Resolution #DEN-18-012
TITLE: Support for Tribal Nations’ Access to Cyber Security Services and Funding
WHEREAS, we, the members of the National Congress of American Indians of the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts and purposes, in order to preserve for ourselves and our descendants the inherent sovereign rights of our Indian nations, rights secured under Indian treaties and agreements with the United States, and all other rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the laws and Constitution of the United States and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to enlighten the public toward a better understanding of the Indian people, to preserve Indian cultural values, and otherwise promote the health, safety and welfare of the Indian people, do hereby establish and submit the following resolution; and
WHEREAS, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was established in 1944 and is the oldest and largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments; and
WHEREAS, since 2003, approximately 98 percent of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant funding has gone to state and local governments; and
WHEREAS, almost every year over $1 billion dollars has been appropriated for DHS grants yet Tribal Nations are only directly eligible for $10 million dollars of non-emergency DHS grants through the Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program; and
WHEREAS, Tribal Nations have been encouraged to see the increase in the Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program to $10 million dollars but recognize that the funds are not adequate to help all 573 federally recognized tribes build and sustain their homeland security capabilities; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Homeland Security funded Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), which services for detecting and identifying cyber security threats offers free Albert senor services to States but requires Tribal Nations to pay for the sensors; and
WHEREAS, Tribal Nations maintain the sensitive data of tribal and non-tribal citizens, medical records, employment records, membership rolls, and critical infrastructure information; and
WHEREAS, Tribal Nations are constant targets of cyber security attacks and threats; and
WHEREAS, Tribal Nations cyber security preparedness and maturity continues to fall well short of state and local governments as measured by the National Cyber Security Review; and
WHEREAS, equitable treatment between Tribal Nations’ cyber security needs and state cyber security needs would increase the ability of Tribal Nations to protect tribal and non-tribal citizen’s data they are tasked with safeguarding.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) calls upon the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Congress to fulfill their trust responsibility to Tribal Nations by substantially increasing funding for the Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program and direct MS-ISAC to provide free Albert sensors to each Tribal Nation as they do to states; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the policy of NCAI until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.
CERTIFICATION
The foregoing resolution was adopted by the General Assembly at the 2018 Annual Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held at the Hyatt Regency in Denver, Colorado October 21-26, 2018, with a quorum present.
Jefferson Keel, President
ATTEST:
Juana Majel Dixon, Recording Secretary