II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2979 

To amend the National Telecommunications and Information Administration 

Organization Act to establish the Office of Policy Development and 

Cybersecurity, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 7, 2021 

Mr. HICKENLOOPER (for himself and Mrs. CAPITO) introduced the following 

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

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend the National Telecommunications and Information 

Administration Organization Act to establish the Office 

of Policy Development and 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 ‘‘NTIA Policy and Cy5 bersecurity Coordination Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND CYBERSECURITY. 

7 (a) OFFICE OF POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND CYBER8 SECURITY.—Part A of title I of the National TeleVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Oct 09, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2979.IS S2979

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1 communications and Information Administration Organi2 zation Act (47 U.S.C. 901 et seq.) is amended by adding 

3 at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘SEC. 106. OFFICE OF POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND CYBER5 SECURITY. 

6 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There shall be within the 

7 NTIA an office to be known as the Office of Policy Devel8 opment and Cybersecurity (in this section referred to as 

9 the ‘Office’). 

10 ‘‘(b) ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR.—The head of the 

11 Office shall be an Associate Administrator for Policy De12 velopment and Cybersecurity (in this section referred to 

13 as the ‘Associate Administrator’), who shall report to the 

14 Assistant Secretary. 

15 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Associate Adminis17 trator shall oversee and conduct national commu18 nications and information policy analysis and devel19 opment for the internet and communications tech20 nologies. 

21 ‘‘(2) PARTICULAR DUTIES.—In carrying out 

22 paragraph (1), the Office shall— 

23 ‘‘(A) develop, analyze, and advocate for 

24 market-based policies that promote innovation, 

25 competition, consumer access, digital inclusion, 


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1 workforce development, and economic growth in 

2 the communications, media, and technology 

3 markets; 

4 ‘‘(B) issue studies, as delegated by the As5 sistant Secretary or required by Congress, on 

6 how individuals in the United States access and 

7 use the internet, wireline and wireless teleph8 ony, mass media, other digital services, and 

9 video services; 

10 ‘‘(C) coordinate transparent, consensus11 based, multistakeholder processes to create 

12 guidance or to support the development and im13 plementation of cybersecurity and privacy poli14 cies with respect to the internet and other com15 munications networks; 

16 ‘‘(D) promote increased collaboration be17 tween security researchers and providers of 

18 communications services and software system 

19 developers; 

20 ‘‘(E) perform such duties as the Assistant 

21 Secretary considers appropriate relating to the 

22 program for preventing future vulnerabilities es23 tablished under section 8(a) of the Secure and 

24 Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 

25 (47 U.S.C. 1607(a)); 


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1 ‘‘(F) advocate for policies that promote the 

2 security and resilience to cybersecurity incidents 

3 of communications networks while fostering in4 novation, including policies that promote secure 

5 communications network supply chains; 

6 ‘‘(G) at the direction of the Assistant Sec7 retary, present security of the digital economy 

8 and infrastructure and cybersecurity policy ef9 forts before the Commission, Congress, and 

10 elsewhere; 

11 ‘‘(H) provide advice and assistance to the 

12 Assistant Secretary in carrying out the policy 

13 responsibilities of the NTIA with respect to cy14 bersecurity policy matters, including the evalua15 tion of the impact of cybersecurity matters 

16 pending before the Commission, other Federal 

17 agencies, and Congress; 

18 ‘‘(I) in addition to the duties described in 

19 subparagraph (H), perform such other duties 

20 regarding the policy responsibilities of the 

21 NTIA with respect to cybersecurity policy mat22 ters as the Assistant Secretary considers appro23 priate; 

24 ‘‘(J) develop policies to accelerate innova25 tion and commercialization with respect to adVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Oct 09, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2979.IS S2979

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1 vances in technological understanding of com2 munications technologies; 

3 ‘‘(K) identify barriers to trust, security, in4 novation, and commercialization with respect to 

5 communications technologies, including access 

6 to capital and other resources, and ways to 

7 overcome such barriers; 

8 ‘‘(L) provide public access to relevant data, 

9 research, and technical assistance on innovation 

10 and commercialization with respect to commu11 nications technologies, consistent with the pro12 tection of classified information; 

13 ‘‘(M) strengthen collaboration on and co14 ordination of policies relating to innovation and 

15 commercialization with respect to communica16 tions technologies, including policies focused on 

17 the needs of small businesses and rural commu18 nities— 

19 ‘‘(i) within the Department of Com20 merce; 

21 ‘‘(ii) between the Department of Com22 merce and State government agencies, as 

23 appropriate; and 

24 ‘‘(iii) between the Department of 

25 Commerce and the Commission or any 


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1 other Federal agency the Assistant Sec2 retary determines to be necessary; and 

3 ‘‘(N) solicit and consider feedback from 

4 small and rural communications service pro5 viders, as appropriate.’’. 

6 (b) TRANSITIONAL RULES.— 

7 (1) REDESIGNATION OF ASSOCIATE ADMINIS8 TRATOR; CONTINUATION OF SERVICE.— 

9 (A) REDESIGNATION.—The position of As10 sociate Administrator for Policy Analysis and 

11 Development at the NTIA is redesignated as 

12 the position of Associate Administrator for Pol13 icy Development and Cybersecurity. 

14 (B) CONTINUATION OF SERVICE.—The in15 dividual serving as Associate Administrator for 

16 Policy Analysis and Development at the NTIA 

17 on the day before the date of enactment of this 

18 Act shall become, as of such date of enactment, 

19 the Associate Administrator for Policy Develop20 ment and Cybersecurity. 

21 (2) NTIA DEFINED.—In this subsection, the 

22 term ‘‘NTIA’’ means the National Telecommuni23 cations and Information Administration. 

Æ 


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