II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2234 

To establish a consortia of universities to advise the Secretary of Defense 

on cybersecurity matters, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 23, 2019 

Mr. ROUNDS (for himself and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To establish a consortia of universities to advise the Secretary of Defense on cybersecurity matters, 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 ‘‘National Defense Cy5 bersecurity Consortia Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CONSORTIA OF UNIVERSITIES TO ADVISE SEC2 RETARY OF DEFENSE ON CYBERSECURITY 

3 MATTERS. 

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Defense 

5 shall establish one or more consortia to advise and assist 

6 the Secretary on matters relating to cybersecurity. 

7 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The consortium or consortia es8 tablished under subsection (a) shall consist of universities 

9 that have been designated as centers of academic excel10 lence by the Director of the National Security Agency or 

11 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

12 (c) ORGANIZATION.— 

13 (1) DESIGNATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE CHAIR

14 AND TERMS.—For each consortium established 

15 under subsection (a), the Secretary, based on rec16 ommendations from the members of the consortium, 

17 shall designate one member of the consortium to 

18 function as an administrative chair of the consor19 tium for a term with a specific duration specified by 

20 the Secretary. 

21 (2) SUBSEQUENT TERMS.—No member of a 

22 consortium designated under paragraph (1) may 

23 serve as the administrative chair of that consortium 

24 for two consecutive terms. 


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1 (3) DUTIES OF ADMINISTRATIVE CHAIR.—Each 

2 administrative chair designated under paragraph (1) 

3 for a consortium shall— 

4 (A) act as the leader of the consortium for 

5 the term specified by the Secretary under para6 graph (1); 

7 (B) be the liaison between the consortium 

8 and the Secretary; 

9 (C) distribute requests from the Secretary 

10 for advice and assistance to appropriate mem11 bers of the consortium and coordinate responses 

12 back to the Secretary; and 

13 (D) act as a clearinghouse for Department 

14 of Defense requests relating to advice and as15 sistance on matters relating to cybersecurity 

16 and to provide feedback to the Secretary from 

17 members of the consortium. 

18 (d) FUNCTIONS.—The functions of a consortium es19 tablished under subsection (a) are as follows: 

20 (1) To provide to the Secretary access to the 

21 expertise of the members of the consortium on mat22 ters relating to cybersecurity. 

23 (2) To align the efforts of such members in 

24 support of the Department. 


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1 (3) To act as a facilitator in responding to De2 partment requests relating to advice and assistance 

3 on matters relating to cybersecurity and to provide 

4 feedback to the Secretary from members of the con5 sortium. 

6 (e) PROCEDURES.—The Secretary shall establish pro7 cedures for organizations within the Department to access 

8 the work product produced by and the research, capabili9 ties, and expertise of a consortium established under sub10 section (a) and the universities that constitute the consor11 tium. 

Æ 


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