Nashville Standard

The House of Representatives has unanimously passed H.R. 9769, known as the "Strengthening Cyber Resilience Against State-Sponsored Threats Act." This legislation aims to address cyber threats from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) targeting U.S. critical infrastructure.

The bill was introduced in September by Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL), Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN), and Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI). It seeks to establish an interagency task force led by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The focus is on cybersecurity threats posed by state-sponsored actors linked to the People's Republic of China (PRC), including threats like 'Volt Typhoon' that have targeted U.S. telecommunications providers.

"Earlier this year, the FBI confirmed Chinese hackers infiltrated American infrastructure and accessed information from systems used by the federal government," said Rep. Laurel Lee. "We cannot allow our foreign adversaries to continue to attack the critical infrastructure Americans rely on every day which is vital to the nation’s economy."

Chairman Green added, "As the Chinese Communist Party grows increasingly brazen in cyberspace, my colleagues and I took a decisive step today toward ensuring a whole-of-government response to these threat actors and bolstering our nation’s collective defense."

Chairman Moolenaar highlighted a previous revelation at a Select Committee hearing where FBI Director Wray disclosed that state-affiliated Chinese hackers known as Volt Typhoon had infiltrated American critical infrastructure.

The act mandates that the task force provides an annual classified report and briefing to Congress for five years regarding malicious CCP cyber activities. The legislation's passage coincides with ongoing assessments by the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB) into intrusions attributed to a CCP-affiliated actor identified as “Salt Typhoon” by Microsoft, affecting at least eight U.S. companies.