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Obama official: Feds need more cybersecurity oversight for electric grid
The chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Tuesday that cybersecurity legislation being considered by Congress must give a federal entity more authority over the nation's electric grid to ensure its protection from malicious attacks.
FERC chairman Jon Wellinghoff said he had not seen all the specifics of Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (I-Conn.) Cybersecurity Act. He noted, however, that a cybersecurity bill sponsored by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) would accomplish much of what Wellinghoff believes is needed to secure the electric grid.
“My intent is to simply have somebody be put in charge,” Wellinghoff said in response to a question from The Hill at the Platts Energy Podium in Washington, D.C. “And the person who’s put in charge has the authority to tell those entities that are responsible for the infrastructure of the immediate threat and vulnerability, and to order them to do something if necessary to mitigate that threat or vulnerability.”
“That’s my really, bottom-line message. It doesn’t have to be FERC.”
Bingaman’s bill, S. 1342, would give FERC the ability to set and enforce cybersecurity measures for the power grid in emergency situations. Bingaman plans to offer the bill as an amendment to Lieberman's legislation, a Democratic aide told The Hill on Tuesday.
“I believe that Sen. Bingaman’s bill does provide for some mandatory oversight on the part of FERC. And I think that would be helpful,” Wellinghoff said.
Republicans and the electric utility industry have been vocal about keeping the federal government out of directly managing cyberoperations for critical infrastructure networks.
They fear such involvement would add costly regulations. They instead prefer enhanced information-sharing mechanisms between industry and the federal government.
Democrats, on the other hand, want more protections for critical infrastructure networks such as the electric grid. They say leaving specific guidelines out of cybersecurity legislation for those networks would expose some of the nation’s most important systems to cyberattacks.
