New Report Card Passes – and Fails – DHS on Security

A Washington, DC, think tank has given the Department of Homeland Security good grades in some areas of security – but failing grades in others. What does that mean for homeland security?

According to an article by Alice Lipowicz on the Washington Technology website, the report card by the Council on Foreign Relations think-tank – put together by noted homeland security expert Stephen E. Flynn – the DHS gets good grades for nuclear plant security and air defense.

The Department, however, earned poor grades for port security, chemical plant security and public relations. Lipowicz says the lowest grade was for chemical plant security, which received a D-/F. Flynn told Lipowicz it is “completely unsatisfactory” for the DHS to have a budget of only $10 million to monitor as many as 15,000 chemical facilities nationwide with the potential to harm a significant number of people, Flynn said.

Public relations for the department received a D and port security received a D+ after three years of complete failure, Flynn said in the report. “Certainly we have a framework now that we didn’t have before to begin to address the complexity of the problem, but we have such a long way to go that it doesn’t yet rate an average grade,” Flynn told Lipowicz.

To read the full article, click here: http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/29581-1.html