44 Usc 3554

Page 157

TITLE 44—PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS

‘‘(5) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in paragraph (1)
shall be construed to alter any authority of a Federal
agency or department.’’
Similar provisions were contained in Pub. L. 113–282,
§ 7(b), Dec. 18, 2014, 128 Stat. 3071.

§ 3554. Federal agency responsibilities
(a) IN GENERAL.—The head of each agency
shall—
(1) be responsible for—
(A) providing information security protections commensurate with the risk and magnitude of the harm resulting from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption,
modification, or destruction of—
(i) information collected or maintained
by or on behalf of the agency; and
(ii) information systems used or operated by an agency or by a contractor of an
agency or other organization on behalf of
an agency;
(B) complying with the requirements of
this subchapter and related policies, procedures, standards, and guidelines, including—
(i) information security standards promulgated under section 11331 of title 40;
(ii) operational directives developed by
the Secretary under section 3553(b);
(iii) policies and procedures issued by the
Director;
(iv) information security standards and
guidelines for national security systems
issued in accordance with law and as directed by the President; and
(v) emergency directives issued by the
Secretary under section 3553(h); and
(C) ensuring that information security
management processes are integrated with
agency strategic, operational, and budgetary
planning processes;
(2) ensure that senior agency officials provide information security for the information
and information systems that support the operations and assets under their control, including through—
(A) assessing the risk and magnitude of
the harm that could result from the unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption,
modification, or destruction of such information or information systems;
(B) determining the levels of information
security appropriate to protect such information and information systems in accordance with standards promulgated under section 11331 of title 40, for information security classifications and related requirements;
(C) implementing policies and procedures
to cost-effectively reduce risks to an acceptable level; and
(D) periodically testing and evaluating information security controls and techniques
to ensure that they are effectively implemented;
(3) delegate to the agency Chief Information
Officer established under section 3506 (or comparable official in an agency not covered by
such section) the authority to ensure compliance with the requirements imposed on the
agency under this subchapter, including—

§ 3554

(A) designating a senior agency information security officer who shall—
(i) carry out the Chief Information Officer’s responsibilities under this section;
(ii) possess professional qualifications,
including training and experience, required to administer the functions described under this section;
(iii) have information security duties as
that official’s primary duty; and
(iv) head an office with the mission and
resources to assist in ensuring agency
compliance with this section;
(B) developing and maintaining an agencywide information security program as required by subsection (b);
(C) developing and maintaining information security policies, procedures, and control techniques to address all applicable requirements, including those issued under
section 3553 of this title and section 11331 of
title 40;
(D) training and overseeing personnel with
significant responsibilities for information
security with respect to such responsibilities; and
(E) assisting senior agency officials concerning their responsibilities under paragraph (2);
(4) ensure that the agency has trained personnel sufficient to assist the agency in complying with the requirements of this subchapter and related policies, procedures,
standards, and guidelines;
(5) ensure that the agency Chief Information
Officer, in coordination with other senior
agency officials, reports annually to the agency head on the effectiveness of the agency information
security
program,
including
progress of remedial actions;
(6) ensure that senior agency officials, including chief information officers of component agencies or equivalent officials, carry out
responsibilities under this subchapter as directed by the official delegated authority
under paragraph (3); and
(7) ensure that all personnel are held accountable for complying with the agency-wide
information security program implemented
under subsection (b).
(b) AGENCY PROGRAM.—Each agency shall develop, document, and implement an agency-wide
information security program to provide information security for the information and information systems that support the operations and
assets of the agency, including those provided or
managed by another agency, contractor, or
other source, that includes—
(1) periodic assessments of the risk and magnitude of the harm that could result from the
unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction of information and information systems that support the
operations and assets of the agency, which
may include using automated tools consistent
with standards and guidelines promulgated
under section 11331 of title 40;
(2) policies and procedures that—
(A) are based on the risk assessments required by paragraph (1);

