LADWP reviews security continuously and additional security measures are put in place where appropriate. While we agree with many of the recommendations on security measures at LADWP water and power facilities made in the Industrial Economic and Administrative (IEA) survey and find them helpful to improving operations and coordination across LADWP, the statement in the IEA report that the 2001 threat assessment conducted by R.S. Hahn Company was the most recent assessment did not include reference to important, subsequent comprehensive reports and actions. All of LADWP’s critical water and power facilities have been fully reviewed and inspected by local and regional law enforcement experts in threat assessment and counterterrorism through the LAPD Archangel anti-terrorism program. This review was one of multiple reviews of critical department facilities coordinated by our security team with outside experts over the past eight years and followed the 2001 report referenced in the IEA survey.
A comprehensive study was completed by Magallanes Associates International (MAI), an independent expert from 2006 to 2008, in addition to the LAPD Archangel anti-terrorism team in 2009. Since that time, LADWP personnel have continued to complete vulnerability assessments and monitor their progress under the direction of a former LAPD Captain with 31 years’ experience, with additional assistance provided by law enforcement. In addition to these reviews, both water and power systems consult regularly with their peers in the utility industry to identify best practices and apply lessons learned elsewhere to protect critical water and power infrastructure across LADWP’s water and power systems.
Through these efforts significant steps have been taken to harden and protect both water and power facilities. This includes physical improvements, increased staffing and patrols, strengthening of security orders and procedures, access control systems and remote monitoring, among other measures. Our approach toward the physical security of our facilities is consistent with other utilities and complies with the standards established by the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC).
The observations and recommendations in the recently released IEA Survey identified possible concerns and potential additional security measures at three out of hundreds of LADWP power system facilities. Some of the recommendations have been implemented and remediated or are in the process of being implemented, while others were not recommended or rated much lower priority by law enforcement and our security team. In some cases, higher priority security measures identified in subsequent reviews were pursued first.
LADWP does not comment on specific security threats or potential concerns at our facilities in order to protect the safety of our employees, customers and system reliability.
We take the security of our infrastructure very seriously and are continuously assessing and implementing new measures to protect our assets. To further strengthen these efforts, we are currently conducting a federally prescribed security review in accordance with a critical infrastructure protection standard known as CIP-014, which is mandated by NERC. Through this process, critical facilities once again have been thoroughly assessed and additional security measures are recommended, if needed, and implemented according to specific timelines. The process also includes expert independent third-party review of the methodology and recommended security enhancements. Through this process we will once again review the specific recommendations in the IEA report that have not already been acted on to determine what additional security measures if any are needed and we will make them.
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