Part C—Declaration of a Significant Incident
§677. Sense of Congress
It is the sense of Congress that—
(1) the purpose of this part is to authorize the Secretary to declare that a significant incident has occurred and to establish the authorities that are provided under the declaration to respond to and recover from the significant incident; and
(2) the authorities established under this part are intended to enable the Secretary to provide voluntary assistance to non-Federal entities impacted by a significant incident.
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§677a. Definitions
For the purposes of this part:
(1) Asset response activity
The term "asset response activity" means an activity to support an entity impacted by an incident with the response to, remediation of, or recovery from, the incident, including—
(A) furnishing technical and advisory assistance to the entity to protect the assets of the entity, mitigate vulnerabilities, and reduce the related impacts;
(B) assessing potential risks to the critical infrastructure sector or geographic region impacted by the incident, including potential cascading effects of the incident on other critical infrastructure sectors or geographic regions;
(C) developing courses of action to mitigate the risks assessed under subparagraph (B);
(D) facilitating information sharing and operational coordination with entities performing threat response activities; and
(E) providing guidance on how best to use Federal resources and capabilities in a timely, effective manner to speed recovery from the incident.
(2) Declaration
The term "declaration" means a declaration of the Secretary under
(3) Director
The term "Director" means the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
(4) Federal agency
The term "Federal agency" has the meaning given the term "agency" in
(5) Fund
The term "Fund" means the Cyber Response and Recovery Fund established under
(6) Incident
The term "incident" has the meaning given the term in
(7) Renewal
The term "renewal" means a renewal of a declaration under
(8) Significant incident
The term "significant incident"—
(A) means an incident or a group of related incidents that results, or is likely to result, in demonstrable harm to—
(i) the national security interests, foreign relations, or economy of the United States; or
(ii) the public confidence, civil liberties, or public health and safety of the people of the United States; and
(B) does not include an incident or a portion of a group of related incidents that occurs on—
(i) a national security system (as defined in
(ii) an information system described in paragraph (2) or (3) of
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§677b. Declaration
(a) In general
(1) Declaration
The Secretary, in consultation with the National Cyber Director, may make a declaration of a significant incident in accordance with this section for the purpose of enabling the activities described in this part if the Secretary determines that—
(A) a specific significant incident—
(i) has occurred; or
(ii) is likely to occur imminently; and
(B) otherwise available resources, other than the Fund, are likely insufficient to respond effectively to, or to mitigate effectively, the specific significant incident described in subparagraph (A).
(2) Prohibition on delegation
The Secretary may not delegate the authority provided to the Secretary under paragraph (1).
(b) Asset response activities
Upon a declaration, the Director shall coordinate—
(1) the asset response activities of each Federal agency in response to the specific significant incident associated with the declaration; and
(2) with appropriate entities, which may include—
(A) public and private entities and State and local governments with respect to the asset response activities of those entities and governments; and
(B) Federal, State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies with respect to investigations and threat response activities of those law enforcement agencies; and
(3) Federal, State, local, and Tribal emergency management and response agencies.
(c) Duration
Subject to subsection (d), a declaration shall terminate upon the earlier of—
(1) a determination by the Secretary that the declaration is no longer necessary; or
(2) the expiration of the 120-day period beginning on the date on which the Secretary makes the declaration.
(d) Renewal
The Secretary, without delegation, may renew a declaration as necessary.
(e) Publication
(1) In general
Not later than 72 hours after a declaration or a renewal, the Secretary shall publish the declaration or renewal in the Federal Register.
(2) Prohibition
A declaration or renewal published under paragraph (1) may not include the name of any affected individual or private company.
(f) Advance actions
(1) In general
The Secretary—
(A) shall assess the resources available to respond to a potential declaration; and
(B) may take actions before and while a declaration is in effect to arrange or procure additional resources for asset response activities or technical assistance the Secretary determines necessary, which may include entering into standby contracts with private entities for cybersecurity services or incident responders in the event of a declaration.
(2) Expenditure of funds
Any expenditure from the Fund for the purpose of paragraph (1)(B) shall be made from amounts available in the Fund, and amounts available in the Fund shall be in addition to any other appropriations available to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency for such purpose.
