Sen. Cantwell questions Cheney on US energy cybersecurity

During a recent hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) questioned Ret. Brigadier General Stephen Cheney on how much the United States needed to be thinking about upgrading the security of critical energy infrastructure as it related to recent domestic and international cyberattacks.

“There is no doubt cyber is a huge threat,” Cheney, who serves as CEO of the American Security project, said. “A threat to our security, threat to our energy sources. As you well explained, there have been multiple attacks on all of our grids. And if we just put our heads in the sand and don’t put the funding towards it or research that is needed to counter these, it is going to get worse, significantly worse.”

Cantwell cited a 2013 Christian Science Monitor article which reported that cyberspies linked to China’s military targeted approximately two dozen U.S. natural gas pipeline operators and were stealing information that could be used to sabotage U.S. gas pipelines.

When asked what types of actions the United States should be pursuing in response to cyber threats, Cheney stated that the vast majority of utilities in America were privately owned and forcing them to do the research to help counter cyber threats was not the way to go and that it needed to be funded at the federal level.

“You need to have a healthy cyber command that is looking at these threats,” Cheney said. “You need to assist all the utilities in the country on countering these threats. DHS needs to be involved. They need to be robustly funded, to counter the threat that’s there.”

Cantwell also announced the formal request of an assessment by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) of the nation’s current physical and cyber protections of U.S. natural gas, oil, and hazardous liquid pipelines.

The request, made via a formal letter to GAO, was co-signed by the Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ). A formal response has yet to be issued by GAO.