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Written testimony of S&T for a House Science, Space, & Technology Subcommittee on Ove
Written testimony of S&T for a House Science, Space, & Technology Subcommittee on Oversight, and Subcommittee on Research & Technology hearing titled “Leveraging Blockchain Technology to Improve Supply Chain Management and Combat Counterfeit Goods”
05-07-2018 09:00 PM Release Date: May 8, 2018 2318 Rayburn House Office Building Chairman Abraham, Chairwoman Comstock, Ranking Member Beyer, Ranking Member Lipinski and distinguished members of the Oversight and Research and Technology Subcommittees, thank you for inviting DHS to speak with you today. I will be addressing the topic of “Potential and proven applications of blockchain and distributed ledger technology in shipping, logistics, and customs, with an emphasis on supply chain management” and sharing with you important aspects of how we are exploring the use of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies in research and development and working with several DHS mission areas to integrate innovative technology into everyday use. I have been in the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) for 14.5 years working the entire time on Cybersecurity research and development (R&D). Prior to my time at DHS, I worked at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the National Security Agency and have been involved in cybersecurity R&D as a government employee for over 30 years. As the R&D arm of DHS, S&T develops the tools, technologies, and knowledge products for DHS operators, state and local first responders, and the nation’s critical infrastructure, ensuring R&D coordination across the Department to develop solutions for the needs of today and tomorrow. S&T partners with Federal agencies, industry, academia, and international governments to create and test solutions that help the nation’s homeland security officials prevent, respond to, and recover from all hazards and threats. S&T’s goal is to provide real-world solutions in a realistic timeframe. The Benefits and Opportunities of Blockchains Blockchains offer much promise, as can be seen in the rapid growth of interest across government and the private sector. From a government perspective, the technology holds the potential for enhanced transparency and auditing of public service operations, greater supply chain visibility to combat the distribution of counterfeit products, and automation of paper-based processes to improve delivery of services to organizations and citizens. Examples span the gamut from ensuring the authenticity and integrity of videos and photos from cameras, sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) devices; enhancing and facilitating international trade and customs processes; facilitating and securing international passenger processing; to mitigating forgery and counterfeiting of official licenses and certificates. Conversely, the challenge with blockchain technology is the potential for the development of “walled gardens” or closed technology platforms that do not support common standards for security, privacy, and data exchange. This would limit the growth and availability of a competitive marketplace of diverse, interoperable solutions for government and industry to draw upon to deliver cost effective and innovative services based on blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. From the DHS S&T perspective, this is the trajectory we see for the blockchain and distributed ledger technologies in the near future:
As the Science Advisor and the R&D arm of the Department, supporting the needs of our operational components is among our highest priorities. DHS S&T’s decision approximately three years ago to start evaluating the security and privacy implications of blockchain technologies as well as our funding and involvement in the technical work since that time has resulted in placing our emphasis on architecture, standards, and interoperability and has allowed us to bring a level of rigor, expertise, and credibility that is unique in supporting DHS Components and other partners across the U.S. government. Blockchain technologies are an integral part of several ongoing S&T research projects with DHS Components and other partners for a variety of purposes, including: developing best practices and decision criteria on when and how to implement blockchain technologies; understanding the support for security and privacy principles in commercial blockchain implementations; developing a decentralized identity broker that separates authentication and attestation services; learning about best practices for connecting legacy systems with blockchain enabled capabilities; developing specifications to ensure standardized approaches for decentralized identifiers; interoperable data formats using verifiable credentials and scalable and usable approaches to decentralized key management systems. These specifications, which are or will be submitted by S&T performers to global standards organizations to undergo an open, multi-stakeholder standardization process, are open, royalty-free, and free to implement, and are accompanied by implementation lessons to demonstrate their utility. S&T Engaging CBP Within DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been the most active operational component to lean forward in partnering with S&T on exploring the use of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies for its mission. Our ongoing engagements with CBP include:
Blockchain Technology and Trade DHS S&T, CBP Office of Trade (OT), and CBP Office of Trade Relations (OTR) are working together with private sector members of the Emerging Technologies Working Group of the CBP Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) on multiple proof-of-concept implementations to identify the utility and feasibility of blockchain technology. DHS S&T conducted a two-day workshop with the COAC industry partners to provide information to the participants so that they are able to actively engage in the discussions about blockchain use with CBP. Included in the workshop was the development of a shared set of criteria to be used to evaluate the proof-of-concepts S&T and CBP (OT and OTR) would embark upon. Those criteria included:
