A recent security audit[pdf] of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has exposed serious shortcomings in the TSA’s efforts to protect the US pipeline system for oil and gas. The report shows that both the physical security and cybersecurity of this critical system, which consists of 2.7 million miles of pipeline, are in the hands of as little as six full-time employees that have to create and enforce security standards for the private firms that own the pipelines.
Not only is this crucial TSA brach seriously understaffed, but it is also unclear if the people who do work there are actually up to the task because “[t]he TSA does not have a strategic workforce plan to help ensure it identifies the skills and competencies-such as the required level of cybersecurity expertise-necessary to carry out its pipeline security responsibilities.” This state of affairs is utterly deplorable at a time when cyber threats to critical infrastructure are surging.
Read more: Only six TSA staffers are overseeing US oil&gas pipeline security
