NERC Standards for Bulk Power Physical Security: Is the Grid More Secure? Paul W. Parfomak, Specialist in Energy and Infrastructure Policy. March 19, 2018. “Although the electric power sector seems to be moving in the overall direction of greater physical security for critical assets, many measures have yet to be implemented and the process of corporate realignment around physical security is still underway. NERC’s CIP-014 standards have been promulgated recently, and bulk power asset owners have largely begun enhancing physical security under the standard over the last two years. Therefore, although it is probably accurate to conclude that, based on the objectives of the CIP-014 standards, the U.S. electric grid is more physically secure than it was five years ago, it has not necessarily reached the level of physical security needed based on the sector’s own assessments of risk.Bulk power security remains a work in progress.”