S 1800 Introduced – DOD Electric Grid Security

Last week Sen. Warren (D,MA) introduced S 1800, the Securing the Electric Grid to Protect Military Readiness Act of 2017. The bill is nearly identical to SA 867, Warren’s proposed amendment to HR 2810 on the same topic. It addresses efforts to protect the electrical distribution systems on military installations.

Moving Forward

Warren is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee to which this bill was referred for consideration. This means that she may have enough influence to have the Committee consider the bill.

I do not see anything in this bill that would engender any significant opposition. If the bill were to be considered it would be likely to pass with at least some bipartisan support.

Commentary

There is nothing in this bill that directly addresses cybersecurity concerns for the industrial control system associated with military power distribution systems. A lot of the language seems to be IT-centric (for example: “to deny access to or degrade, disrupt, or destroy an information and communications technology system or network” {§2(c)(4)(A)} in the definition of ‘significant malicious cyber-enabled activities’).

I doubt that DOD would fail to address ICS security issues in the required studies and reports, but it would certainly be helpful if the bill specifically addressed requirements for ICS security considerations. I suspect that the failure to do so reflects a continued failure on the part of Congress to recognize the different issues involved with ICS security.