Did you know the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is relying on you and your company to help make the United States safe from terrorism? And I don't just mean in the manner you might expect , by following government regulations and cooperating with federal agents and other law enforcement personnel , but by creating and sharing the tools and procedures industry needs to thwart bin Laden and his buddies.That's the message conveyed at the recent Honeywell Users Group meeting by Admiral James Plehal, DHS director of infrastructure analysis and information assurance.Plehal announced that there are many, many ways terrorists could strike our industrial infrastructure, so it is obviously impractical to guard against every possibility. Even trying would cost too much , look at the onerous and moribund Chemical Security Act.Besides, since its formation back in October 2001, the department's 180,000 government employees have been busy concentrating on borders and transportation. DHS is pretty much counting on you to take care of your plant and its surrounding community.The department's help for industrial infrastructure has been limited to supporting first-responders with $13 billion worth of equipment and training so they can deal with the aftermath. In a similar post-event mode, the agency is also funding programs that are intended to monitor a few large cities for deadly chemical releases.But why complain? Regular reports of airport security breaches ranging from pranksters stashing box-cutters in toilets to tarmac tug hijackings tell me DHS's approaches can't prevent the unusual even under the most controlled circumstances. If the department applied its after-the-fact industrial infrastructure philosophy to transportation security, it would take out the airport security scanners and supply all passengers with concealed weapons.It wouldn't be so bad if the department quietly went about wasting taxpayers' dollars like most government agencies, but instead DHS regularly buzzes us up with vague threat announcements we can't do anything about. Plehal said the department makes news whenever a threat appears credible, no matter how vague. If it were to get wind of a specific plot, it would communicate it only to the plant in question and local agencies. So rest assured that if it's in the news, your plant probably isn't involved.In his opening remarks, Plehal said terrorism by definition makes us uncomfortable where we live and work, and "works to destroy our confidence in our government and institutions."By his own definition, Plehal left me pretty terrified. How about you?
