I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 119 

To require the Director of National Intelligence to conduct a study on the 

feasibility of establishing a Cyber Defense National Guard. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 4, 2021 

Ms. JACKSON LEE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 

A BILL 

To require the Director of National Intelligence to conduct 

a study on the feasibility of establishing a Cyber Defense 

National Guard. 

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 ‘‘Cyber Defense Na5 tional Guard Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STUDY ON ESTABLISHMENT OF CYBER DEFENSE 

7 NATIONAL GUARD. 

8 (a) STUDY.—The Director of National Intelligence, 

9 in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Sec10 retary of Homeland Security, shall conduct a study on the 


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1 feasibility of establishing a Cyber Defense National 

2 Guard. 

3 (b) CONTENTS.—The study required under sub4 section (a) shall include an analysis of— 

5 (1) the cost of creating a Cyber Defense Na6 tional Guard; 

7 (2) the number of persons who would be needed 

8 to defend the critical infrastructure of the United 

9 States from a cyber attack or manmade intentional 

10 or unintentional catastrophic incident; 

11 (3) the sources of potential members of a Cyber 

12 Defense National Guard, including industry, aca13 demic institutions, research facilities, and Federal 

14 contractors; 

15 (4) which elements of the Federal Government 

16 would be best equipped to recruit, train, and manage 

17 a Cyber Defense National Guard; 

18 (5) the criteria required for persons to serve in 

19 a Cyber Defense National Guard; 

20 (6) if an incident disrupts communications in a 

21 region or area, what resources can be pre-positioned 

22 and training instilled to assure the effectiveness and 

23 responsiveness of a Cyber Defense National Guard; 


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1 (7) the minimum requirements for consider2 ation for inclusion in a Cyber Defense National 

3 Guard; 

4 (8) the impact of the effectiveness of a Cyber 

5 Defense National Guard of the possibility that the 

6 population of potential recruits may be dominated by 

7 men and women without military, intelligence, law 

8 enforcement, or government work experience; 

9 (9) the recruitment and vetting costs for a 

10 Cyber Defense National Guard; 

11 (10) the frequency of cyber defense and unit co12 hesion training; 

13 (11) how well military discipline is able to be 

14 adapted for use for creating command and control 

15 systems and protocols for a Cyber Defense National 

16 Guard; 

17 (12) the logistics of allowing governors to use 

18 the Cyber Defense National Guard in States during 

19 times of cyber emergency; 

20 (13) the advantages and disadvantages of cre21 ating a Cyber Defense National Guard on the cyber 

22 security of the United States; and 

23 (14) whether a force trained to defend the net24 works of the United States in the event of a major 

25 attack or natural or manmade disaster will benefit 


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1 overall efforts to defend the interests of the United 

2 States. 

3 (c) REPORT.— 

4 (1) SUBMISSION.—Not later than 240 days 

5 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di6 rector of National Intelligence, in consultation with 

7 the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of 

8 Homeland Security, shall submit to the Committee 

9 on Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland Se10 curity, the Permanent Select Committee on Intel11 ligence, and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

12 House of Representatives and the Committee on 

13 Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland Secu14 rity and Governmental Affairs, the Select Committee 

15 on Intelligence, and the Committee on the Judiciary 

16 of the Senate a report containing the results of the 

17 study required under subsection (a). 

18 (2) FORM.—The report required under para19 graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, 

20 but may include a classified annex. 

Æ 


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