Power plant consortium creates security model.

• Author: Book, Elizabeth G.
• Position: Security Beat - Interagency for Infrastructure Protection - Brief Article

Electricity plants have unique security challenges because of the large number of unmanned and remote locations, according to industry officials.

The Bonneville Power Administration provides electrical power to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and portions of Nevada, California, Utah and Wyoming. During the past four years, Bonneville has been working to develop tactics to protect its 590 facilities.

Before 1998, Bonneville's facility was protected only by chain-linked fences, and locks and keys. Control houses, equipment and key electrical system components were exposed to threats of vandalism, sabotage and even terrorism, said Robert Windus, manager of security and emergency management for the company.

A group called the Interagency for Infrastructure Protection was created in 1998, with representatives from Bonneville, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the FBI, Sandia National Laboratory, the Department of Energy and others. The group asked for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office (which at that time was part of the National Security Council, but is now part of the...