OUR PICKSAddressing a Flaw Exposed by Jan. 6 | Protecting Cyber Reporting | Confronting CBP Suicides, and more

How a Bipartisan Senate Group Addressed a Flaw Exposed by Jan. 6 (Carl Hulse, New York Times)
Democrats and Republicans came together to update the Electoral Count Act after recognizing it could again be abused to subvert the presidential vote.

As North Carolinians Regain Power, Investigators Probe Terrorism and Threats Against Power Substations Across the US. One Expert Explains What Needs to Be Done  (Nouran Salahieh, John Miller and Holly Yan, CNN)
A growing number of reported threats to power infrastructure are under investigation following attacks on substations in the South and on the West Coast as electricity becomes a more critical need in winter. Even before the gun assaults Saturday in Moore County, North Carolina, wiped out power for days to thousands, at least five electricity substations in Oregon and Washington had been attacked in November, according to energy companies. Duke Energy personnel work to restore power at a crippled electrical substation and caused a mass power outage, in Carthage, North Carolina. US officials have been worried about such attacks by domestic extremists for years. While no motive or suspect behind the North Carolina attacks has been identified, investigators are zeroing in on two possible threads centered on extremist behavior: writings by extremists on online forums encouraging attacks on critical infrastructure and a series of recent disruptions of LGBTQ+ events across the nation by domestic extremists, law enforcement sources told CNN. Though investigators have no evidence connecting the Moore County outage to a drag event that began there around when the lights went out, the timing and context of armed confrontations around similar LBGTQ+ events across the country are being considered, the sources told CNN. The outage ended the Moore County drag show after audience members lit the stage with phone flashlights, Sandhills PRIDE has said.

Confronting CBP Suicides: Bipartisan Bill Would Create Task Force to Recommend Prevention Solutions  (Bridget Johnson, HSToday)
CBP reported 11 suicides last year and eight suicides in 2020. Just from Nov. 6 to Nov. 20 of this year, three Border Patrol agents took their own lives.

Two Tennessee Men Arrested for Planning Attacks on Law Enforcement Personnel and the FBI’s Knoxville Field Office  (DOJ)
A criminal complaint was unsealed today charging Edward Kelley, 33, of Maryville, Tennessee, and Austin Carter, 26, of Knoxville, Tennessee, with conspiracy, retaliating against a federal official, interstate communication of a threat, and solicitation to commit a crime of violence. Kelley and Carter made their initial appearance in federal court today in Knoxville before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jill E. McCook. Both defendants have been detained. Carter has a detention hearing scheduled for Dec. 21.
According to court documents, Kelley, who is facing charges in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia related to his assault on a law enforcement officer during the breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, obtained a list of law enforcement personnel who participated in that criminal investigation. In conversations with a cooperating witness, Kelley and Carter discussed collecting information and plans to kill the individual law enforcement personnel on the list that included an attack on the FBI’s Knoxville, Tennessee Field Office.

CISA Publishes Technical Rule to Update Protected Critical Infrastructure Information (PCII) Program  (CISA)
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are issuing a technical rule to improve and modernize aspects of the Protected Critical Infrastructure Information (PCII) Program, which provides legal protections for cyber and physical infrastructure information submitted to DHS. These non-substantive, technical edits amend the Protected Critical Infrastructure Information (PCII) Program regulation found at 6 CFR part 29, to help critical infrastructure owner/operators, state and local governments, and other important stakeholders more effectively use the PCII Program.