Flexible Ledgers with Verifiable Credentials, Blacksburg, VA company This project designed and implemented a generalized, configurable ledger technology that can support application specific needs while using a standardized, extensible core data model to ensure interoperability. It has resulted in a commercially available capability that incorporates interoperability specifications such as DIDs and Verifiable Credentials which are both on the standardization path via the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Given its support for these specifications, this technology is being used by the DHS/CBP Office of Trade in partnership with S&T for its first customs proof-of-concept. Additional Blockchain Projects In addition to work with DHS/CBP, S&T has contributed to the following efforts that have influenced and informed our supply chain focused blockchain work: Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs), Seattle, WA company Developed a decentralized identifier (DID) specification that enables the creation of a globally unique identifier without the need for a central registration authority. This identifier should be immutable, globally resolvable and cryptographically verifiable. At the end of this project a draft specification was developed and the Seattle, WA company was acquired by a Herriman, UT company. Decentralized Key Management System (DKMS), Herriman, UT company Using the DID specification developed by Respect Network Corporation, designed, developed and implemented a decentralized key management capability that is compatible with the requirements of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-130 Cryptographic Key Management System Framework. Currently, the results of this work which includes the NIST 800-130 analysis as well as the architecture and design of the DKMS system is complete and has contributed to the open source Hyperledger Indy project (led by the Linux Foundation) for public review and comment. Next steps include a reference implementation as well as further test and evaluation based on community feedback. Decentralized Identity Broker, Toronto, Canada company This project designed, developed and implemented a decentralized identity broker that separates authentication and attestation services while ensuring resiliency against denial of service attacks, preventing honeypots of data, providing citizen centric consent and control of data sharing, while supporting international standards for identity assurance, privacy and data sharing. It has resulted in a commercially available capability that utilizes the Hyperledger Fabric project (also led by the Linux Foundation) that is currently undergoing operational testing in preparation for production deployment in the U.S. market. A Path Forward As noted before, a very real concern in the current timeframe of blockchain technologies is the potential for the development of “walled gardens” or closed technology platforms that do not support common standards for security, privacy, and data exchange. This would limit the growth and availability of a competitive marketplace of diverse, interoperable solutions for government and industry to draw upon to deliver cost effective and innovative services based on blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. To that end, DHS S&T is pursuing two broad courses of action to encourage a more open and inclusive future for blockchain technology:
Summary Chairman Abraham, Chairwoman Comstock, Ranking Member Beyer, Ranking Member Lipinski, and distinguished members of the Oversight and Research and Technology Subcommittees, thank you again for your interest in blockchain or distributed ledger technologies and how these technologies will help DHS accomplish its important mission areas. DHS S&T is focused on applied R&D of technologies with critical significance to DHS Components and other key parts of the Homeland Security Enterprise. Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies are rapidly moving from hype to reality in application domain areas where DHS S&T is currently working. This reality means DHS S&T must aggressively work with its research, development, test and evaluation partners throughout government and industry so homeland security applications of blockchain and distributed ledger technology are effective and trusted. This requirement includes strong working relationships with industry, so homeland security applications can leverage the best of industrial innovation, and homeland security capabilities can continue to support the strengthening and growth of American economic capabilities. These efforts must contribute to key challenge areas for all critical missions of DHS. Thank you for your thoughtful leadership on these issues. I look forward to your questions. APPENDIX: Selected References Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies Decentralized Identifier Primer, GitHub.com, October, 2017, https://github.com/WebOfTrustInfo/rebooting-the-web-of-trust-fall2017/bl.... A Verifiable Claims Primer, GitHub.com, October 2017, https://github.com/WebOfTrustInfo/rebooting-the-web-of-trust-fall2017/bl.... DKMS (Decentralized Key Management System) Design and Architecture V3, GitHub.com, April 12, 1018, https://github.com/hyperledger/indy-sdk/blob/master/doc/dkms/DKMS%20Desi.... NISTIR 8202 (DRAFT) - Blockchain Technology Overview, https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/d...tir/8202/draft Topics: Economic Security Keywords: blockchain, Research and Development More... |
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