Energy’s cyber unit eyes new strategic plan
Energy’s cyber unit eyes new strategic plan
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/cybersecurity/2026/03/energys-cyber-unit-eyes-new-strategic-plan/
Publish Date: 2026-03-17 18:23:00
Source Domain: federalnewsnetwork.com
The Energy Department’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response plans to lay out its first strategic plan, following on the heels of the Trump administration’s new national cybersecurity strategy.
Alex Fitzsimmons, director of the CESER office, said the new strategic plan will be out soon.
“CESER has been around for six years, [since the] first Trump administration,” Fitzsimmons said during a Tuesday event in Washington hosted by Auburn University’s McCrary Institute. “Has never had a strategic plan clearly written down, explaining what the mission is, what the goals, objectives, key performance indicators are that we’re all striving to achieve. Definitely helps that we have a new national cyber strategy.”
The CESER office is responsible for overseeing what’s considered one of the most important U.S. critical infrastructure sectors in energy. The Trump administration’s national cyber strategy, released earlier this month, includes a focus on securing critical infrastructure.
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Fitzsimmons noted 80% of the energy sector is owned or operated by the private sector.
“A lot of those organizations are well resourced, but a lot of them are not,” he said. “They might have one person working on [operational technology] or IT, not even a dedicated cyber person, but they’re expected to defend their networks against nation state threat actors.”
He said CESER’s “fundamental” mission is getting critical security information to those in the energy sector.
“We have to be able to get timely and actionable information out to them so that they can secure their networks,” Fitzsimmons said.
OT security has also been a major focus for CESER. Fitzsimmons pointed to OT security training and exercise programs run through the office as key to securing the energy sector.
“Hardening is as much about people and process as it is technology,” he said….
