New DHS Study Outdated Upon its Release

The Department of Homeland Security paid an independent organization $450,000 to make recommendations on a classified terrorism program. The study took two years to complete, and was released late last week. So why is the report already outdated?

The Assoicated Press is reporting that the DHS asked the National Academies to review its Bioterrorism Risk Assessment tool in 2006. The tool is a presidential mandated program that assesses millions of potential bioterrorist attack scenarios, such as anthrax that is widely dispersed in a major city. For each scenario, it defines the likelihood of the attack happening and what the consequences would be.

According to Greg Parnell, chair of the National Academies committee that wrote the report, the review took two years to complete because it took one year to hold five meetings on it, six months to do an internal review process with 10 separate reviewers, and six months for the Homeland Security Department to review it.

“The National Academies recommended that the department simplify the formula, create a standard lexicon, and think of terrorists as ‘intelligent adversaries’ who know about US defenses,” AP reports.

But according to AP, the DHS has already updated its program to include several of these points. And, DHS spokesperson Amy Kudwa told AP that in in other instances, the Academies’ recommendations are contrary to what the department and other leading academics consider the best methods.

The $450,000 used for the commissioned review came out of the program’s 2006 budget, which was $4.9 million.