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§677c. Cyber Response and Recovery Fund
(a) In general
There is established a Cyber Response and Recovery Fund, which shall be available for—
(1) the coordination of activities described in
(2) response and recovery support for the specific significant incident associated with a declaration to Federal, State, local, and Tribal, entities and public and private entities on a reimbursable or non-reimbursable basis, including through asset response activities and technical assistance, such as—
(A) vulnerability assessments and mitigation;
(B) technical incident mitigation;
(C) malware analysis;
(D) analytic support;
(E) threat detection and hunting; and
(F) network protections;
(3) as the Director determines appropriate, grants for, or cooperative agreements with, Federal, State, local, and Tribal public and private entities to respond to, and recover from, the specific significant incident associated with a declaration, such as—
(A) hardware or software to replace, update, improve, harden, or enhance the functionality of existing hardware, software, or systems; and
(B) technical contract personnel support; and
(4) advance actions taken by the Secretary under
(b) Deposits and expenditures
(1) In general
Amounts shall be deposited into the Fund from—
(A) appropriations to the Fund for activities of the Fund; and
(B) reimbursement from Federal agencies for the activities described in paragraphs (1), (2), and (4) of subsection (a), which shall only be from amounts made available in advance in appropriations Acts for such reimbursement.
(2) Expenditures
Any expenditure from the Fund for the purposes of this part shall be made from amounts available in the Fund from a deposit described in paragraph (1), and amounts available in the Fund shall be in addition to any other appropriations available to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency for such purposes.
(c) Supplement not supplant
Amounts in the Fund shall be used to supplement, not supplant, other Federal, State, local, or Tribal funding for activities in response to a declaration.
(d) Reporting
The Secretary shall require an entity that receives amounts from the Fund to submit a report to the Secretary that details the specific use of the amounts.
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§677d. Notification and reporting
(a) Notification
Upon a declaration or renewal, the Secretary shall immediately notify the National Cyber Director and appropriate congressional committees and include in the notification—
(1) an estimation of the planned duration of the declaration;
(2) with respect to a notification of a declaration, the reason for the declaration, including information relating to the specific significant incident or imminent specific significant incident, including—
(A) the operational or mission impact or anticipated impact of the specific significant incident on Federal and non-Federal entities;
(B) if known, the perpetrator of the specific significant incident; and
(C) the scope of the Federal and non-Federal entities impacted or anticipated to be impacted by the specific significant incident;
(3) with respect to a notification of a renewal, the reason for the renewal;
(4) justification as to why available resources, other than the Fund, are insufficient to respond to or mitigate the specific significant incident; and
(5) a description of the coordination activities described in
(b) Report to Congress
Not later than 180 days after the date of a declaration or renewal, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that includes—
(1) the reason for the declaration or renewal, including information and intelligence relating to the specific significant incident that led to the declaration or renewal;
(2) the use of any funds from the Fund for the purpose of responding to the incident or threat described in paragraph (1);
(3) a description of the actions, initiatives, and projects undertaken by the Department and State and local governments and public and private entities in responding to and recovering from the specific significant incident described in paragraph (1);
(4) an accounting of the specific obligations and outlays of the Fund; and
(5) an analysis of—
(A) the impact of the specific significant incident described in paragraph (1) on Federal and non-Federal entities;
(B) the impact of the declaration or renewal on the response to, and recovery from, the specific significant incident described in paragraph (1); and
(C) the impact of the funds made available from the Fund as a result of the declaration or renewal on the recovery from, and response to, the specific significant incident described in paragraph (1).
(c) Classification
Each notification made under subsection (a) and each report submitted under subsection (b)—
(1) shall be in an unclassified form with appropriate markings to indicate information that is exempt from disclosure under
(2) may include a classified annex.
(d) Consolidated report
The Secretary shall not be required to submit multiple reports under subsection (b) for multiple declarations or renewals if the Secretary determines that the declarations or renewals substantively relate to the same specific significant incident.
(e) Exemption
The requirements of subchapter I of
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§677e. Rule of construction
Nothing in this part shall be construed to impair or limit the ability of the Director to carry out the authorized activities of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
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§677f. Authorization of appropriations
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Fund $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2022 and each fiscal year thereafter until September 30, 2028, which shall remain available until September 30, 2028.
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§677g. Sunset
The authorities granted to the Secretary or the Director under this part shall expire on the date that is 7 years after November 15, 2021.
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