Obama official: Feds need more cybersecurity oversight for electric grid

The chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said that cybersecurity legislation being considered by Congress must give a federal entity more authority over the nation's electric grid to ensure its protection from malicious attacks.

FERC chairman Jon Wellinghoff said he had not seen all the specifics of the Cybersecurity Act. He noted, however, that a cybersecurity bill sponsored by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) would accomplish much of what Wellinghoff believes is needed to secure the electric grid. “My intent is to simply have somebody be put in charge,” Chairman Wellinghoff said in response to a question from The Hill at the Platts Energy Podium in Washington, D.C. “And the person who’s put in charge has the authority to tell those entities that are responsible for the infrastructure of the immediate threat and vulnerability, and to order them to do something if necessary to mitigate that threat or vulnerability. That’s my really, bottom-line message. It doesn’t have to be FERC.”