§ 3554

TITLE 44—PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS

(B) cost-effectively reduce information security risks to an acceptable level;
(C) ensure that information security is addressed throughout the life cycle of each
agency information system; and
(D) ensure compliance with—
(i) the requirements of this subchapter;
(ii) policies and procedures as may be
prescribed by the Director, and information security standards promulgated under
section 11331 of title 40;
(iii) minimally acceptable system configuration requirements, as determined by
the agency; and
(iv) any other applicable requirements,
including standards and guidelines for national security systems issued in accordance with law and as directed by the President;
(3) subordinate plans for providing adequate
information security for networks, facilities,
and systems or groups of information systems,
as appropriate;
(4) security awareness training to inform
personnel, including contractors and other
users of information systems that support the
operations and assets of the agency, of—
(A) information security risks associated
with their activities; and
(B) their responsibilities in complying
with agency policies and procedures designed to reduce these risks;
(5) periodic testing and evaluation of the effectiveness of information security policies,
procedures, and practices, to be performed
with a frequency depending on risk, but no
less than annually, of which such testing—
(A) shall include testing of management,
operational, and technical controls of every
information system identified in the inventory required under section 3505(c); 1
(B) may include testing relied on in an
evaluation under section 3555; and
(C) shall include using automated tools,
consistent with standards and guidelines
promulgated under section 11331 of title 40;
(6) a process for planning, implementing,
evaluating, and documenting remedial action
to address any deficiencies in the information
security policies, procedures, and practices of
the agency;
(7) procedures for detecting, reporting, and
responding to security incidents, which—
(A) shall be consistent with the standards
and guidelines described in section 3556(b);
(B) may include using automated tools;
and
(C) shall include—
(i) mitigating risks associated with such
incidents before substantial damage is
done;
(ii) notifying and consulting with the
Federal information security incident center established in section 3556; and
(iii) notifying and consulting with, as appropriate—
(I) law enforcement agencies and relevant Offices of Inspector General and
Offices of General Counsel;
1 So

in original. Section 3505 contains two subsecs. (c).

Page 158

(II) an office designated by the President for any incident involving a national security system;
(III) for a major incident, the committees of Congress described in subsection
(c)(1)—
(aa) not later than 7 days after the
date on which there is a reasonable
basis to conclude that the major incident has occurred; and
(bb) after the initial notification
under item (aa), within a reasonable
period of time after additional information relating to the incident is discovered, including the summary required under subsection (c)(1)(A)(i);
and
(IV) any other agency or office, in accordance with law or as directed by the
President; and
(8) plans and procedures to ensure continuity
of operations for information systems that
support the operations and assets of the agency.
(c) AGENCY REPORTING.—
(1) ANNUAL REPORT.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—Each agency shall submit
to the Director, the Secretary, the Committee on Government Reform, the Committee
on Homeland Security, and the Committee
on Science of the House of Representatives,
the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs and the Committee on
Commerce, Science, and Transportation of
the Senate, the appropriate authorization
and appropriations committees of Congress,
and the Comptroller General a report on the
adequacy and effectiveness of information
security policies, procedures, and practices,
including—
(i) a description of each major information security incident or related sets of incidents, including summaries of—
(I) the threats and threat actors, vulnerabilities, and impacts relating to the
incident;
(II) the risk assessments conducted
under section 3554(a)(2)(A) of the affected
information systems before the date on
which the incident occurred;
(III) the status of compliance of the affected information systems with applicable security requirements at the time of
the incident; and
(IV) the detection, response, and remediation actions;
(ii) the total number of information security incidents, including a description of
incidents resulting in significant compromise of information security, system
impact levels, types of incident, and locations of affected systems;
(iii) a description of each major information security incident that involved a
breach of personally identifiable information, as defined by the Director, including—
(I) the number of individuals whose information was affected by the major information security incident; and

