The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said that the Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) can improve the country’s energy resilience by improving coordination before, during and after power outages.
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Specifically, the OIG said the agents could improve their effectiveness by implementing the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s leading practices and other key mechanisms for collaboration such as ensuring energy sector efforts are mutually reinforcing; establishing compatible energy sector policies, procedures and other means to operate across agency boundaries; and updating and monitoring written energy sector agreements regularly.
The DHS OIG said that CISA and FEMA have not focused on those particular areas because they have been working on other priorities based on their respective missions. Despite this, the OIG said it is important that CISA and FEMA coordinate efficiently and effectively to reduce the likelihood of power outages and, in the case of an incident, to restore and stabilize infrastructure-related services in affected areas.
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