Washington, D.C. – Today, Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) released the following statement regarding the recent cyber attacks targeting U.S. nuclear facilities:

“The disturbing reports of the past 24 hours indicate that our adversaries are trying to take advantage of the very real vulnerabilities of our energy infrastructure’s cyber defenses,” Senator Cantwell said. “Today I am reiterating my call for President Trump to immediately perform the long overdue assessment of cyber vulnerabilities that 19 Senators have requested, and abandon his proposed cuts to the Department of Energy’s Office tasked with protecting our energy networks from cyber attacks.”

Senator Cantwell sent a letter to President Trump June 22, 2017 arguing that recent cyber attacks show we need a strategy to protect our energy infrastructure. In March the Senator led a letter to President Trump urging the Department of Energy to conduct an analysis of Russian capabilities with respect to cyber attacks on U.S. energy infrastructure.

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