15 U.S.C. § 278g–3 — Computer standards program

have the mission of developing standards, guidelines, and associated methods and techniques for information systems;

develop standards and guidelines, including minimum requirements, for information systems used or operated by an agency or by a contractor of an agency or other organization on behalf of an agency, other than national security systems (as defined in section 3552(b)(6) of title 44);

develop standards and guidelines, including minimum requirements, for providing adequate information security for all agency operations and assets, but such standards and guidelines shall not apply to national security systems;

carry out the responsibilities described in paragraph (3) through the Computer Security Division; and

identify and develop standards and guidelines for improving the cybersecurity workforce for an agency as part of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (NIST Special Publication 800–181), or successor framework.

a definition of and guidelines concerning detection and handling of information security incidents;

guidelines developed in coordination with the National Security Agency for identifying an information system as a national security system consistent with applicable requirements for national security systems, issued in accordance with law and as directed by the President; and

performance standards and guidelines for high risk biometric identification systems, including facial recognition systems, accounting for various use cases, types of biometric identification systems, and relevant operational conditions.

consult with other agencies and offices (including, but not limited to, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Departments of Defense and Energy, the National Security Agency, the Government Accountability Office, and the Secretary of Homeland Security) to assure—

provide the public with an opportunity to comment on proposed standards and guidelines;

submit such standards and guidelines to the Secretary of Commerce for promulgation under section 11331 of title 40;

issue guidelines as required under subsection (b)(1)(B), no later than 18 months after November 25, 2002;

ensure that such standards and guidelines do not require specific technological solutions or products, including any specific hardware or software security solutions;

ensure that such standards and guidelines provide for sufficient flexibility to permit alternative solutions to provide equivalent levels of protection for identified information security risks; and

use flexible, performance-based standards and guidelines that, to the greatest extent possible, permit the use of off-the-shelf commercially developed information security products.

submit standards developed pursuant to subsection (a), along with recommendations as to the extent to which these should be made compulsory and binding, to the Secretary of Commerce for promulgation under section 11331 of title 40;

provide assistance to agencies regarding—

conduct research and analysis—

develop and periodically revise performance indicators and measures for agency information security policies and practices;

evaluate private sector information security policies and practices and commercially available information technologies to assess potential application by agencies to strengthen information security;

evaluate security policies and practices developed for national security systems to assess potential application by agencies to strengthen information security;

periodically assess the effectiveness of standards and guidelines developed under this section and undertake revisions as appropriate;

solicit and consider the recommendations of the Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board, established by section 278g–4 of this title, regarding standards and guidelines developed under subsection (a) and submit such recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce with such standards submitted to the Secretary; and

prepare an annual public report on activities undertaken in the previous year, and planned for the coming year, to carry out responsibilities under this section.

conduct a research program to develop a unifying and standardized identity, privilege, and access control management framework for the execution of a wide variety of resource protection policies and that is amenable to implementation within a wide variety of existing and emerging computing environments;

carry out research associated with improving the security of information systems and networks;

carry out research associated with improving the testing, measurement, usability, and assurance of information systems and networks;

carry out research associated with improving security of industrial control systems;

carry out research associated with improving the security and integrity of the information technology supply chain; and

carry out any additional research the Institute determines appropriate.

the term “agency” has the same meaning as provided in section 3502(1) of title 44;

the term “information security” has the same meaning as provided in section 3552(b)(2) 1 of such title;

the term “information system” has the same meaning as provided in section 3502(8) of such title;

the term “information technology” has the same meaning as provided in section 11101 of title 40; and

the term “national security system” has the same meaning as provided in section 3552(b)(5) 2 of such title.3