The Harlow Report-GIS
2023 Edition
ISSN 0742-468X
Since 1978
On-line Since 2000
first published week of: 04/10/2023
Lawmakers Move to Elevate Leadership of Energy’s Cyber Office
by Edward Graham
Citing the threat posed by foreign adversaries, four Republican senators are pushing for a Senate-confirmed assistant secretary to helm Energy’s office tasked with cybersecurity.
A group of Republican senators, including the ranking member of an influential committee, have reintroduced legislation that would require that the head of the Energy Department’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response—or CESER—be led by a Senate-confirmed assistant secretary.
The bill—introduced on March 22 by Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Jim Risch, R-Idaho; Mike Crapo, R-Idaho; and Susan Collins, R-Maine—would amend the Department of Energy Organization Act “to assign certain functions to the assistant secretaries of Energy relating to energy emergencies and energy security.”
CESER, which functions as Energy’s main office responsible for cybersecurity, was created in 2018 by the Trump administration to “ocus on energy infrastructure security, support the expanded national security responsibilities assigned to the department and report to the under secretary of Energy.” The office was initially led by a Senate-confirmed assistant secretary, but the Biden administration decided to change the designation of the office’s leader to an unconfirmed director.
Read full story at NextGov…