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Senators fret over security of electric grid

Laurel White
Medill News Service

WASHINGTON – The inspector general of the Energy Department declared late Wednesday that leaked information about electric grid vulnerability should have been worthy of "classified" status, leaving some senators concerned that national security may be at risk.

Electricity transmission lines running north and south near Coalinga, Calif., are shown at dawn, Jan. 27, 2001.

"This revelation, with its national security implications, is extremely troubling," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, ranking member on the Senate Energy and National Resources Committee.

Last month, the Wall Street Journal published information from government briefing papers describing vulnerabilities in the nation's electric grid. The briefings were in response to a 2013 sniper attack on a California substation, which was first publicly reported in February.

At the hearing Thursday, senators said they were concerned because the material included the identity of specific, critically important substations across North America. The Journal did not include the names of the stations in its article.

The committee's hearing was originally scheduled to discuss improving security of the grid, but the inspector general's announcement dominated the conversation.

The substations were first identified in briefings by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission after the California attack. Federal agencies, trade groups and private industry were in attendance at the briefings.

Parts of the briefings were subject to non-disclosure agreements, according to the commission.

In the hearing, senators chastised the media and the commission for the leak and asked about actions being taken to prevent similar disclosures in the future.

"I continue to believe that publication of such information about the grid undermines its security," said Murkowski.

"We are working to fully understand what happened and what we can do to improve our internal processes to ensure that no similar disclosure will occur in the future," said Cheryl LaFleur, acting chairwoman of the energy commission.

LaFleur would not speculate on the identity of the leaker. She said she had no reason to believe that criminal charges would be levied.

Her predecessor, former FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, said in an interview that the inspector general's ruling and ensuing controversy were "nonsensical," pointing out that the commission's information simply confirmed previous government studies and analyses, some of which were public.

"Let's not worry about whether something's classified or not classified or leaked or not leaked," Wellinghoff said. "The real point is we need to protect these facilities and protect them as quickly as possible."

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