II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1438 

To express the sense of Congress on improving cybersecurity globally, to 

require the Secretary of State to submit a report to Congress on improving cybersecurity, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 10, 2009 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To express the sense of Congress on improving cybersecurity 

globally, to require the Secretary of State to submit 

a report to Congress on improving cybersecurity, 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 ‘‘Fostering a Global Re5 sponse to Cyber Attacks Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) For more than a decade, reports have de2 scribed the increasing vulnerability of the United 

3 States to cyberattacks, including a recent leading 

4 think tank report that stated, ‘‘Cyber attack joins 

5 terrorism and weapons of mass destruction as one of 

6 the new, asymmetric threats that put the U.S. and 

7 its allies at risk.’’. 

8 (2) There have been numerous cyberattacks 

9 against United States intelligence and military tar10 gets, resulting in the Department of Defense spend11 ing more than $100,000,000 in the first 6 months 

12 of 2009 to repair damage to networks caused by 

13 cyberattacks. 

14 (3) Cyberattacks cost the economy of the 

15 United States billions of dollars annually. 

16 (4) A growing array of state and non-state ac17 tors, such as terrorists and international criminal 

18 groups, are targeting United States citizens, United 

19 States commerce, and the information infrastructure 

20 of the United States, including the Internet, tele21 communications networks, computer systems, and 

22 embedded processors and controllers in critical in23 dustries, to steal, exploit, and potentially disrupt or 

24 destroy information. 


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1 (5) Cyber exploitation activity has grown more 

2 sophisticated, more targeted, and more serious over 

3 the past year and is expected to increase as ad4 vances in technology continue to increasingly under5 pin the society of the United States. 

6 (6) Relevant international cybersecurity agree7 ments focus only on issues relating to cyber crime 

8 and common operating standards and have not been 

9 signed by certain countries from which cyberattacks 

10 may be launched. 

11 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON IMPROVING CYBERSECU12 RITY GLOBALLY. 

13 It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of State 

14 should work with the governments of foreign countries— 

15 (1) to develop comprehensive norms and cooper16 ative activities for international engagement to im17 prove cybersecurity; 

18 (2) to encourage international cooperation in 

19 improving cybersecurity on a global basis; and 

20 (3) to develop appropriate safeguards for the 

21 protection of privacy, freedom of speech, and com22 mercial transactions to be included in any agree23 ments or other activities designed to safeguard 

24 cyberspace. 


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1 SEC. 4. REPORT ON IMPROVING CYBERSECURITY. 

2 Not later than 270 days after the date of the enact3 ment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to 

4 the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and 

5 the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep6 resentatives a report describing any actions taken by the 

7 United States to work with the governments of foreign 

8 countries to improve cybersecurity, as described in section 

9 3. 

Æ 


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