Review - S 5313 Introduced – FERC Quantum Cybersecurity

Last week, Sen Coons (D,DE) introduced S 5313, the Quantum Grid Utility Assurance and Resilient Defense (Quantum-GUARD) Act of 2026. The bill would require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to consider cybersecurity risks from quantum computers in any future reliability-standards setting actions. It would also require DOE to establish a PQC sandbox. No new funding is authorized by this legislation. 

Moving Forward  

Neither Coons, nor his sole cosponsor {Sen Rounds (R,SD)} are members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there will not likely be sufficient influence to see the bill considered by the Committee. I see nothing in the language that would engender organized opposition. I suspect that there would be some level of bipartisan support for the bill. Unfortunately, this bill is not politically significant enough to justify the time necessary to consider it under regular order, especially in the short time left in the 119th Congress. 

Commentary  

This bill is not normally something that would be considered in this blog. But, having said that, I am interested in the definition of the term ‘operational technology’ proposed in Section 2. While S 5313 is targeted at control of the electric grid, the crafters of this definition felt it necessary to specifically include “industrial control systems, building management systems, fire control systems, and physical access control mechanisms” in the definition. It is almost as if they were intending to use this bill to establish this definition in US Code for some reason. I do not think that that is likely to happen with this bill, but the definition is almost good enough to be a broadly applicable cybersecurity definition. 

For more information on the provisions of this legislation, including providing changes to the OT definintion to make it more broadly applicable, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-5313-introduced-ferc-quantum-cybersecurity - subscription required. A copy will be emailed to free subscribers tomorrow.