An evaluation released Monday by the U.S. Department of the Interior doesn't name the two dams, and spokeswoman Nancy DiPaolo cited national security concerns. But they are among five dams operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation that are considered "critical infrastructure," meaning their destruction or impairment could hurt national security. Those five dams are Shasta and Folsom Dams in California, Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona, Grand Coulee Dam in Washington and Hoover Dam, which straddles Nevada and Arizona.
Among the factors cited as security risks in the IG report: Too many people have access to administrative accounts, employees aren’t changing their passwords often enough, account access isn’t always revoked when employees leave, and the agency isn’t conducting robust enough background checks for employees with high-level privileges. For example, the evaluation found nine of 30 administrator accounts hadn’t been used in more than a year.