SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Accelerating Net-
working, Cyberinfrastructure, and Hardware for Oceanic 
Research Act’’ or the ‘‘ANCHOR Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 
the Director of the National Science Foundation. 
(2) OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH VESSEL.—The 
term ‘‘oceanographic research vessel’’ has the mean-
ing given the term in section 2101 of title 46, 
United States Code. 
(3) U.S. ACADEMIC
RESEARCH
FLEET.—The 
term ‘‘U.S Academic Research Fleet’’ means the 
United States-flagged vessels that— 
(A) have been accepted into, and are ac-
tively participants administered within, the Uni-
versity-National Oceanographic Laboratory Sys-
tem; 
(B) are operated as oceanographic research 
vessels by research universities and laboratories; 
(C) receive funding from the National 
Science Foundation; and 
(D) have achieved designation as a mem-
ber vessel of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet
through the standard U.S. Academic Research 
Fleet evaluation process. 
SEC. 3. PLAN TO IMPROVE CYBERSECURITY AND TELE-
COMMUNICATIONS OF U.S. ACADEMIC RE-
SEARCH FLEET. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Director , in con-
sultation with other Federal agency owners heads of other 
Federal agencies and the head of any university or labora-
tory that owns or operates a vessel of the U.S. Academic 
Research Fleet, shall submit to the Committee on Com-
merce, Science, and Transportation of the U.S. Senate 
and the Committee on Space, Science, and Technology of 
the U.S. House of Representatives a plan to improve the 
cybersecurity and telecommunications of the Academic Re-
search Fleet. 
(b) ELEMENTS.—The plan required by subsection (a) 
shall include— 
(1) an assessment of the telecommunications 
and networking needs of the U.S. Academic Re-
search Fleet, consistent with the typical scientific 
mission of each vessel; 
(2) in accordance with guidance issued by the 
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency 
and the National Institute for Standards and Tech-
nology, an assessment of cybersecurity needs appro-
priate for— 
(A) the ownership of vessels within the 
U.S. Academic Research Fleet; and 
(B) the typical research functions and top-
ics of such vessels; 
(3) an assessment of the costs necessary to 
meet the needs described in paragraphs (1) and (2), 
including— 
(A) any necessary equipment, such as sat-
ellite 
communications 
equipment, 
software, 
high-performance computing clusters shipboard 
and shoreside, or enterprise hardware; and 
(B) estimated personnel costs in excess of 
current expenditures, including any necessary 
training, support, or logistics; 
(4) an assessment of the time required to im-
plement any upgrades required to meet the needs 
described in paragraphs (1) and (2) under varying 
budgets and funding scenarios; 
(5) a proposal for the adoption of common solu-
tions or consortial licensing agreements, or by cen-
tralizing elements of fleet cybersecurity, tele-
communications, or data management at a single fa-
cility; and
(6) in consultation with any non-Federal owners 
of a vessel of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, a 
spending plan for the National Science Foundation, 
the Office of Naval Research, non-Federal owners of 
vessels of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, users 
of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, or any com-
bination thereof, to provide funding to cover the 
costs described in paragraph (3). 
(c) CONSIDERATIONS.—The Director in preparing 
the plan required by subsection (a), shall consider the fol-
lowing— 
(1) the network capabilities, including speed 
and bandwidth targets, necessary to meet the sci-
entific mission needs of each class of vessel within 
the U.S. Academic Research Fleet for such purposes 
as— 
(A) executing the critical functions and 
communications of each vessel; 
(B) providing network access for the 
health and well-being of deployed personnel, in-
cluding communications to conduct telemedicine 
(including mental health care), counseling, 
interviews with crisis response providers, and 
other remote individual care and services;
(C) as necessary to meet operations, 
uploading any scientific data to a shoreside 
server, including the copying of data off ship 
for disaster recovery or risk mitigation pur-
poses; 
(D) as appropriate, conducting real-time 
streaming to enable shore-based observers to 
participate in ship-based maintenance or re-
search activities; 
(E) real-time coordinated viewing of— 
(i) scientific instrumentation so that it 
is possible to conduct scientific surveys and 
seafloor mapping with fully remote subject 
matter experts; and 
(ii) critical operational technology by 
manufacturers and vendors so that it is 
possible to carry out maintenance and re-
pairs to systems with limited expertise on 
each vessel, with fully remote subject-mat-
ter experts advising; and 
(F) as appropriate, enabling video commu-
nications to allow improved outreach to, and 
other educational services for, K–12 students, 
including occasional remote classroom teaching
for instructors at sea to improve oceanographic 
access for students; and 
(2) In consultation with the Director of the Cy-
bersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the 
Director of the National Institute for Standards and 
Technology, and the heads of other Federal agen-
cies, as appropriate— 
(A) the cybersecurity recommendations in 
the report of the private scientific advisory 
group known as JASON entitled ‘‘Cybersecurity 
at NSF Major Facilities’’ (JSR–21–10E) and 
dated October 2021 as applied to the U.S. Aca-
demic Research Fleet; 
(B) aligning with international standards 
and guidance for information security, including 
the use of encryption for sensitive information, 
the detection and handling of security incidents, 
and other areas determined relevant by the Di-
rector; 
(C) facilitating access to cybersecurity per-
sonnel and training of research and support 
personnel; and 
(D) the requirements for controlled unclas-
sified or classified information.