II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1800 

To require a report on significant security risks of the national electric 

grid and the potential effect of such security risks on the readiness 

of the Armed Forces. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 

Ms. WARREN (for herself and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To require a report on significant security risks of the national electric grid and the potential effect of such security risks on the readiness of the Armed Forces. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing the Electric 

5 Grid to Protect Military Readiness Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REPORT ON SIGNIFICANT SECURITY RISKS OF DE2 FENSE CRITICAL ELECTRIC INFRASTRUC3 TURE. 

4 (a) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 90 days 

5 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

6 of Defense shall, in coordination with the Director of Na7 tional Intelligence, the Secretary of Energy, and the Sec8 retary of Homeland Security, submit to the appropriate 

9 committees of Congress a report setting forth the fol10 lowing: 

11 (1) Identification of significant security risks to 

12 defense critical electric infrastructure posed by sig13 nificant malicious cyber-enabled activities. 

14 (2) An assessment of the potential effect of the 

15 security risks identified pursuant to paragraph (1) 

16 on the readiness of the Armed Forces. 

17 (3) An assessment of the strategic benefits de18 rived from, and the challenges associated with, iso19 lating military infrastructure from the national elec20 tric grid and the use of microgrids by the Armed 

21 Forces. 

22 (4) Recommendations on actions to be taken— 

23 (A) to eliminate or mitigate the security 

24 risks identified pursuant to paragraph (1); and 


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1 (B) to address the effect of those security 

2 risks on the readiness of the Armed Forces 

3 identified pursuant to paragraph (2). 

4 (b) FORM OF REPORT.—The report required by sub5 section (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but 

6 may include a classified annex. 

7 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con9 gress’’ means— 

10 (A) the congressional defense committees 

11 (as defined in section 101(a) of title 10, United 

12 States Code); 

13 (B) the Committee on Energy and Natural 

14 Resources and the Committee on Homeland Se15 curity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 

16 and 

17 (C) the Committee on Energy and Com18 merce and the Committee on Homeland Secu19 rity of the House of Representatives. 

20 (2) The term ‘‘defense critical electric infra21 structure’’— 

22 (A) has the meaning given such term in 

23 section 215A(a) of the Federal Power Act (16 

24 U.S.C. 824o–1(a)); and 


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1 (B) shall include any electric infrastructure 

2 located in any of the 48 contiguous States or 

3 the District of Columbia that serves a facility— 

4 (i) designated by the Secretary of De5 fense as— 

6 (I) critical to the defense of the 

7 United States; and 

8 (II) vulnerable to a disruption of 

9 the supply of electric energy provided 

10 to such facility by an external pro11 vider; and 

12 (ii) that is not owned or operated by 

13 the owner or operator of such facility. 

14 (3) The term ‘‘security risk’’ shall have such 

15 meaning as the Secretary of Defense shall deter16 mine, in coordination with the Director of National 

17 Intelligence and the Secretary of Energy, for pur18 poses of the report required by subsection (a). 

19 (4) The term ‘‘significant malicious cyber-en20 abled activities’’ includes— 

21 (A) significant efforts— 

22 (i) to deny access to or degrade, dis23 rupt, or destroy an information and com24 munications technology system or network; 

25 or 


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1 (ii) to exfiltrate, degrade, corrupt, de2 stroy, or release information from such a 

3 system or network without authorization 

4 for purposes of— 

5 (I) conducting influence oper6 ations; or 

7 (II) causing a significant mis8 appropriation of funds, economic re9 sources, trade secrets, personal identi10 fications, or financial information for 

11 commercial or competitive advantage 

12 or private financial gain; 

13 (B) significant destructive malware at14 tacks; and 

15 (C) significant denial of service activities. 

Æ 


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