HS Subcommittee Looks at Mumbai Attacks

Yesterday the House Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection held a hearing that took a look at the Mumbai attack of last fall and tried to discern the lessons that could be applied to protecting infrastructure in the United States. While the witnesses, with the exception of NYPD Commissioner Kelly, were different than those that appeared before a similar Senate hearing in January, the focus was much the same. Committee members and witnesses alike tended to focus on potential target in the US that would be similar to those attacked in Mumbai. This certainly provides fertile ground for security planning. Hotels and restaurants, as well as police forces, need to look at these attacks in detail to see what measures they can take to prevent, or mitigate the effects of, similar attacks in this country. But, as more than one witness noted, there is no way to adequately protect soft targets like these in a free society. It would have been refreshing to hear at least one witness tell the committee that it is not only ‘soft targets’ that have lessons to learn from the Mumbai attacks. Similar types of organized attacks are also a potential threat to hardened facilities. The typical unarmed guards found at all most all high-risk chemical facilities would stand little chance of slowing, much less stopping such an assault. Only an armed, on-site response force would be able to interpose itself between armed intruders and high-consequence targets within the facility. There are certainly safety issues that would need to be dealt with, but the highest risk facilities are going to have to re-examine their opposition to armed protective forces.

House Hearing Week of March 9th

The House Homeland Security Committee has three hearings scheduled next week that may be of interest to the chemical security community. The Homeland Security Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee has two hearings that might be of interest. Cyber Security The Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology Hearing will hold a hearing on cybersecurity issues on Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at 2pm EDT. It is entitled: “Reviewing the Federal Cybersecurity Mission” and it will provide an opportunity for the Committee to provide input into the 60-day NSC cybersecurity review. There is nothing in the currently available information indicating that the issue of control system security will be discussed, but it cannot be ruled out. Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection will look at the Mumbai attacks and their implications for infrastructure protection in a hearing to be conducted on March 11th at 2pm EDT. The hearing will be entitled: “The Mumbai Attacks: A Wake-Up Call for America’s Private Sector”. This hearing should have the most direct impact on planning for the protection of high-risk chemical facilities. Mexican Border Violence On Thursday, March 12th at 10am EDT the Subcommittee on Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism will look at the situation on the Mexican border in a hearing entitled: “Border Violence: An Examination of DHS Strategies and Resources”. Again, nothing indicates that chemical security issues will be specifically addressed, but, as I noted in a blog last December, there are substantial cross border shipments of hazardous materials that may be affected by this violence. The Homeland Security Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee will look at the same issue on Tuesday, March 10th at 11:30am EDT. Interestingly there is no overlap in the witness lists for these two hearings, so there should be a broad cross section of agency views expressed between these two hearings. Rail Security Issues The Homeland Security Subcommittee will be holding a hearing on March 12th at 10am EDT that will be looking at railroad security issues. The hearing is entitled: “Securing the Nation’s Rail & Transit Systems”. Two of the witnesses will be representing large metropolitan (New York and Los Angeles) transit authorities, so it is not clear that there will be much discussion of freight rail security issues.

Senate Hearing on Mumbai Terrorist Attacks

Well, Congress is back in session and the hearing schedule starts off with a hearing in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (Senate HS Committee) on the Lessons from the Mumbai Terrorist Attacks. The hearing will be held on January 8th at 2:00 pm EST. Now I did not see any reports about the Mumbai attacks involving attacks on any chemical facilities. I do think, however, that there are probably security lessons to be learned for high-risk chemical facilities. Anyone that read my blog on the DHS 5 year Terror Forecast knows that I think that a fast attack like this could very successfully executed against almost any high-risk chemical facility in the United States. The Senate HS Committee web page today shows a single panel that will address the committee. The panel members will be:

Charles E. Allen – DHS Arthur M. Cummings – FBI Raymond W. Kelly – NY PD

This should be an interesting discussion.