Senate Committee Approves Leaving Millions at Unnecessary Risk

Yesterday the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (HSGAC) failed to take action to protect the public, instead choosing to let millions of Americans remain at unnecessary risk of chemical disasters. The committee members chose to gut a House-passed bill that would have reduced the consequences of a terrorist attack on chemical plants and water treatment facilities. The committee also refused to consider a similar bill from Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). Both the House bill and the Lautenberg bill would have protected workers and communities by driving the adoption of safer, cost effective technologies that eliminate the threat of an intentionally released cloud of poison gas from a chemical plant.

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Outsourcing National Security

He Hears All

If you haven't been reading the Washington Post's new series "Top Secret America" on the state of the intelligence community since 9/11, I highly recommend checking it out. William Arkin, one of the authors of the series, gave an interview this morning on "Washington Journal," C-SPAN's morning call-in program. Discussing today's piece on the extensive use of contractors in intelligence work, Arkin found placing "the functions of a third of our government in the hands of private companies" to be a "fundamental issue" that the public must grapple with.

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Boeing Border Fence on Indefinite Hold

The Wall

The political circus pamphlet the POLITICO recently reported that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has halted development of Boeing's disastrous and budget-bloated Southwest border fence project known as SBInet. Napolitano noted in a press release on the matter that the fence project, which uses an intricate system of sensors and cameras, "has been plagued with cost overruns and missed deadlines."

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Chemical Security Bills Make Progress in House

Efforts to improve the security of chemical facilities from terrorist attack took a step forward this week as a House subcommittee passed legislation that encourages plants to switch to safer and more secure technologies. The bills – the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009 and a related bill that addresses security at drinking water facilities – also require participation by plant workers in assessing vulnerabilities and creating a security plan. With no Republican support, the party-line vote in the Energy and Environment subcommittee sends the bills to the full Energy and Commerce committee for another vote, likely next week. Although the bills still lack crucial accountability measures, they represent a major improvement over the flawed and inadequate temporary security measures now in place.

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Homeland Security vs. HHS is No Choice At All

Just as investments in the nation’s public health and emergency medical systems, in the name of homeland security, are good for the country, so, too are investments in non-emergency, non-defense programs that help to meet the needs of the country’s struggling communities. Tax cuts should not prevent us from addressing both.

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