Page 159

TITLE 44—PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS

(II) a description of the information
that was breached or exposed; and
(iv) any other information as the Director or the Secretary, in consultation with
the Director, may require.
(B) UNCLASSIFIED REPORT.—
(i) IN GENERAL.—Each report submitted
under subparagraph (A) shall be in unclassified form, but may include a classified
annex.
(ii) ACCESS TO INFORMATION.—The head of
an agency shall ensure that, to the greatest extent practicable, information is included in the unclassified version of the reports submitted by the agency under subparagraph (A).
(2) OTHER PLANS AND REPORTS.—Each agency
shall address the adequacy and effectiveness of
information security policies, procedures, and
practices in management plans and reports.
(d) PERFORMANCE PLAN.—(1) In addition to the
requirements of subsection (c), each agency, in
consultation with the Director, shall include as
part of the performance plan required under section 1115 of title 31 a description of—
(A) the time periods; and
(B) the resources, including budget, staffing,
and training,
that are necessary to implement the program
required under subsection (b).
(2) The description under paragraph (1) shall
be based on the risk assessments required under
subsection (b)(1).
(e) PUBLIC NOTICE AND COMMENT.—Each agency
shall provide the public with timely notice and
opportunities for comment on proposed information security policies and procedures to the extent that such policies and procedures affect
communication with the public.
(Added Pub. L. 113–283, § 2(a), Dec. 18, 2014, 128
Stat. 3078; amended Pub. L. 114–113, div. N, title
II, § 229(b), Dec. 18, 2015, 129 Stat. 2974.)
PRIOR PROVISIONS
Provisions similar to this section were contained in
sections 3534 and 3544 of this title prior to repeal by
Pub. L. 113–283.
AMENDMENTS
2015—Subsec. (a)(1)(B)(v). Pub. L. 114–113 added cl. (v).
MAJOR INCIDENT
Pub. L. 113–283, § 2(b), Dec. 18, 2014, 128 Stat. 3085, provided that: ‘‘The Director of the Office of Management
and Budget shall—
‘‘(1) develop guidance on what constitutes a major
incident for purposes of section 3554(b) of title 44,
United States Code, as added by subsection (a); and
‘‘(2) provide to Congress periodic briefings on the
status of the developing of the guidance until the
date on which the guidance is issued.’’

§ 3555. Annual independent evaluation
(a) IN GENERAL.—(1) Each year each agency
shall have performed an independent evaluation
of the information security program and practices of that agency to determine the effectiveness of such program and practices.
(2) Each evaluation under this section shall include—

§ 3555

(A) testing of the effectiveness of information security policies, procedures, and practices of a representative subset of the agency’s
information systems;
(B) an assessment of the effectiveness of the
information security policies, procedures, and
practices of the agency; and
(C) separate presentations, as appropriate,
regarding information security relating to national security systems.
(b) INDEPENDENT AUDITOR.—Subject to subsection (c)—
(1) for each agency with an Inspector General appointed under the Inspector General
Act of 1978, the annual evaluation required by
this section shall be performed by the Inspector General or by an independent external
auditor, as determined by the Inspector General of the agency; and
(2) for each agency to which paragraph (1)
does not apply, the head of the agency shall
engage an independent external auditor to perform the evaluation.
(c) NATIONAL SECURITY SYSTEMS.—For each
agency operating or exercising control of a national security system, that portion of the evaluation required by this section directly relating
to a national security system shall be performed—
(1) only by an entity designated by the agency head; and
(2) in such a manner as to ensure appropriate
protection for information associated with
any information security vulnerability in such
system commensurate with the risk and in accordance with all applicable laws.
(d) EXISTING EVALUATIONS.—The evaluation required by this section may be based in whole or
in part on an audit, evaluation, or report relating to programs or practices of the applicable
agency.
(e) AGENCY REPORTING.—(1) Each year, not
later than such date established by the Director,
the head of each agency shall submit to the Director the results of the evaluation required
under this section.
(2) To the extent an evaluation required under
this section directly relates to a national security system, the evaluation results submitted to
the Director shall contain only a summary and
assessment of that portion of the evaluation directly relating to a national security system.
(f) PROTECTION OF INFORMATION.—Agencies and
evaluators shall take appropriate steps to ensure the protection of information which, if disclosed, may adversely affect information security. Such protections shall be commensurate
with the risk and comply with all applicable
laws and regulations.
(g) OMB REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—(1) The Director shall summarize the results of the evaluations conducted under this section in the report
to Congress required under section 3553(c).
(2) The Director’s report to Congress under
this subsection shall summarize information regarding information security relating to national security systems in such a manner as to
ensure appropriate protection for information
associated with any information security vulnerability in such system commensurate with