Bill > S5541

This bill establishes the Cybersecurity and AI Board of Investigations as an independent federal agency to conduct independent, unclassified reviews of major cyber incidents, near-misses, and systemic vulnerabilities—with a specific focus on risks posed by artificial intelligence and emerging technologies—in order to issue public reports and actionable safety recommendations without assigning legal fault or liability. Modeled broadly after independent safety boards like the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the new five-member board will be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate to operate separately from regulatory and enforcement actions. To facilitate its work, the Board is authorized to establish specialized offices for investigations, trend analysis, and interagency coordination, create a voluntary and anonymized "near-miss" reporting system to help organizations share security lessons without fear of exposure, and request or subpoena documents and testimony from relevant entities. To encourage cooperation, the legislation provides robust protections for voluntarily submitted information, exempting it from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), shielding it from civil lawsuits and use as legal evidence, and restricting its government use primarily to cybersecurity and public safety purposes.