House Considers NDAA With Many Tech Amendments
The House began considering its FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-6395) Monday. The Rules Committee didn’t allow floor consideration of three proposed amendments trying to advance and stop efforts to hinder Ligado’s L-band plan. The panel ultimately agreed to allow votes on several other tech amendments.
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Three top Commerce Committee Republicans support a proposed amendment to ban federal employees from using the TikTok app or successor apps developed by parent company ByteDance on government-issued devices. Committee ranking member Greg Walden of Oregon “has not spoken on this amendment, but he has raised concerns about TikTok generally and is supportive of the amendment,” a spokesperson emailed. Walden and other House Commerce Republicans questioned TikTok’s data practices in May (see 2005210018).
“There is a great amount of uncertainty concerning how China is utilizing” TikTok “to undermine our national security and illegally obtain the data of its users,” said House Communications ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, in a statement to us. “Until it can be confirmed that TikTok is not exploiting user information, it is extremely important that this app or others by ByteDance are not downloaded onto any federal government devices.” Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., also backs the proposal, a spokesperson said.
TikTok is “fully committed to protecting our users' privacy and security,” a spokesperson emailed. “TikTok has an American CEO, a Chief Information Security Officer with decades of US military and law enforcement experience, and a growing US team that works diligently to develop a best-in-class security infrastructure.” U.S. users’ data “is stored in Virginia and Singapore, with strict controls on employee access,” the spokesperson said.
More than a dozen cybersecurity amendments are up for full House consideration, with several seeking to implement recommendations from the Cyberspace Solarium Commission’s March report (see 2003110076). They include a proposal by House Armed Services Emerging Threats Subcommittee Chairman Jim Langevin, D-R.I., to attach language from the National Cyber Director Act (HR-7331) to establish a national cyber director within the executive office of the president. Another from Langevin would allow the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to issue administrative subpoenas to ISPs to identify and warn entities of cyber vulnerabilities.
House Rules advanced some artificial intelligence proposals. One from House Commerce Vice Chair Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., would expand and clarify the mandate of entities authorized by the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act to include combating discriminatory algorithmic bias against protected classes of persons. Another Clarke amendment would bar DOD from using NDAA funding to buy artificial intelligence technology that hasn’t been vetted for discriminatory algorithmic bias. Rep. Kendra Horn, D-Okla., seeks to authorize funding to establish a federal initiative to accelerate and coordinate federal investments and facilitate new public-private partnerships in AI research, standards and education.
Three advanced amendments seek reports on deepfakes, including from DOD, DHS’ Science and Technology Directorate and a proposed Steering Committee Emerging Technology working group. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., wants a State Department report on social media use by foreign terrorist groups “for recruitment, fundraising, and the dissemination of information” and online radicalization of terrorists.