ANCHOR Act

Summary#

This bill, called the ANCHOR Act, requires the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to submit a plan within 18 months to improve cybersecurity and telecommunications for the U.S. Academic Research Fleet (United States-flagged research vessels operated by universities and labs). The plan must assess telecommunications and networking needs for each vessel's scientific missions and, following guidance from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), assess cybersecurity needs for vessel operations and research activities. The plan must estimate costs for necessary equipment and personnel, including satellite communications, shipboard and shoreside computing, and training; estimate effects on daily charter rates; estimate time needed to implement upgrades under different budgets; identify opportunities for shared solutions or centralization; and include a spending plan developed with non-Federal vessel owners. The Director may support upgrades consistent with the plan and must submit a progress report to Congress within two years after the plan is delivered.

What it means for you#

• Universities, laboratories, and vessel operators will be part of creating a plan that looks at network speed, data transfer, and cybersecurity needs tied to each vessel's scientific work.
• The plan will consider services important to people on board, such as telemedicine, mental health support, and video communications for outreach and education.
• Scientists and ship crews can expect assessments of capabilities for real-time data streaming, remote expert support for research and maintenance, and copying data off ship for backup.
• The plan will discuss who might pay for upgrades (NSF, Office of Naval Research, non-Federal owners, or users) but does not itself appropriate money.

Expenses#

No publicly available information on exact amounts or appropriations. The bill requires the plan to estimate: equipment costs beyond current spending (for example, satellite communications, software, high-performance computing, or enterprise hardware); additional personnel and training costs; and estimated impacts on daily charter rates. The plan must include a spending plan that could involve NSF, the Office of Naval Research, non-Federal owners, and fleet users. The bill authorizes the Director to support upgrades consistent with the plan but does not specify funding levels.

Proponents' View#

The bill's text lays out reasons for the effort: to strengthen networking and cyberinfrastructure so vessels can meet scientific missions; to support crew health and well-being through communications and telemedicine; to enable timely data transfer and disaster-recovery copying; to allow real-time remote participation, mapping, and instrument operation; to permit remote vendor support for critical systems; and to improve outreach and occasional remote classroom teaching for K-12 students. The plan must align with CISA and NIST guidance and consider existing expert recommendations.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.