Protect Our Power Adds Two Experts As Advisors To Grid Security Group

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Rebecca Slayton, Associate Professor in the Department of Science & Technology Studies and Director of The Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, both at Cornell University, and Fred Hintermister, a vice president of Energy Protection responsible for Energy Analytic Security Exchange (EASE) at Global Resilience Federation, are the newest additions to the Advisory Panel of Protect Our Power, one of the nation's premier advocacy organizations devoted to ensuring the nation's power grid is made more resilient against any potential attacks.

"The skills and experience which Rebecca and Fred bring lend additional authority to our robust Advisory Panel," said Jim Cunningham, executive director of Protect Our Power (POP). "With their respective skill sets and reputations, Rebecca and Fred will provide our organization with even more knowledge and stature as Protect Our Power works towards our goal of ensuring our power grid is better protected from all attacks."

POP is an independent, not-for-profit organization committed to bringing a sense of urgency and clarity to efforts to improve grid resilience and improving our ability to repel and recover from attacks on our electric system. POP functions mainly as a catalyst that works with industry, regulators and other stakeholders to identify what efforts need to be done, in defining the process that assures they will be accomplished promptly and in identifying funding to pay for needed improvements.

Dr. Slayton's first book, Arguments that Count: Physics, Computing, and Missile Defense, 1949-2012, won the Computer History Museum Prize in 2013.

Her second book project, Shadowing Cybersecurity, is in progress and examines the emergence of cybersecurity expertise through the interplay of innovation and repair. Dr. Slayton is working on a third project which examines tensions intrinsic to the creation of a "smart" electrical power grid to ensure a more sustainable, reliable, and secure grid.

"I am delighted to join Protect Our Power's Advisory Panel and lend my perspective to the organization," said Slayton. "We must bring industry, regulators and federal and state governments to the table to keep the grid safe and secure and POP's mission is unique and critical to that end."

Hintermister is a critical infrastructure protection expert, contributing prior service within the Navy Secretariat and supporting the Assistant Secretary for Installations, Energy and the Environment between 2008-2011. He then spent seven years at the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC), where he was a CIP and Cybersecurity Specialist, and Manager, Cross Sector. Hintermister is also a recent former Vice Chair of National Council of ISACs. Last year, Hintermister joined the Global Resilience Federation where he currently serves as Vice President, Energy Protection, and leads Energy Analytic Security Exchange (EASE), a trusted community for threat intelligence sharing and collaboration for energy organizations.

"Protect Our Power complements the critical work of GRF and EASE," said Hintermister. "I look forward to working with the POP team to further our work in keeping the nation's power supply safe and secure and enhancing critical cross sector resilience."

The additions of Hintermister and Slayton, shortly after Shelley Longmuir and Steven Naumann were appointed, brings the total number of Protect Our Power Advisory Panel members to 25.

POP maintains both 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) status. Its management team includes John Lang, chairman, former treasurer of Aetna, Suedeen Kelly, regulatory counsel, former FERC commissioner, Richard Mroz, former president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and chairman of the Committee on Critical Infrastructure of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, and Paul Feldman, past chairman of the Midcontinent ISO and CEO of Columbia Energy and Utilicorp United.

About Protect Our Power:
Protect Our Power (POP) is a not-for-profit organization designed to build a consensus among key stakeholders, decision-makers and public policy influencers to launch a coordinated and adequately funded effort to make the nation's electric grid more resilient and more resistant to all external threats. Protect Our Power has a highly-experienced staff and 25-member Advisory Panel representing a broad cross-section of grid-related disciplines. POP is singularly and uniquely positioned as a non-partisan, unbiased thought leader able to serve as a convening, moderating, action-oriented voice. 

SOURCE Protect Our Power