Obama administration worries about terrorist threat from .22 caliber rifles

Obama's U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff is concerned about the threat that .22 caliber rifles are “among the greatest threats to the reliability of the nation’s power system."  From Bloomberg News:

An attacker “could get 200 yards away with a .22 rifle and take the whole thing out,” Wellinghoff said. For a “couple hundred bucks” a utility could install metal sheeting to block the view of transformers, he said. “If you can’t see through the fence, you can’t figure out where to shoot anymore.” 

The report released last week by the National Academy of Sciences called for the government to work with utilities to create a stockpile of transformers and other equipment that would be used in the event of an emergency. The Edison Electric Institute, a Washington-based industry group for publicly traded utilities, is leading a pilot program to install additional devices. . . .