future cyberattack on the grid is a very possibility. what is this solution for congress. are we looking at more legislation that would concern the power companies? well, that s really a good question. as with most things in washington, it s a lot easier to identify a problem than it is to proscribe a solution. it s really kind of unclear where this is going from here. the important thing is people are talking about it. after two pretty explosive articles in the wall street journal came out in february and march, this is now somewhat of a priority. but it is an election year. it s hard to see where this is going to go legislatively. i think a lot of people don t think legislation is the solution but really there needs to be more pressure applied to the regulators to look at the vulnerabilities they have, to identify them and be transparent with them. they were, last month, given 90 days to kind of look at what problems they have and where there are critical risks and provide those
that needs to take place. we ve got a lot of assets on station. and, you know, really depending on how much effort they re going to put to the surface search versus the underwater search. greg, if bluefin-21 finds nothing, then what? that s a good question, alex. you know, they re going to have to re-evaluate. do they go back to where they were about a month ago and search that area? do they expand the current search area? i think a lot of it is going to have to do with what they see on the bottom of the ocean. if there is any kind of telltale sign from bluefin-21 that that is the area they need to stay in and they just need to expand the area. that s the decision that they re really going to have to make. the current search area is going to focus on a six-mile zone as the search enters its sixth week. back to washington and politics now. with a new wrinkle in the plans for the keystone xl pipeline, the obama administration is delaying its decision, giving federal agencies to r
the nation s power grid is coming under the spotlight of the u.s. senate. the committee on energy and natural resources called leaders to washington for a hearing on preventing cyber and physical attacks on the grid, as well as blackouts and power outages. joining me now, the technology reporter for the national journey. welcome. thank you, good to be here. i m glad you re here. you remember last year we saw that attack on a substation in silicon valley. gunshots fired, they damaged equipment. how safe is the grid overall from physical attacks and from cyberattack? that s a good question. as you mentioned, there are two basic types of vulnerabilities for our nation s energy grid. there are cyberattacks and physical attacks. for a long time, we ve been doing a lot to beef up security
the open like yemen. i think the question a lot of people are asking is how could they do that? with drones in the sky, how could you organize a grouping of this many operatives in one place and not attract attention. this number two al qaeda leader, isn t he also simultaneously the number one of aqap, al qaeda in the arraiabia peninsula, and is that unique? it s important to clarify something. abu wahishi is officially the leader of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. al qaeda leadership has made the decision to make him the deputy commander of al qaeda generally. however, if that is true, it has not been announced publicly by al qaeda. it has not been acknowledged publicly by al qaeda. the only way we know this is through senior u.s. officials. that may be accurate. but for some reason, al qaeda has seen fit not to advertise that fact, if it s true. why wouldn t they? it s a very good question. maybe it s because they don t want to make him even a larger target than he is.
and years, well after the dissolution of the soviet union, the surveillance and extent of surveillance in russia continues to be quite extreme. so, i mean, he his answers were a bit evasive and i think most experts would be would say almost wholly untruthful. okay. in that guardian column, snowden argued he has no sworn allegiance to russia. the quote being, i regret my question could be misinterpreted. in order to speculate about my motives for asking it. then he also wrote he want to t the, wanted to catch president putin in a lie. maybe it was a naive question. maybe it was naive for him to think this would work. but if we take him at his word, he is basically he s