THE DoE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) has published a five-year plan for 2026 to 2030, centred on three main goals: developing “world-class” security technologies, hardening the US energy infrastructure, and establishing emergency preparedness for response and recovery from incidents.
CESER’s Project Armor is described as a five-year initiative to harden the US critical energy infrastructure, including strengthening energy systems to prevent and recover from wildfires and other hazards. The plan also aims to conform to the White House’s National Energy Dominance Council, established in February 2025, with the overarching aim of providing timely and actionable information to the energy sector.
The three prongs are intended to be supported by a guiding principle to deliver real-time threat information and to accelerate adoption of new solutions, including AI-FORTS to protect against AI-enabled attacks. According to Alexander Fitzsimmons, Director of CESER, the plan seeks to ensure preparedness, response, and continuity of operations, with the five-year horizon used to frame the ambition to protect critical energy infrastructure.