The National Science Foundation, the federal agency that funds scientific research, would have to come up with a detailed plan for upgrading internet and cybersecurity systems on the ships that make up the U.S. Academic Research Fleet — the research vessels scientists, students, and educators use to study the ocean. The plan would need to figure out what these ships need for things like uploading research data and protecting sensitive information from hackers, how much it would cost, how long upgrades would take, and who would pay for it (the NSF, the Navy's research office, and the ships' owners and users). Within 18 months, this plan has to be handed over to Congress, and later the NSF has to report back on how the upgrades are actually going.