An Ignoble Experiment

2. 13 months after deadly Texas fertilizer explosion, safety coordination still in the works

Hurricane Sandy relief funds were inappropriately spent on National Estuarine Research Reserve System equipment that was not actually damaged in the storm, says a new inspector general report.

A whistleblower from a NERRS facility told investigators from the Commerce Department office of inspector general that the equipment worked properly before, during and after Hurricane Sandy.

Nine research facilities that are part of the NERRS received about $1 million in Sandy relief money, the majority of which was spent to replace equipment that wasn't damaged, the report says.

The $50 billion Sandy relief package from January 2013 included $7 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration "to repair and replace ocean observing and coastal monitoring assets damaged by Hurricane Sandy." The NERRS, a network of facilities that monitor and protect water quality and biological systems in estuaries, is part of NOAA.

The report blames NOAA's guidance for the misuse of the relief money.

The agency gave NERRS facilities a template to apply for grants to obtain some of the $7 million for assets damaged by Sandy, saying the money could be spent on equipment that was "lost, damaged, or compromised" during Sandy, instead of just "damaged," the term the law uses.

The term "compromised," the report says, is "an eligibility standard that can neither be definitively shown nor easily denied."

The facilities weren't required to show any proof of their claims, and the grants were non-competitive.

Researchers from at least two NERRS facilities told NOAA they didn't think they could legitimately use the Sandy relief money for equipment that wasn't damaged, the report says, adding that the culpability of the NERRS facilities in the misuse of the funds "appears limited."

"By using Hurricane Sandy funds to replace assets that experienced wear and tear and for which no claims of damage were made, NOAA defeated the purpose of the [Sandy relief law] and deprived itself and potentially others from using the funds for purposes that would more directly benefit the victims of Hurricane Sandy," the report says.

For more:
- download the report, 13-0963 (pdf)

Read more about: NOAA, Commerce Department
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By Zach Rausnitz

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3. DHS takes over security at its headquarters

Nine months after President Obama directed agencies to collaborate on the safety risks associated with ammonium nitrate, the agencies involved are trying to figure out how to share information, says a Government Accountability Office report.

Obama's August executive order was a response to the April 2013 ammonium nitrate fertilizer explosion in West, Texas, which killed more than a dozen people and damaged nearby homes and schools.

No single federal agency regulates facilities that store the chemical. The Homeland Security Department, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Environmental Protection Agency all have a role.

As the agencies work to coordinate their oversight, one place to start is to take an inventory of all the facilities that hold significant amounts of ammonium nitrate, but the federal government doesn't have all that information, the GAO report says.

More than 1,300 chemical facilities reported to DHS that they store ammonium nitrate, as part of the department's Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards program. But facilities only have to report if they possess amounts exceeding certain thresholds.

Additionally, farms, which commonly use the chemical as a fertilizer, don't have to report to DHS, and some facilities that are supposed to report to the department probably fail to do so.

On top of that, some facilities are required under federal law to report ammonium nitrate holdings to state and local authorities, but the EPA told auditors that states don't have to pass that information along to federal agencies.

Better data collection and sharing among federal agencies could enable authorities to find facilities that are out of compliance, the report says. OSHA could also identify high-risk facilities for inspection.

For more:
- download the report, GAO-14-274 (pdf)

Read more about: OSHA, GAO report
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By Zach Rausnitz

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4. Social media gives terrorist new tools, not just wider audience

The decision by the Homeland Security Department to remove the Federal Protective Service from its role in securing the DHS headquarters complex had nothing to do with performance, said FPS Director L. Eric Patterson during a House hearing May 21.

FPS, which is part of DHS, is in charge of security at thousands of federal facilities. Earlier this month, DHS decided to take over responsibility for the contract security guards at DHS's Nebraska Avenue headquarters.

Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Penn.), the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on public buildings, speculated that the move was a sign that "confidence in FPS may be eroding."

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) added, "I think it's pretty apparent why. They obviously felt they had to be made more secure."

Patterson disagreed. "To my knowledge, this was not an issue of performance," he said. "I don't think this is an indictment of FPS security. I think, again, this is a matter of efficiency and managing a contract."

The move, which put the DHS headquarters office of security in charge of the contract guards, will help streamline operations at the Nebraska Avenue complex, he said.

For more:
- visit the hearing webpage (webcast and prepared testimonies available)

Read more about: L. Eric Patterson, FPS
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By Zach Rausnitz

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5. DHS official: Heartbleed has had 'minimal' impact on federal government

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media platforms enable terrorist groups not only to reach a wider audience but to execute new strategies for propaganda and recruitment, says a report published by the Wilson Center.

While terrorist groups' use of the Internet is nothing new, social media has empowered them in new ways, says the report (pdf), authored by Gabriel Weimann, a professor at Haifa University in Israel.

Social media affords terrorist groups some of the same benefits it gives marketers: Particularly on Facebook, they can target individuals based on public information about their interests and demographics.

"Social networking allows terrorists to reach out to their target audiences and virtually 'knock on their doors' – in contrast to older models of websites in which terrorists had to wait for visitors to come to them," the report says.

Twitter has also changed how terrorist groups operate. Al Shabaab, which was responsible for last year's Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya, sent out live commentary as the attack unfolded, detailing what was happening as well as the group's rationale.

Their tweets provided some of the earliest information about the attack. With news outlets under pressure to cover events as soon as they occur, they may disseminate the first available information before they can ascertain its accuracy, meaning tweets from terrorist groups stand a good chance of propagating during an attack.

Looking forward, the report notes that a wave of cyber attacks by terrorist groups may arrive if those groups begin to accept virtual attacks as "a proper, respectable, and sufficient form of jihad."

For more:
- download the report, "New Terrorism and New Media" (pdf)

Read more about: Facebook, Twitter
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By Molly Bernhart Walker

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