Report on Power Grid Threats Mishandled
The document created by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should have been kept secret as a national security matter, Energy Department Inspector General Gregory Friedman said. Instead the information was provided in whole or in part to federal and industry officials in uncontrolled settings.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that a federal analysis indicated that a coordinated terrorist strike on just nine key electric transmission substations could cause cascading power outages across the country in each of the nation’s three synchronized power networks.
The report followed a comment by former FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff that an April 2013 attack on a California electric substation was terrorism. The FBI has said in repeated statements it had found no indications to back that up. FERC could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The attack, which involved snipping fiber-optic phone lines and firing shots into a PG&E substation near Metcalf, Calif., caused power outages. Millions of people were asked to conserve energy after power lines were damaged.
