The House Armed Services Committee wants to fence off about 15 percent of the Navy’s funding for its advanced at-sea network until the service answers questions about the program’s cybersecurity.

The Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services, commonly referred to as CANES, is the Navy’s advanced at-sea network on board its warships and at coastal facilities.

In a draft markup of the annual defense policy bill for fiscal 2020, the House Armed Services Committee stipulated that the program will not receive more than 85 percent of its funding until the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Defense, proves to the congressional defense committees that its met recommendations laid out in an inspectors general report. Lawmakers marked up the bill June 4.

In January 2018, the inspector general’s office kicked off an audit and later issued a report titled “Audit of Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services Security Safeguards.” While the final report is classified, officials wanted to determine if CANES is protected from cyber threats and to determine the systems vulnerabilities.

Kelsey Reichmann is a general assignment editorial fellow supporting Defense News, Fifth Domain, C4ISRNET and Federal Times. She attended California State University.

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