The Homeland Security Act of 2002 established DHS and set forth its mission to, among other things, prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism, and minimize the damage and assist in the recovery from terrorist attacks that do occur within the United States. Following passage of the act, a December 2003 presidential directive states that DHS is responsible for coordinating the overall national effort to enhance the protection of the critical infrastructure and key resources of the United States. The Secretary of Homeland Security serves as the principal federal official to lead, integrate, and coordinate the implementation of efforts among federal departments and agencies, state and local governments, and the private sector to protect critical infrastructure and key resources. The directive identified the chemical sector as a critical infrastructure sector along with other sectors, including agriculture, banking and finance, defense industrial base, emergency services, energy, food, government, information and telecommunications, postal and shipping, public health, transportation, and water. Under this presidential directive, DHS is now the lead agency for the chemical infrastructure sector, a change from national strategies issued in July 2002 and February 2003, which named EPA as the lead federal agency. The presidential directive emphasized those critical infrastructure and key resources that could be exploited to cause catastrophic health effects or mass casualties. Because many chemicals are inherently hazardous, the release of chemicals or the risk of contamination at chemical facilities poses a potential threat to public health and the economy. Under the Clean Air Act’s Risk Management Program provisions, EPA identified 140 toxic and flammable chemicals that, when present above certain threshold amounts, would pose the greatest risk to human health and the environment if released accidentally into the air. According to EPA, approximately 15,000 facilities in a variety of industries produce, use, or store one or more of these chemicals beyond threshold amounts in one or more processes (e.g., single or interconnected vessels or tanks). Before these functions were transferred to DHS by the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Justice was responsible for collecting information from the U.S. intelligence community, the FBI’s criminal investigations, other federal agencies, and the private sector about threats, including those involving chemicals. The Chemical Safety Information, Site Security and Fuels Regulatory Relief Act required Justice to review the vulnerability of chemical facilities to terrorist or criminal attack and report this information to the Congress. Justice prepared and submitted an interim report to Congress in May 2002 based on observations made at 11 chemical manufacturing facilities. Experts agree that the nation’s chemical facilities present an attractive target for terrorists intent on causing massive damage. Many facilities house toxic chemicals that could become airborne and drift to surrounding communities if released or could be stolen and used to create a weapon capable of causing harm. Justice has been warning of the terrorist threat to chemical facilities for a number of years and has concluded that the risk of an attempt in the foreseeable future to cause an industrial chemical release is both real and credible. Based on analysis of trends in international and domestic terrorism and the burgeoning interest in weapons of mass destruction among criminals and terrorists, Justice warned of potential targeting by terrorists of chemical facilities before the events of September 11, 2001. In fact, according to Justice, domestic terrorists plotted to use a destructive device against a U.S. facility that housed millions of gallons of propane in the late 1990s. In testimony on February 6, 2002, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency also warned of the potential for an attack by al Qaeda on chemical facilities. Terrorist attacks involving the theft or release of certain chemicals could have a significant impact on the health and safety of millions of Americans. The disaster at Bhopal, India in 1984, when methyl isocyanate gas—a highly toxic chemical—leaked from a tank, reportedly killing about 3,800 people and injuring anywhere from 150,000 to 600,000 others, illustrates the potential threat to public health from a chemical release. While U.S. chemical facilities are subject to a number of safety requirements, the Army has estimated high potential damage to the U.S. population from an intentional toxic chemical release. During a 2001 informal meeting with a number of agencies, the Army Office of the Surgeon General proposed, based on generic estimates, that it was conceivable that as many as 2.4 million people could request medical treatment if a terrorist caused the release of a toxic chemical. According to officials from that office, these estimates include anyone who seeks medical attention as a result of the release—including people with minor irritations or concerns. Similarly, a 2002 Brookings Institution report ranks an attack on toxic chemical plants behind only biological and atomic attacks in terms of possible fatalities. In January 2005 testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on challenges facing DHS, a Brookings Institution Visiting Fellow identified chemical facility security as a priority for DHS, noting that toxic industrial chemicals present the potential for mass casualties from a terrorist attack that is rivaled only by improvised nuclear