Today's Top Stories
1. DHS resumes CFATS inspections, promises program has 'turned corner'
2. Coast Guard's WatchKeeper faces rejection in ports
3. Hartwig: Terrorism Risk Insurance Program an 'unqualified success'
4. House Republican report calls for TSA privatization
5. Security of radiological sources at medical facilities needs improvement, says GAO Also Noted: Turmoil over contentious video spreads to Yemen and Iran; First group of delayed young deportees approved; and much more...  Follow @fiercegov on Twitter
More News From the FierceGovernment Network:
1. DHS set to reorganize emergency communications offices
2. No amendments for FISA Amendments Act reauthorization
3. GAO: Advanced technologies could aid visa fraud prevention
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Today's Top News 1. DHS resumes CFATS inspections, promises program has 'turned corner'
 The Homeland Security Department resumed in July inspections of facilities that store or use hazardous chemicals under its Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards program, said Rand Beers, head of the department's National Protection and Programs Directorate.
Beers spoke Sept. 11 during a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on environment and the economy. "You will see hundreds of inspections occurring over the course of the next year," added David Wulf, deputy director of the Infrastructure Security Compliance Division within NPPD, which runs the CFATS program. CFATS, once thought to be a successful example of risk mitigation through standards regulation, abruptly became the object of high skepticism following the December 2011 public leaking of an internal review that found the program suffered from lack of trained personnel, inadequate spending controls and other problems. The program has "turned a corner," Wulf said, adding that he anticipates close to 300 facilities receiving CFATS approval within the coming year. So far, only two facilities have received CFATS approval for their site security plans and 72 have received conditional approval, although 4,433 facilities are subject to the high-risk regulatory requirements of CFATS, which include preparation of the security plan and inspection by program personnel. Beers' written testimony (.pdf) states that 3,660 facilities have developed security plans requiring government review. All approved or conditionally approved facilities must still undergo review for the CFATS standard pertaining to personnel surety, which requires facilities to conduct background checks and implement measures to validate identities. That standard has yet to be codified, however, although Beers said DHS anticipates releasing a request for information pertaining to it within the next 30 days. Existing government-issued credentials such as the Transportation Worker Identification Credential will be accepted under CFATS, Beers said. In addition, companies with multiple facilities will be able to apply for identity credentials that cover all those facilities at once, he added. For more:
- go to the hearing webpage (prepared testimonies and webcast available)
- download the CFATS standards (.pdf) Related Articles:
Success of CFATS may hinge on new process to review security plans
CFATS increasingly under congressional gaze
CFATS can be fixed, DHS officials tell skeptical House Republicans Read more about: Rand Beers, CFATS
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2. Coast Guard's WatchKeeper faces rejection in ports
 The Coast Guard is having difficulty in convincing other port security agencies to utilize WatchKeeper, the service's web-based information management and sharing system, acknowledged Rear Adm. Joseph Servidio before a Sept. 11 House panel.
"Right now, I think there's other tools and communications structures that people are using," Servidio told the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on Coast Guard and maritime transportation. WatchKeeper is meant to fuse multiple information sources in order to give an integrated view of vessels in port areas, but port partners "have expressed mixed views" on its usefulness, notes a February 2012 Government Accountability Office report (.pdf). During the hearing, Stephen Caldwell, GAO director of homeland security and justice issues, noted that the report found that 82 percent of those given access to WatchKeeper "had never even logged on." "Even other federal agencies aren't participating," Caldwell added. WatchKeeper was developed as part of an effort to build interagency operations centers. The centers are a requirement of the SAFE Port Act of 2006, but Caldwell said it's unlikely the Coast Guard will build many physical centers. "They're not going to be a physical place where people actually gather," he said. "The next best thing is to move to a more virtual model, where you can use WatchKeeper to do that." For more:
- go to the hearing webpage (prepared testimonies and webcast available) Related Articles:
Coast Guard requires heightened security for ships that call on Yemeni ports
CBP rejects integration with Coast Guard air asset management system
Coast Guard operational capacity deteriorating Read more about: House Transportation and Infrastructure
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3. Hartwig: Terrorism Risk Insurance Program an 'unqualified success'
The public-private Terrorism Risk Insurance Program has been an "unqualified success" and should be renewed, said Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, on Sept. 11. The Treasury Department runs TRIP, a system of shared public and private compensation for insured losses that result from terrorism. It's due to expire at the end of 2014. Evidence collected from 10 years of TRIP and from similar programs abroad suggests that the private sector will never be able to manage terrorism risk alone, Hartwig told the House Financial Services subcommittee on insurance, housing and community opportunity. The previous times TRIP's expiration loomed--most recently in 2007--insurers began to exclude terrorism from their policies again, Hartwig said. And terrorism has not grown more insurable since, he added. Insurers can't foresee the likelihood or frequency of attacks, and potential losses can exceed their claims-paying ability. Terrorism also differs fundamentally from other causes of catastrophes. With hurricanes, for example, insurers know roughly when and where they'll occur and the kind of damage they'll cause, Hartwig said. And while research on hurricanes is publicly available, the information insurers would need to price the risk of terrorism is largely classified. David John, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, was alone among the six panelists at the hearing to support eliminating TRIP. He said the program had a real purpose right after 9/11 but now keeps the insurance industry from making progress on its own. After a decade, insurers should've figured out how to price terrorism insurance, and reinsurers should've figured out how to involve investors who could afford the potential losses, John said. But a world without TRIP could ultimately cost taxpayers more, said Professor Erwann Michel-Kerjan of the Wharton School. Many companies would go without terrorism insurance if its cost grew, and the recent history of federal disaster relief and corporate bailouts suggests that the government would pay for catastrophic losses, he said. For more:
- go to the hearing webpage (prepared testimonies and webcast available) Related Articles:
Flood insurance program authorization plugs some, but not all, loopholes
FEMA examining role of grants in insurance disincentives Read more about: Treasury Department, Wharton School
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4. House Republican report calls for TSA privatization
 Transportation Security Administration operations are "costly, counterintuitive, and poorly executed," according to a Sept. 10 majority staff report from the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security.
