II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3943 

To require a plan to improve the cybersecurity and telecommunications of 

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 14, 2024 

Mr. PADILLA (for himself and Mr. SULLIVAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

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) U.S. ACADEMIC RESEARCH FLEET.—The 

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

3 United States-flagged vessels that— 

4 (A) have been accepted into, and are active 

5 participants administered within, the Univer6 sity-National Oceanographic Laboratory Sys7 tem; 

8 (B) are operated as oceanographic research 

9 vessels by research universities and laboratories; 

10 (C) receive funding from the National 

11 Science Foundation; and 

12 (D) have achieved designation as a mem13 ber vessel through a standard evaluation proc14 ess. 

15 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

16 the Director of the National Science Foundation. 

17 (3) OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH VESSEL.—The 

18 term ‘‘oceanographic research vessel’’ has the mean19 ing given the term in section 2101 of title 46, 

20 United States Code. 

21 SEC. 3. PLAN TO IMPROVE CYBERSECURITY AND TELE22 COMMUNICATIONS OF U.S. ACADEMIC RE23 SEARCH FLEET. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

25 date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall, in conVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:44 Mar 27, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3943.IS S3943

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1 sultation with the head of any Federal agency, university, 

2 or laboratory that owns or operates a vessel of the U.S. 

3 Academic Research Fleet, submit to the Committee on 

4 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and 

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

6 House of Representatives a plan to improve the cybersecu7 rity and telecommunications of the U.S. 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 that 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) the adoption of common solutions or 

16 consortial licensing agreements, or by centralizing 

17 elements of fleet cybersecurity, telecommunications 

18 or data management at a single facility; and 

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

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

21 spending plan for the National Science Foundation, 

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

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

24 of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, or any comVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:44 Mar 27, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3943.IS S3943

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1 bination thereof, to provide funding to cover the 

2 costs described in paragraph (3). 

3 (c) CONSIDERATIONS.—The Director shall, in pre4 paring the plan required by subsection (a), consider— 

5 (1) the network capabilities, including speed 

6 and bandwidth targets, necessary to meet the sci7 entific mission needs of each class of vessel within 

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

9 as— 

10 (A) executing the critical functions and 

11 communications of the vessel; 

12 (B) providing network access for the 

13 health and well-being of deployed personnel, in14 cluding communications to conduct telemedicine 

15 (including mental health care), counseling, 

16 interviews with crisis response providers, and 

17 other remote individual care and services; 

18 (C) as necessary to meet operations, 

19 uploading any scientific data to a shoreside 

20 server, including the copying of data off ship 

21 for disaster recovery or risk mitigation pur22 poses; 

23 (D) as appropriate, conducting real-time 

24 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 subject7 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 the vessel, with fully remote subject-matter 

13 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. 

Æ 


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