Foreign cyber bill advances as Rand Paul laments U.S.’ ‘sugar daddy’ role

A proposal to send more U.S. cybersecurity officials abroad to assist foreign partners cleared a key Senate hurdle amid objections from Sen. Rand Paul about paying for other countries’ digital defenses. 

While supporters of the DHS International Cyber Partner Act of 2023 say the bill is necessary to help countries such as Ukraine and Taiwan defend their computer networks, the Kentucky Republican complained that America was becoming other countries’ “sugar daddy.”

The bill advanced by a 9-3 vote Wednesday through the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and awaits final consideration in the overall Senate.

“We’re going to assign personnel to foreign locations, maybe we should charge them,” Mr. Paul said at a committee meeting. “If we’re going to do cybersecurity assistance for other countries, maybe they should pay for it; that would be extraordinary.” 

The proposal, co-sponsored by Sens. Gary Peters, Michigan Democrat, and James Lankford, Oklahoma Republican, would empower the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to broker agreements with foreign governments and people to defend their critical networks. 

Mr. Peters, the Homeland Security Committee chairman, said allies such as Ukraine and Taiwan face constant cyberattacks and that his legislation would strengthen American cybersecurity through improved information sharing. He said the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CISA, has unique skills and expertise to benefit other countries. 

“This important bill would add a critical tool to our foreign policy toolbox, authorizing the assignment of DHS personnel overseas and the provision of DHS assistance with the concurrence of the secretary of state to improve partners’ cybersecurity,” Mr. Peters said at the meeting.

America’s foreign policy toolbox already includes sending U.S. government personnel overseas to improve other countries’ cybersecurity. 

For example, the military’s U.S. Cyber Command conducts “hunt forward operations” where American personnel are deployed upon invitation from partner nations to observe and detect hackers and cyberattacks on foreign networks. U.S. Cyber Command said last year that it sent its largest hunt forward team to help Ukraine from December 2021 through March 2022.

Separately, the State Department established a Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy last year. Its inaugural ambassador, Nathaniel Fick, told The Washington Times this year that building up international partners’ cybersecurity capacities is a leading priority for American officials. 

Mr. Fick traveled to Albania in 2022 in one of his first engagements to help coordinate a response to Iranian cyberattacks afflicting the country, according to February remarks from U.S. Ambassador to Albania Yuri Kim. 

Alongside U.S. Cyber Command and the State Department, the White House has pledged to send cash for cybersecurity abroad. The administration in March said it was sending $25 million in cybersecurity support to the government of Costa Rica. 

By adding the domestic-facing Department of Homeland Security to the mix of military and diplomatic cyber officials already dispatched overseas, Mr. Paul said Wednesday he’s worried about blowback. 

“I think the more we interact with countries, even allies on these issues, the more we attach, I believe, possible culpability to offensive cyber missions that they are involved with,” Mr. Paul said at the meeting. “A lot of this cybersecurity is also dual purpose in the sense that some of it is offensive to disrupt other countries, and some of our allies are involved in that, so I would not want to expand the role of DHS into this area.”

Mr. Peters said the bill advancing through the Homeland Security Committee incorporated input from Mr. Paul to improve congressional oversight of the new program.