The report calls for TSA to rely more with the private sector to execute operations, stating that it and not the government is "best suited to this challenge." TSA "should begin an immediate shift toward partnering with the private sector for passenger screening and other security operations," the report states. Created in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, TSA was supposed to help restore the American public's confidence in aviation security. However, TSA is "failing to meet taxpayers' expectations" and the flexibility Congress provided to the agency to set policies and procedures for screening people and goods has been "exploited by TSA in recent years," says the subcommittee report. "The agency has gone down a troubling path of overspending, limiting private sector engagement, and failing to sufficiently protect passenger privacy," said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the subcommittee on transportation security, in his opening remarks at a Sept. 11 subcommittee hearing on the report. TSA has "failed to effectively implement its mandate because the agency maintains a reactive approach to security; does not adequately test new technologies and procedures; and ultimately is too bogged down in managing its bloated federal workforce," the report adds. -->READ THE FULL ARTICLE Related Articles:
Revamp TSA with commission, consultants or contest, Jenkins says
DHS IG: Readiness hampered for TSA intermodal security teams
Rep. Thompson asks TSA to suspend behavior detection Read more about: TSA
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5. Security of radiological sources at medical facilities needs improvement, says GAO
Four out of five medical facilities with high-risk radiological material that could be used by terrorists to build a "dirty bomb" are not secure, says a Sept. 10 Government Accountability Office report (.pdf). Despite spending more than $105 million on security upgrades to hospitals and medical facilities that use radiological sources, the National Nuclear Security Administration has only completed security upgrades at 321 of the 1,503 hospitals and medical facilities the agency identified as having high-risk radiological material, says GAO. In addition, the report finds that NNSA does not expect to complete all of these security upgrades until 2025, leaving hundreds of facilities potentially vulnerable. "Medical facilities currently are not required to take any specific actions to make sure these materials are safe, and many have very sloppy practices, which is remarkable nearly 11 years after 9/11," the report states. According to GAO, the NNSA program's ability to implement security upgrades is limited because the program is voluntary and facilities can decline to participate. To date, 14 facilities, including four in large urban areas, have declined to participate in the program. "In the hands of terrorists, radiological material, such as cesium-137, could be used to construct a 'dirty bomb,'" auditors say. "Such material--encapsulated in steel or titanium and called a sealed source--is commonly found in equipment used by U.S. medical facilities to treat, among other things, cancer patients." A 2004 study (.pdf) by the National Defense University noted that the economic impact on a major populated area from a successful dirty bomb attack is likely to equal, and perhaps exceed, that of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. GAO recommends that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is responsible for regulating the commercial use of sealed sources, strengthen its security requirements by providing medical facilities with specific measures they must take to develop and sustain a more effective security program. However, according to GAO, NRC neither agreed nor disagreed with its recommendation and stated that its existing security requirements are adequate. Greg Slabodkin is a freelance reporter. For more:
- download the report, GAO-12-925 (.pdf) Related Articles:
GAO finds lax medical facilities radioactive material security
NNSA domestic medical isotope program faces sustainability challenge
Weapons-grade nuclear material at risk of theft, says NTI Read more about: GAO report, radioactivity
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Also Noted > Turmoil over contentious video spreads to Yemen and Iran. Article (NYT)
> First group of delayed young deportees approved. Article (USAT)
> Joe Arpaio still standing even as allies against illegal immigration fall. Article (AP via WaPo)
> TSA's chat-downs examined amid racial-profiling charges. Article (Businessweek)
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