{"id":611380,"date":"2024-03-05T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/the-us-has-lost-a-critical-tool-for-handling-chemical-emergencies-lets-get-it-back\/"},"modified":"2024-03-05T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T12:00:00","slug":"the-us-has-lost-a-critical-tool-for-handling-chemical-emergencies-lets-get-it-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-us-has-lost-a-critical-tool-for-handling-chemical-emergencies-lets-get-it-back\/","title":{"rendered":"#The US has lost a critical tool for handling chemical emergencies \u2014 let\u2019s get it back"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>            <iframe title=\"Audio Article\" id=\"instaread_iframe\" name=\"instaread_playlist\" scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" style=\"display:block\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Seven months ago, the United States lost its cornerstone tool that has helped to prevent terrorists\u2019 acquisition and use of dangerous chemicals during the past 15 years.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>Statutory authority for the Chemical Facilities Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program expired on Jul. 28, after Congress failed to reauthorize it.\u00a0 Without the CFATS program, chemical facilities, first responders, and communities are at greater and unnecessary risk of chemical terrorism.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>CFATS was established in 2006 as a direct response to the 9\/11 terrorist attacks.\u00a0The program enabled the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to help keep dangerous chemicals out of terrorists\u2019 hands by identifying high-risk chemical facilities and working with those facilities to institute critical security measures.\u00a0Hundreds of the high-risk chemicals previously covered under the program have the capacity to release toxic gases or cause explosions that could kill thousands of people.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the efforts of CISA employees and the partnership of the chemical industry that it regulated, the CFATS program was a huge success.\u00a0Chemical security inspectors conducted an average of 160 site inspections per month across the nation, and more than one in three of those inspections led to security improvements.\u00a0Critically, the program also provided a mechanism to conduct background checks \u2014 including screening for links to terrorists \u2014 on employees, contractors, and visitors who have access to these chemicals within these facilities.\u00a0Absent the program, we remain unable to vet the average of 300 new names per day to determine whether these individuals have ties to terrorists.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the CFATS program also helped protect first responders, who are uniquely at risk for deadly chemical exposure.\u00a0This h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ens to be a subject near to my heart: I spent the first 13 years of my career as a first responder. CFATS helped and can again help prevent dangerous or life-threatening situations. It can help ensure that all of our first responders go home at the end of the day, and that innocent lives are not lost.<\/p>\n<p>More than six months since the CFATS program expired, CISA can no longer say with certainty exactly where these dangerous chemicals are in your community, or who has access to them.\u00a0 There is currently no mechanism to conduct checks for terrorist ties on individuals who seek access to these facilities, leaving them vulnerable to terrorist attacks.\u00a0And if there is an emergency at a chemical facility, first responders could be delayed or harmed for lack of information as they try to save innocent lives.<\/p>\n<p>Yet despite broad bipartisan support in Congress and from chemical companies, first responders, and others, the program remains unauthorized.\u00a0The reauthorization bill overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House of Representatives in July, 409 to 1, but the bill remains stalled in the Senate.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"121\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/op2.png?w=600\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4329764\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/op2.png?resize=600,121 600w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/op2.png?resize=300,61 300w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/op2.png?resize=50,10 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 899px) 100vw, 600px\"><\/figure>\n<p>Across the country, more than 7,000 schools, colleges, and universities are located within a mile of a high-risk chemical facility. More than 300 hospitals are also within that range.\u00a0 Every single one of them was safer and more secure because of CFATS.\u00a0So were the first responders who live in those communities and are responsible for protecting them.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>This is a critical national security issue that affects more than 3,200 high-risk chemical facilities and communities across the country. Congress must act now to reauthorize this vital program and keep Americans safe and secure.<\/p>\n<p><em>Nitin\u00a0Natarajan\u00a0is Deputy Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.<\/em>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2024 Nexstar <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Media<\/a> Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/opinion\/national-security\/4500533-the-us-has-lost-a-critical-tool-for-chemical-emergencies-lets-get-it-back\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seven months ago, the United States lost its cornerstone tool that has helped to prevent terrorists\u2019 acquisition and use of dangerous chemicals during the past 15 years.\u00a0 Statutory authority for the Chemical Facilities Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program expired on Jul. 28, after Congress failed to reauthorize it.\u00a0 Without the CFATS program, chemical facilities, first responders,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":611381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/05\/6455adb8679860.60009108.jpeg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[114477,134343,149112,10574,134661,134351,71525,70289,5019,134345,72597],"class_list":["post-611380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homeland-security","tag-campaign","tag-chemical-attacks","tag-education","tag-energy-environment","tag-morning-report","tag-national-security","tag-senate","tag-space","tag-state-watch","tag-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}