IC Oversight & Authorities — 2026-06-12

Warner Introduces Bill Requiring CISA to Update All 16 Critical Infrastructure Sector Cybersecurity Plans Within Nine Months

BLUFWarner's bill is unlikely to advance past committee given his minority position and absent Republican co-sponsorship, but it codifies AI and quantum threats as named infrastructure vulnerabilities in the legislative record.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Senate Intelligence Committee vice chairman, introduced the Combat Emerging Threats to Critical Infrastructure Act of 2026 on June 10, directing CISA to update cybersecurity plans for all 16 NSM-22-designated critical infrastructure sectors 12. Warner's press release sets the initial completion deadline at nine months from enactment; Nextgov/FCW and Route Fifty reported it as one year 123. The bill would further require biennial plan renewals, sector-by-sector risk assessments covering AI-enabled attacks, deepfakes, robotics, and quantum-based cryptographic threats, and delivery of completed plans to Congress within 30 days of each sector's update 1. Warner's office stated that the NSM-22 biennial update cadence has not been consistently followed and that some sector plans have not been revised in more than a decade 123.

Analysis
The bill is unlikely to receive a Senate committee markup before the 119th Congress adjourns on January 3, 2027. Warner holds the minority vice-chairmanship on Senate Intelligence with no gaveling authority, and reporting drawn primarily from his own press release identifies no Republican co-sponsor. Moderate confidence reflects that structural minority position and the absence of any recorded bipartisan engagement. NSM-22's biennial update cadence, unenforced in some sectors for more than a decade, now appears as a named vulnerability vector in legislative records regardless of the bill's fate. The administration could close the compliance gap through executive action via binding operational directives. Absent a legislative or executive forcing function, CISA and SRMA leads face no timeline with teeth.
4 sources
  1. Warner Introduces Bill to Update Cybersecurity Plans Defend Against Emerging AI Threats - GlobalSecurity.org
  2. Warner proposes overhaul of critical infrastructure cyber plans as AI threats rise - Nextgov/FCW
  3. Lawmaker proposes overhaul of critical infrastructure cyber plans as AI threats rise - Route Fifty
  4. Warner Introduces Bill to Update Our Country's Cybersecurity Plans, Defend Against Emerging AI Threats - Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) Official Press Release

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