FY2023 Defense Spending Bill Calls for CISA, NSA Study on Information Sharing

The proposed fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act contains provisions that require the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and National Security Agency to study a potential cyber information collaboration environment and report the findings to the armed services committees in Congress by Apr. 30, 2023.

The NDAA called for a single platform for cybersecurity-related information sharing between federal and commercial organizations, or, at minimum, interoperability across situational awareness and threat assessment platforms, FedScoop reported.

An early version of the bill stipulated that the intelligence community and departments of Defense and Homeland Security would be responsible for establishing the information environment.

In September, Kemba Walden, the principal deputy national cyber director, noted improvements to government-wide cyber information sharing, highlighting speedier incident reporting to the FBI. She also mentioned an Office of the National Cyber Director effort to allow financial organizations to access classified cyber data, strengthening network security in light of the conflict in Ukraine.

Commercial firms were urged by U.S. Cyber Command to share intelligence for enhanced threat knowledge and readiness. According to David Frederick, CYBERCOM executive director, the majority of critical networks in the U.S. are operated by private industry, requiring their closer involvement in early warning systems.