi9 dent-elect Trump.’’. 

10 (2) On December 29, 2016, President Barack 

11 Obama issued Executive Order 13757, ‘‘Taking Ad12 ditional Steps To Address The National Emergency 

13 With Respect To Significant Malicious Cyber-En14 abled Activities’’. Executive Order 13757 amended 

15 Executive Order 13694, ‘‘Blocking the Property of 

16 Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious 

17 Cyber-Enabled Activities’’. E.O. 13694 authorized 

18 sanctions on ‘‘individuals and entities determined to 

19 be responsible for or complicit in malicious cyber-en20 abled activities that result in enumerated harms that 

21 are reasonably likely to result in, or have materially 

22 contributed to, a significant threat to the national 

23 security, foreign policy, or economic health or finan24 cial stability of the United States’’. E.O. 13757 ex25 panded executive authority to allow for the imposiVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:42 Jul 19, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1544.IS S1544

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1 tion of sanctions against ‘‘individuals and entities 

2 determined to be responsible for tampering, altering, 

3 or causing the misappropriation of information with 

4 the purpose or effect of interfering with or under5 mining election processes or institutions’’. 

6 (3) The Government of the Russian Federation 

7 has repeatedly launched cyber-attacks against 

8 United States agencies, including the Department of 

9 State in November 2014, the Department of De10 fense in 2015, and the White House computer net11 works in 2014. 

12 (4) On March 15, 2017, the Department of 

13 Justice charged Russian Federal Security Service 

14 (FSB) officers and criminal coconspirators for hack15 ing Yahoo and the email accounts of millions of 

16 United States citizens. 

17 (5) On May 8, 2017, former Director of Na18 tional Intelligence James Clapper testified before the 

19 Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, ‘‘Russia’s 

20 influence activities in the run-up to the 2016 elec21 tion constituted the high water mark of their long 

22 running efforts since the 1960s to disrupt and influ23 ence our elections. They must be congratulating 

24 themselves for having exceeded their wildest expecta25 tions with a minimal expenditure of resource. And I 


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1 believe they are now emboldened to continue such 

2 activities in the future both here and around the 

3 world, and to do so even more intensely. If there has 

4 ever been a clarion call for vigilance and action 

5 against a threat to the very foundation of our demo6 cratic political system, this episode is it.’’. 

7 (6) On June 7, 2017, former Director of the 

8 Federal Bureau of Investigations James Comey tes9 tified before the Select Committee on Intelligence of 

10 the Senate that the Government of the Russian Fed11 eration, ‘‘using technical intrusion, lots of other 

12 methods, tried to shape the way we think, we vote, 

13 we act. That is a big deal. And people need to recog14 nize it. It’s not about Republicans or Democrats. 

15 They’re coming after America, which I hope we all 

16 love equally. They want to undermine our credibility 

17 in the face of the world. They think that this great 

18 experiment of ours is a threat to them, and so 

19 they’re going to try to run it down and dirty it up 

20 as much as possible.’’. 

21 (7) On July 9, 2017, President Donald Trump 

22 stated, ‘‘I strongly pressed President Putin twice 

23 about Russian meddling in our election. He vehe24 mently denied it . . . now it is time to move forward 

25 in working constructively with Russia! Putin & I disVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:42 Jul 19, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1544.IS S1544

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1 cussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit 

2 so that election hacking, & many other negative 

3 things, will be guarded’’. 

4 SEC. 5. FUNDING PROHIBITION. 

5 No Federal funds may be used to establish a cyberse6 curity unit, or any variation thereof, in cooperation or con7 nection with the Government of the Russian Federation. 

8 SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

9 It is the sense of Congress that— 

10 (1) the President should publicly endorse the 

11 assessment of the United States Armed Forces and 

12 the intelligence community that the Government of 

13 the Russian Federation interfered in the 2016 elec14 tion and take appropriate measures to deter such ac15 tivities in the future; 

16 (2) the President must not use taxpayer funds 

17 to engage in cyber coordination with the Government 

18 of the Russian Federation, a foreign adversary; and 

19 (3) the President should work with Congress to 

20 establish a non-partisan, independent commission of 

21 experts to determine, examine, and report on the 

22 facts regarding the extent of Russian official and 

23 unofficial cyber operations and other attempts to 

24 interfere in the 2016 United States national election. 


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1 SEC. 7. TERMINATION. 

2 The prohibitions under this Act shall terminate on 

3 the date the President submits to the appropriate congres4 sional committees a written certification that the Govern5 ment of the Russian Federation has— 

6 (1) ceased ordering, controlling, or otherwise di7 recting, supporting, or financing acts intended to 

8 undermine democracies around the world; and 

9 (2) submitted a written statement acknowl10 edging interference in the 2016 United States Presi11 dential election. 

Æ 


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