Engaging foreign partners to strengthen the security of critical undersea infrastructure

(a) Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that— (1) as international critical undersea infrastructure expands, there are increasing challenges to the proper installation, maintenance, repair, and protection of international subsea cables that have the potential to undermine United States and foreign partner national security interests; (2) the United States is uniquely positioned to provide technical, material, and other forms of support to international partners to enhance the resilience of international critical undersea infrastructure; (3) the United States Government should enhance its diplomatic efforts to work alongside trusted allies to help foreign governments improve efforts to quickly and effectively install, maintain, repair, and protect international critical undersea infrastructure; and (4) given the importance of critical undersea infrastructure to United States and allied energy security and prosperity, adversaries are increasingly prioritizing capabilities designed to target United States and allied subsea energy infrastructure. (b) Commitment of personnel and resources The Secretary of State shall devote sufficient personnel and resources towards— (1) engaging with foreign countries to improve security and reduce barriers to the installation, monitoring, maintenance, and repair of critical undersea infrastructure; and (2) working with allies and partners to support the development of a multinational fleet of cable repair ships to respond rapidly to incidents of sabotage. (c) Report Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for the next 5 years, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that outlines efforts by the United States Government in the prior calendar year to work with international allies and partners to strengthen the security of and reduce barriers to the monitoring, maintenance, repair, and protection of international critical undersea infrastructure networks, including— (1) a list of current foreign policies or laws that create barriers to United States-led efforts to install, maintain, repair, and protect international critical undersea infrastructure networks; and (2) progress made in the previous calendar year as a result of United States engagement with allies and partners.