February 2010

On February 3, the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued the second draft of its Smart Grid Cyber Security Strategy and Requirements, which now identifies more than 120 interfaces that will link diverse devices, systems and organizations engaged in two-way flows of electricity and information and classifies these connections according to the level of damage that could result from a security breach.

Prepared by the NIST-led Cyber Security Working Group, which has more than 350 members, the new draft report expands upon an earlier preliminary version, which was released by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke last September and underwent 60 days of public review. It incorporates responses to the more than 350 individual comments received. The updated draft also includes new or more detailed technical inputs stemming from the working group's continuing assessment of what will be required to ensure the security and reliability of the entire modernized power system and to protect the integrity and confidentiality of information exchanged during energy-related transactions on the Smart Grid. The 300-page second draft of the Smart Grid cyber security document also will undergo public review, ending on April 2, 2010. After reviewing the comments received and completing ongoing analyses of requirements and relevant standards, the working group will finalize the Smart Grid cyber security strategy.

NIST expects to issue a completed report by early summer. Compared with the initial version, the draft cyber security report issued today contains significantly expanded sections on privacy, vulnerability categories, analyses of the potential security issues, and the overall approach to achieving Smart Grid cyber security. The new draft classifies Smart Grid interfaces according to the level of impact—or scale and scope of damage—that could result from a compromise in security. Security requirements are established for multiple logical interface categories of the Smart Grid. In all, the new draft identifies more than 120 interfaces that pertain to high-priority Smart Grid applications, including electric transportation, electric storage, advanced metering infrastructure, distribution grid management, energy management in homes and businesses, and grid management.

The federal government has allocated more than a third of the $787 billion in economic stimulus funds, and stimulus programs created roughly 600,000 jobs in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, according to new data posted on Recovery.gov, the stimulus oversight Web site.

The spending includes roughly $199 billion in contracts, grants and loans, and about $93 billion in tax cuts. Most of the spending came in the form of grants — and nearly half of those came from the Education Department, which has awarded roughly $71.5 billion so far.

Critics say the jobs numbers are still imprecise. Craig Jennings, a fiscal policy analyst with the nonprofit OMB Watch, says the data should present the number of hours worked, rather than the number of full-time jobs created, since the definition of full-time job varies from state to state; the data should also try to include qualitative measures, like whether jobs provide benefits, Jennings said.

One new report, from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, concluded the job numbers might be too low: The report found that 84 percent of stimulus spending to date — tax relief, entitlement spending and direct payments to states — is not covered by Recovery reporting. "There is substantial reason to believe that this 84 percent includes some of the most effective job-creation and job-protection measures," the report said.

President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Richard Lobo to be Director of the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) which provides transmission services for all the broadcasters under the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). It is the administrative and marketing arm of the Agency.

IBB encompasses the Voice of America and Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which oversees Radio/TV Martí. IBB manages a complex network of domestic and overseas transmitting stations as well as satellite and Internet delivery systems with multimedia content. It conducts extensive audience and market research to enhance the worldwide reach of U.S. international broadcasting.

Lobo is currently serving as chairman of the Florida Public Broadcasting Service Inc. Lobo is president and chief executive officer of WEDU (PBS)Tampa/St. Petersburg/Sarasota. He previously was president and general manager of WTVJ in Miami, station manager for WNBC-TV in New York, and vice president and general manager of NBC stations in Chicago and Cleveland. Early in his TV career his interview subjects included Fidel Castro, Robert Kennedy, Mickey Mantle, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Barbra Streisand and The Beatles. He also served as Director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting in the United States Information Agency from 1994-1995. A graduate of the University of Miami, Mr. Lobo is a member of the Tampa Bay chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists and the Leadership Council of the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay. He is on the board of the Florida Association of Broadcasters and a member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Suncoast chapter. He earned the Leadership Award from the Chicago Latino Committee on the Media. He will be inducted into the Tampa Bay Business Hall of Fame in March. Mr. Lobo is a Captain (Retired) in the U.S. Army Reserve.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) proposes to amend its regulations for the guarantee program for cooperative and other not-for-profit lenders that make loans for eligible electric and telephone purposes. These proposed amendments implement changes adapted in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. The intended effect is to update agency regulations to reflect current statutory authority. Written comments on this proposed action must be received by RUS no later than April 6, 2010.