GAO urges DHS to share more info on chemical facilities with first responders

Warning of the potential danger presented by attackers targeting hazardous chemical facilities, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is urging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to share more information with first responders who may need to respond to security incidents.

Additionally, GAO encouraged DHS to begin measuring facilities’ vulnerability to terrorist attacks, measuring the reduction in vulnerability of these facilities and using that data to assess the performance of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program. Though that program has been in place since 2013, using a quality assurance review process to verify reported information at high-risk facilities and to conduct risk assessment, GAO found gaps in coverage that could prove problematic.

GAO noted that DHS has made substantial progress over the years in conducting and completing compliance inspections, and has begun to measure facility security. Such measures represent a critical need, given that terrorists could use facilities that produce, use, or store hazardous chemicals to inflict mass casualties, damage, and fear through stealing chemicals and using them to build explosive devices. GAO therefore reviewed DHS reports and data, interviewed officials and assessed information from 11 trade associations representing chemical facilities and 15 emergency planning communities, to get the information for its recommendations.

While the DHS currently shares some information with first responders and emergency planners, they do not get all the information potentially needed to minimize risk of injury or death when responding to critical incidents at high-risk facilities. They get some, but not nearly all, chemical inventory information, and many lack access to CFATS data in DHS’s Infrastructure Protection Gateway.