THOMPSON, LIEBERMAN URGE DHS TO MOVE FORWARD ON PRIVATE SECTOR PREPAREDNESS
Thursday, June 03, 2010
(WASHINGTON) – With British Petroleum still unable to cap its gushing oil well more than a month after the pipeline broke, the Chairmen of the Senate and House Homeland Security Committees Thursday urged the Department of Homeland Security to step up its implementation of a voluntary program to help private sector companies develop preparedness, response, and business continuity plans.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) sent a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano noting that the program was required by legislation passed by Congress almost three years ago, and still has not yet been launched.
The lawmakers wrote that “private sector preparedness is a necessity not a luxury,” given that the private sector owns 85 percent of the nation’s critical infrastructure – the networks and systems that supply our energy, allow us to communicate, and conduct financial operations, for example.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
(Thompson) Dena Graziano or Adam Comis at (202) 225-9978
(Lieberman) Leslie Phillips at (202) 224-0384
