Last month Rep Crow (D,CO) introduced HR 7203,
the Guaranteeing Resilient Installations for Defense (GRID) Act of 2020. The
bill would require DOE to carry out a pilot program on the implementation of
mitigating actions to address vulnerabilities to defense critical electric
infrastructure. The bill would also modify the definition of the term ‘defense
critical electric infrastructure’ in 16
USC 824o-1.
Pilot Program
Section 2 of the bill requires DOE (in consultation with DOD
and the affected Service Secretaries) to “carry out a two-year pilot program
under which the Secretary shall implement mitigating actions to address
vulnerabilities assessed under” {§2(a)} §824o-1. The GAO is required to conduct
a review of the pilot program within 2 years of this bill being adopted.
The bill provides authorization for the spending of $25
million to support this pilot program.
The current language of §824o-1 does not include any
language requiring vulnerability assessment. Section 3(2) of the bill addresses
this by modifying the current language in §824o-1(c) to read:
“Not later than 180 days after
December 4, 2015, the Secretary, in consultation with
other appropriate Federal agencies and appropriate owners, users, or operators
of infrastructure that may be defense critical electric infrastructure, shall identify
and designate identify,
designate, and mitigate vulnerabilities at facilities located in the
48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia any State that are….”
Definition Change
Section 3(1) of the bill makes the following revisions to
the definition of ‘defense critical electric infrastructure’ in §824o-1(a)(4):
“The term ‘defense critical
electric infrastructure’ means any electric infrastructure located in any of
the 48 contiguous States or the District of Columbia State that serves a
facility designated by the Secretary pursuant to subsection (c), but is not
owned or operated by the owner or operator of such facility.”
Moving Forward
Crow and his Republican cosponsor {Rep Bacon (R,NE)} are both
members of the House Armed Services Committee (one of the two committees to
which this bill was assigned for consideration) and Crow is Vice Chair of the
Subcommittee on Intelligence and Emerging Threats and Capabilities. It is likely
that there is enough influence here to have this bill considered favorably in
this Committee. The third cosponsor {Rep Peters (D,CA)} is an influential
member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the other committee to which
this bill was assigned.
The only potential draw back to this bill being considered
favorably in the House is the $25 million authorization. This is a relatively
small authorization, but the money will have to come from somewhere. This may
not be a fatal draw back for this bill.
I would not be surprised to see this bill (or similar
language) find it way into either a DOE authorization bill or the House version
of the NDAA.
Commentary
There are two minor problems with the changes that this bill
makes to §824o-1. First the way the change was made to the definition of the
term ‘defense critical electric infrastructure’ would mean that there would no
longer be any such infrastructure in the District of Columbia. I suppose that
there would be some people in DOD that would like to see the Puzzle Palace
removed from such designation, but I do think that it would be counter-productive.
The deleted language should be changed from “of the 48 contiguous States or the
District of Columbia” to “of the 48 contiguous States”.
The second change is the change in §824o-1(c). As is
currently written, paragraph (c) is the requirement for DOE to designate ‘‘defense
critical electric infrastructure’. This designation requirement is referred to
in various places in the Section. The change in this bill would effectively
remove that designation requirement.
Since the initial designations under this section have
already been made, I would suggest that the revision established in this bill
should change (c) to read:
(c) Designation of critical defense
facilities
(1) Not later than 180 days after December 4,
2015, the The Secretary,
in consultation with other appropriate Federal agencies and appropriate owners,
users, or operators of infrastructure that may be defense critical electric
infrastructure, shall identify and designate facilities located in the States
and the District of Columbia that are—
(A) critical to the defense of the United States;
and
(B) vulnerable to a disruption of the supply of
electric energy provided to such facility by an external provider.
(2) The Secretary may, in consultation with
appropriate Federal agencies and appropriate owners, users, or operators of
defense critical electric infrastructure, periodically revise the list of
designated facilities as necessary.
(3) Not later than 180 days after this section is
adopted, the Secretary , in consultation with other appropriate Federal
agencies and appropriate owners, users, or operators of infrastructure that may
be defense critical electric infrastructure, shall identify, designate, and
mitigate vulnerabilities at facilities that are designated in (1) above. [corrected paragraph
numbering, 7-7-20 11:15 EDT]
Posts
