The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies holds a hearing titled "The Chemical Facilities Anti-Terrorism Standards program (CFATS)."
CFATS is a program that secures the nation's chemical plants against terrorist attacks. The Homeland Security Department began working to establish the program in 2007. Under the program, chemical facilities believed to be at risk for a terrorist attack have to submit a Site Security Plan for approval by Homeland Security.
A leaked memo obtained by the Committee outlines numerous problems in the CFATS program, including leadership turnover, inadequate training and poor hiring decisions. The Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the program, examines ways to reverse these management failures and make the program a model public-private security partnership.
Rand Beers, Under Secretary for the Homeland Security Department's National Protection and Programs Directorate testifies.
He is joined by Penny Anderson, Director of the Infrastructure Security Compliance Division, and David Wulf, Deputy Director of the Infrastructure Security Compliance Division. Both witnesses are from the Homeland Security Department's Infrastructure Protection Department.
Additional witnesses include Bill Allmond, Vice President of Government and Public Relations for the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates; Timothy Scott, Chief Security Officer and Corporate Director of Emergency Services and Security at Dow Chemical; and David Wright, President of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 918.