United States Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), a ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has appealed to President Donald Trump to reverse the 32 percent cut to the Department of Energy’s cybersecurity budget.
The remark came in the wake of the recent ransomware cyberattack which affected nearly 65 countries. “These recent attacks are another sign that we must improve the cyber security of our energy networks. The Trump Administration has been dragging their feet on this urgent task-we need action now to keep our energy networks safe. I am calling on President Trump to reverse his harmful 32% cut to the Department Of Energy’s cyber security budget and lay out a comprehensive cybersecurity plan without further delay,” said Cantwell in response to the attacks,” said Cantwell.
The Senator along with 18 fellow Senate colleagues, in a wordy public letter dated June 22, 2017, had urged the U.S. President to analyze Russian capabilities attacks on the U.S. energy infrastructure.
“Instead of responsibly performing the requested assessment, your administration has proposed slashing funding to the very offices tasked with protecting our grid from Russian cyber attacks. Indeed, the Department of Energy’s Congressional Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2018 proposes to dramatically reduce funding for the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability by more than 40% How can our government protect our national security assets if the administration does not allocate the necessary resources?” the senators wrote.
