Comment on Filing of LegalNet Works Incorporated under PL02-1.

Lee M. Zeichner 3204 Juniper Lane Falls Church, VA 22044 Tel: 703-534-2001 Fax: 703-534-2003 admin@legalnet.com March 11, 2002 Office of the Secretary Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 888 First Street, NE Washington, DC 20426 Re: Docket No. PL02-1-000 & RM02-4-000: Critical Energy Infrastructure Information Dear Mr. Chairman and Commissioners: This submission is in response to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissions (the "Commission") Federal Register Notice of Inquiry and Guidance for Filings in the Interim ("Notice") and request for guidance relating to public availability of Critical Energy Infrastructure Information ("CEII").[1] I provide this submission as an interested person in accordance with the Commissions rules and regulations. See 18 CFR *2.1 (2001). I.Background - Interested Person By way of background, I have served in multiple legal and policy environments that focus on critical infrastructure assurance and the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") challenges specifically raised in this Notice. I served as Senior Counsel to the Presidents Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection ("PCCIP"),[2] which carefully outlined national security challenges associated with critical infrastructure information and our legal and policy foundation for transparency in government and consumer protection.[3] During the past five years, I have also acted as counsel and a consultant to the Y2K National Information Coordination Center and the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office, respectively - two government institutions that have worked to improve information sharing and security collaboration between public and private sectors without undermining FOIA and other important privacy policies. I currently work especially closely with industry sectors that are seeking to share critical infrastructure data with the government without releasing sensitive data to nefarious sources. II. General Comments As an initial matter, I commend the Commission for initiating this significant public-private dialogue. The policy issues discussed in this Notice are extremely complex, raising substantive privacy, business, and national security concerns. There are no easy answers and the forces at play will likely require the Commission to develop solutions that are both flexible and responsive to a range of communities well into the future. The Commissions inquiry follows the horrific terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Since the tragic Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, the Federal government, in close collaboration with State & local governments and multiple industry sectors, has engaged in a similar dialogue over ways to improve information sharing for promoting critical infrastructure assurance.[4] Thus, for over six years, our nation has studied various aspects of critical infrastructure information sharing, exploring the damage that ...