II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1348 

To require the Secretary of Defense to conduct a study on cyberexploitation 

of members of the Armed Forces and their families, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 7, 2019 

Mr. SASSE (for himself, Mr. KING, Mr. ROUNDS, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Defense to conduct a study 

on cyberexploitation of members of the Armed Forces 

and their families, 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. STUDY ON CYBEREXPLOITATION OF MEMBERS 

4 OF THE ARMED FORCES AND THEIR FAMI5 LIES. 

6 (a) STUDY REQUIRED.—Not later than 150 days 

7 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

8 of Defense shall complete a study on the cyberexploitation 


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1 of the personal information and accounts of members of 

2 the Armed Forces and their families. 

3 (b) ELEMENTS.—The study required by subsection 

4 (a) shall include the following: 

5 (1) An assessment of the vulnerability of mem6 bers of the Armed Forces and their families to inap7 propriate access to their personal information and 

8 accounts of such members and their families, includ9 ing identification of particularly vulnerable sub10 populations. 

11 (2) Creation of a catalogue of past and current 

12 efforts by foreign governments and non-state actors 

13 at the cyberexploitation of the personal information 

14 and accounts of members of the Armed Forces and 

15 their families, including an assessment of the pur16 poses of such efforts and their degrees of success. 

17 (3) An assessment of the actions taken by the 

18 Department of Defense to educate members of the 

19 Armed Forces and their families, including particu20 larly vulnerable subpopulations, about any actions 

21 that can be taken to otherwise reduce these threats. 

22 (4) Assessment of the potential for the 

23 cyberexploitation of misappropriated images and vid24 eos as well as deep fakes. 


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1 (5) Development of recommendations for policy 

2 changes to reduce the vulnerability of members of 

3 the Armed Forces and their families to 

4 cyberexploitation, including recommendations for 

5 legislative or administrative action. 

6 (c) REPORT.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall submit 

8 to the congressional defense committees a report on 

9 the findings of the Secretary with respect to the 

10 study required by subsection (a). 

11 (2) FORM.—The report required by paragraph 

12 (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 

13 include a classified annex. 

14 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 (1) The term ‘‘congressional defense commit16 tees’’ has the meaning given such term in section 

17 101 of title 10, United States Code. 

18 (2) The term ‘‘cyberexploitation’’ means the use 

19 of digital means to knowingly access, or conspire to 

20 access, without authorization, an individual’s per21 sonal information to be employed (or to be used for) 

22 with malicious intent. 

23 (3) The term ‘‘deep fake’’ means the digital in24 sertion of a person’s likeness into or digital alter25 ation of a person’s likeness in visual media, such as 


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1 photographs and videos, without the person’s per2 mission and with malicious intent. 

Æ 


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