The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has just issued
a report on Critical Infrastructure Protection
with a finding that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) action is
needed to verify chemical facility information and to better manage
its compliance process. Report to Congress, GAO-15-614 (July
2015).
Risk Level for Facilities
The Report states that since 2007, DHS has identified and
collected information from approximately 37,000 chemical facilities
under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS)
program, and categorized approximately 2,900 of those as high-risk
based on the collected data. The Report indicates, though, that DHS
had used unverified and self-reported data to categorize the risk
level for facilities evaluated for a toxic release threat. DHS
defined a toxic release as one where if released, the chemicals
could harm the surrounding populations.
