Democratic senators send letter demanding analysis of Russian cyber capabilities on US energy infrastructure

A group of Democratic members of the U.S. Senate recently sent a public letter to President Trump, urging the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct a thorough analysis of Russian cyber capabilities on the nation’s energy infrastructure.

The letter specifically called for directing the department to conduct an examination of the scope of Russian capabilities to use cyber warfare to threaten energy infrastructure and the extent to which the Russians have already attempted various cyber intrusions into the electric grid and associated energy facilities, within 60 days time.

On March 14, U.S. Sens. Maria Cantrell (D-WA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) sent a letter demanding that the Trump Administration take action on cyber threats to the nation’s energy infrastructure, which did not receive a formal response.

In addition to mounting reports that actors within the Russian government may have interfered with the 2016 presidential election cycle, the senators’ concerns stem from a June 12 report from the cybersecurity firm Dragos which stated that malware could be deployed against U.S. electric transmission and distribution systems.

“Instead of responsibly performing the requested assessment, your administration has proposed slashing funding to the very offices tasked with protecting our grid from Russian cyber attacks,” the letter said. “Indeed, the Department of Energy’s Congressional Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2018 proposes to dramatically reduce funding for the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability by more than 40 percent. How can our government protect our national security assets if the administration does not allocate the necessary resources?”

The letter was cosigned by U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH, Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Chris Coons (D-DE), Al Franken (D-MN), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Patty Murray (D-WA), Tom Carper (D-DE), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).