The apparent hacking of the nation’s major East Coast oil pipeline by the Russia-backed DarkSide cyberattack group is giving the Biden administration more ammunition to pass its $2.25 trillion American Jobs Plan (AJP).
The ransomware hack potentially could affect transmission of up to nearly half of the fuel supply to the East Coast. As a result, more trucks have been forced into hauling fuel. But the long-term effect on price and supply is unclear.
The crippling cyberattack showed how ill-prepared Americans are for such weaponry. Colonial Pipeline, the nation’s largest with 5,500 miles of pipelines in its network, supplies gasoline, diesel, home heating oil and jet fuel from Gulf Coast refineries to storage facilities on the East Coast.
“We need to invest to protect our critical infrastructure,” President Joe Biden said in response to the ransomware attack. “That’s one of the many things my American Jobs Plan is designed to do.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also is using the hack as ammunition to support passage of the AJP, which so far has the public backing of few, if any, Republicans in Congress.
“Having excellent, modern infrastructure has always been a national security issue,” Buttigieg told MSNBC on May 10. “This is one more reminder that infrastructure in the U.S. means a lot more than roads and bridges.”
Buttigieg said the nation is “less secure” if any infrastructure is allowed to degrade or fall behind the times. He said there is a “robust” amount of money in the administration’s infrastructure plan to defend against future cyberattacks.
“That’s true when we consider roads and bridges. Obviously it’s a safety issue if they’re not in good shape,” Buttigieg said. “But it’s also true as we’re confronting threats of the future, ranging from climate security to cyber security. We need to be preparing for the future.”
Buttigieg added that the nation “needs to invest for national security reasons” on ensuring the nation has the “latest and best technology” to confront all threats. Buttigieg reminded Americans the internet was invented through a partnership with the Defense Department that began in the late 1960s and came to fruition in January 1983.
“Part of what makes America secure is making sure we are a step ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to technology and innovation,” the transportation secretary added. “That’s all part of the jobs plan.”
The national security appeal by Buttigieg is part of the Biden administration’s overall plan to attract Republican support in Washington for the AJP.
“The president is serious about wanting a bipartisan approach to this, and a negotiated approach,” he said. “He’s also said that doing nothing is not an option. We’ve got to move forward here.”
Senate Republicans have offered an infrastructure proposal one-fourth the size of Biden’s plan, but more heavily focused on a traditional roads and bridges approach to infrastructure. By comparison, Biden is choosing to go big with an expanded view of what is infrastructure.
Like his boss, Buttigieg indicated Democrats are willing to compromise – some.
“If we can come to an agreement on at least part of what we ought to do then let’s at least try to do that part together,” Buttigieg said. “We believe all these things fit into one cohesive whole. But this negotiation is about seeing how we can find some kind of common ground.”
As always, the transportation secretary is sunny and optimistic.
“I would like to believe that if there is any area of domestic policy left that we can find common ground on, it is infrastructure and national security implications,” the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., said. “It should motivate conservatives, liberals and everyone in between. We’re going to keep pushing.”