Shaheen Joins Colleagues in Letter to Trump Administration: Act On Russian Cyber Intrusions To U.S. Energy Infrastructure
**19 Senators urge the Department of Energy to conduct analysis of Russian cyber warfare capabilities**
(Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joined 18 Senators in sending a letter to the Trump administration urging the Department of Energy to conduct an analysis of Russian capabilities with respect to cyber-attacks on U.S. energy infrastructure. After the cybersecurity firm Dragos issued a report on June 12th revealing that malware could be deployed against U.S. electric transmission and distribution systems, the Washington Post reported that, “Russian government hackers have already shown their interest in targeting U.S. energy and other utility systems.”
In their letter, the senators request that the Trump administration, “direct the Department of Energy, in consultation with other relevant agencies, to within 60 days conduct a thorough analysis of:
a) the scope of Russian capabilities to use cyber warfare to threaten our energy infrastructure; and
b) the extent to which the Russians have already attempted cyber intrusions into our electric grid, pipelines, and other important energy facilities.”
The Senators continue, “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. 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% How can our government protect our national security assets if the administration does not allocate the necessary resources?”
