2 U.S.C. § 5510 — Providing assistance to House of Representatives in response to cybersecurity events
submitted 9 years ago by Pub. L. 115-91 to r/title-2-THE-CONGRESS · 575 words · no verdicts yet
When House cybersecurity needs exceed House resources, the Speaker, with Minority Leader concurrence, may request Federal help. The section requires prompt, unreimbursed assistance, limits system access, sets termination and standards rules, preserves other authority, and defines three terms by reference.
(a) Assistance. If the Speaker or designee, with the Minority Leader or designee’s concurrence, finds that a cybersecurity event occurred and exceeds House resources to contain, reduce, or resolve, then despite other law, rules, regulations, or executive orders: (1) the Speaker may request help from an Executive department, military department, or independent establishment; (2) its head must begin appropriate help within 24 hours, including restoring House systems if needed so lawmaking and Members’, officers’, and employees’ official and representational duties can continue; and (3) the House does not reimburse the help. (b) Scope. (1) Help may only be a type the department or establishment is legally authorized to provide to itself, another such Federal entity, or a private entity. (2)(A) Its personnel may not log into House systems without Speaker authorization. (B) They may give the House access to their technology-support services, including allowing House people or systems to connect to and operate those services or programs with expert guidance. (c) Ending help. (1) Help continues until the Speaker tells the provider that the incident ended and post-incident help is no longer needed. (2) On that notice, the provider must remove its services and programs from House systems and stop monitoring them. (d) Existing standards. The provider must meet section 113 of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017 (Public Law 115–31). (e) Other authority. This section does not change any other law, rule, or regulation authorizing support, including cybersecurity support, for the House. (f) Definitions. “Executive department,” “military department,” and “independent establishment” have the meanings given in title 5, chapter 1.
If the Speaker of the House of Representatives (or the Speaker’s designee), with the concurrence of the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives (or the Minority Leader’s designee), determines that a cybersecurity event has occurred and that containing, mitigating, or resolving the event exceeds the resources of the House of Representatives, then notwithstanding any other provision of law or any rule, regulation, or executive order—
the Speaker may request assistance in responding to the event from the head of any Executive department, military department, or independent establishment;
not later than 24 hours after receiving the request, the head of the department or establishment shall begin to provide appropriate assistance in response to the incident, including (if necessary) restoring the information systems of the House to an operational state which allows for the continuation of the legislative process and for Members, officers, and employees of the House to continue to meet their official and representational duties; and
such assistance shall be provided without reimbursement by the House of Representatives.
The assistance provided to the Speaker by the head of a department or establishment under this section may consist only of a type that the head of the department or establishment is authorized under law to provide to the department or establishment, another Executive department, military department, or independent establishment, or a private entity.
In providing assistance under this section—
personnel of a department or establishment may not log onto the information systems of the House without the authorization of the Speaker (or the Speaker’s designee); and
personnel of a department or establishment may provide the House with access to technological support services of the department or establishment, including by authorizing personnel or systems of the House to connect with and operate services or programs of the department or establishment with guidance from subject matter experts of the department or establishment.
After initiating assistance under this section, the head of the department or establishment shall continue providing assistance until the Speaker (or Speaker’s designee) notifies the head of the department or establishment that the cybersecurity incident has terminated and that it is no longer necessary for the department or establishment to provide post-incident assistance.
Upon receiving notice from the Speaker under paragraph (1), the head of the department or establishment shall ensure that any technological support services or programs of the department or establishment are removed from the information systems of the House, and that personnel of the department or establishment are no longer monitoring such systems.
In providing assistance under this section, the head of the Executive department, military department, or independent establishment shall meet the requirements of section 113 of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017 (Public Law 115–31).
Nothing in this section may be construed to affect the authority of an Executive department, military department, or independent establishment to provide any support, including cybersecurity support, to the House of Representatives under any other law, rule, or regulation.
In this section, each of the terms “Executive department”, “military department”, and “independent establishment” has the meaning given such term in chapter 1 of title 5.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title X, § 1090, Dec. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 1606.)
- 2017Enacted · Pub. L. 115-91 · 131 Stat. 1606
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 115-91 on 2017-12-12.
all 0 arguments · sorted by: best
no arguments yet — make the first case