Significant changes are afoot for companies in the US that store chemicals which could potentially be used by terrorists in an improvised explosive or chemical device. Under new DHS rules, companies storing above threshold limits for over 300 named chemicals will have to instigate specific security measures in liaison with DHS.Of the move, DHS Chief Michael Chertoff comments, “We're very challenged here because it doesn't take a lot of skill to make an IED using household chemicals that you can find in your kitchen, or that you can find if you go to a hardware store. But we can at least minimize some of the highest-consequence risks: dangerous chemicals."
Included in the list are chemicals such as Hydrogen Peroxide, a key component of Al-Qaeda’s favoured TATP home-made explosive, used in the London Underground and bus attacks in 2005.
The list provides useful guidance to security managers outside the US concerned about which chemicals in their own organisations that they should be focusing on securing against theft or misuse.
For the interim list of controlled chemicals click here.
For a full report, click here.