devices, certain acts of bioterrorism, and the collapse of large, occupied buildings. In addition to the potential loss of life, a terrorist attack on a chemical facility could also disrupt the local or regional economy or impact other critical infrastructures. The chemical manufacturing industry produces the chemicals used in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, drinking water and wastewater treatment systems, and food processing. DHS’ February 2005 Interim National Infrastructure Protection Plan notes that many critical infrastructure assets are dependent on multiple elements and systems to remain functional. In some cases, a failure in one sector will have a significant impact on the ability of another sector to perform necessary functions. For example, rail transportation of many hazardous materials including chlorine was disrupted in some states following the events of September 11, 2001, because of concern about the potential for an intentional chemical release. This disruption to rail service impacted drinking water facilities that relied on chlorine delivered by rail to purify water. Currently, no one has comprehensively assessed security across the nation at facilities that house chemicals. Both EPA and DHS officials have visited some chemical facilities to discuss security since September 11, 2001, but the results of these visits are not publicly available. EPA visited 30 high- risk chemical facilities to discuss security, and DHS has visited a number of chemical facilities to assist owner/operators in assessing vulnerabilities at their facilities. During a limited review of chemical industry vulnerabilities conducted at 11 facilities primarily before September 11, 2001, Justice found that some chemical facilities may need to implement more effective security systems and develop alternative means to reduce the potential consequences of a successful attack. The effectiveness of security at some facilities may also be in doubt as evidenced by several media accounts of reporters and environmental activists gaining access to chemical tanks and computer centers that control manufacturing processes at facilities in 2001, 2002, and 2003. DHS has not yet determined the number and type of facilities that should be considered as part of the chemical infrastructure sector. The universe of chemical facilities is diverse in that they produce, use or store a host of products, including (1) basic chemicals used to manufacture other products such as fertilizers, plastics, and synthetic fibers; (2) specialty chemicals used for a specific purpose such as a functional ingredient or a processing aid in the manufacture of a range of products such as adhesives and solvents, coatings, industrial gases and cleaners, and water management chemicals; (3) life science chemicals consisting of pharmaceuticals and pesticides; and (4) consumer products such as hair and skin products and cosmetics. In total, about 15,000 RMP facilities produce, use, or store more than threshold amounts of one or more of the 140 toxic and flammable chemicals that EPA has estimated pose the greatest risk to human health and the environment if accidentally released into the air. Approximately 4,000 facilities manufacture these chemicals, and numerous other types of facilities—agricultural suppliers such as fertilizer facilities, food storage facilities, pulp and paper manufacturers, iron and steel mills, and computer manufacturing facilities—also house large quantities of chemicals. While the universe of chemical facilities is diverse, some of these facilities are part of other critical infrastructure sectors. For example, about 2,000 of these facilities are community water systems that are part of the water infrastructure sector. Some facilities may be at higher risk of a terrorist attack than others because of the chemicals they house and their proximity to population centers. Toxic chemicals such as chlorine and ammonia could form a toxic cloud and drift over neighboring populations if released, while flammable chemicals such as butane and hydrogen could be used in destructive devices. Assuming that the objective of an attack is a catastrophic release of a toxic chemical, attacks on such facilities could harm a large number of people with health effects ranging from mild irritation to death. No specific data are available on what the actual effects of successful terrorist attacks on chemical facilities would be. However, RMP facilities submit to EPA estimates of the potential consequences to surrounding communities of hypothetical “worst-case” accidental chemical releases from their facilities. These estimates include the residential population located within the range of a toxic gas cloud produced by a “worst-case” chemical release, called the “vulnerable zone.” According to 2003 EPA data, 123 chemical facilities located throughout the nation had toxic “worst-case” scenarios where more than one million people would be in the “vulnerable zone” and could be at risk of exposure to a cloud of toxic gas. About 600 facilities could each potentially threaten between 100,000 and a million people, and about 2,300 facilities could each potentially threaten between 10,000 and 100,000 people within these facilities’ “vulnerable zones.” According to EPA and DHS, the method for calculating “worst-case” scenario calculations for RMP facilities overstates the potential consequences of a chemical release. The scenarios do not consider the potential causes of a release or how different causes or other circumstances, such as safety features, could lessen the consequences of a release.