Electric Grid Security Still “a Work in Progress”
Threats to the U.S. electric power grid in recent years, including actual attacks on transmission substations, have prompted utilities and regulators to adopt various steps to enhance grid security. A new report from the Congressional Research Service reviews the observable changes in security practices to date and discusses the current threat environment. See NERC Standards for Bulk Power Physical Security: Is the Grid More Secure?, March 19, 2018.
Other new and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following.
Bankruptcy Basics: A Primer, March 22, 2018
ATF’s Ability to Regulate “Bump Stocks”, CRS Legal Sidebar, March 22, 2018
Eight Mechanisms to Enact Procedural Change in the U.S. Senate, CRS Insight, March 20, 2018
Net Neutrality: Will the FTC Have Authority Over Broadband Service Providers?, CRS Legal Sidebar, March 20, 2018
Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Tariffs: Potential Economic Implications, CRS Insight, March 19, 2018
Unauthorized Childhood Arrivals: Legislative Activity in the 115th Congress, March 22, 2018
Turkey: Background and U.S. Relations in Brief, updated March 23, 2018
Iran’s Foreign and Defense Policies, updated March 20, 2018
It Belongs in a Museum: Sovereign Immunity Shields Iranian Antiquities Even When It Does Not Protect Iran, CRS Legal Sidebar, March 22, 2018
Satellite imagery of RAF Lakenheath reveals new construction of a security perimeter around ten protective aircraft shelters in the designated nuclear area, the latest measure in a series of upgrades as the base prepares for the ability to store U.S. nuclear weapons.
It will take consistent leadership and action to navigate the complex dangers in the region and to avoid what many analysts considered to be an increasingly possible outcome, a nuclear conflict in East Asia.
Getting into a shutdown is the easy part, getting out is much harder. Both sides will be looking to pin responsibility on each other, and the court of public opinion will have a major role to play as to who has the most leverage for getting us out.
How the United States responds to China’s nuclear buildup will shape the global nuclear balance for the rest of the century.