Setting the Bar for Homeland Security
How good should a magnetometer be? How should a border guard deal with a suspected terrorist? What should a first responder know about dealing with biological, chemical, nuclear and radiological attacks? What are the best ways to conduct threat and vulnerability assessments?
Today, hundreds of thousands of people handle these design, manufacturing and procedural jobs in a host of different ways. What are the best practices? ASTM International, West Conshohocken, Pa., plans to find out.
This summer, the not-for-profit ASTM, one of the largest voluntary standards development organizations in the world, formed a committee to develop standards to govern products and procedures being developed for the Department of Homeland Security. Officially called Committee E-54 on Homeland Security Applications, the group will study and recommend standards related to national emergency response procedures, transportation system security, the protection of critical infrastructure and the science and technology related to each of these areas. The new committee will also coordinate the development of Homeland security-related standards in disciplines covered by existing ASTM committees.
“Homeland security is much more complex than originally thought,” says Pat A. Picariello, director, development operations for ASTM, and the project’s coordinator. “The lack of definitive regulatory requirements combined with the almost limitless number of solutions to a series of partially identified problems has created an environment in dire need of a stabilizing force. Voluntarily developed, full consensus standards are viewed as critical to this area.”
ASTM members include producers, users, consumers, government officials, and academics from more than 100 countries. Since 1898, ASTM committees have developed technical documents that form the standards for manufacturing, management, procurement, codes, and regulations in a host of undertakings. Each year, ASTM publishes its upgraded standards in a 77-volume Annual Book of ASTM Standards. The annual book currently contains 12,000 standards.
The initial ASTM organizational meeting established E-54 subcommittees to develop standards related to seven Homeland security undertakings. Each of the subcommittees has outlined its goals.
Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) sensors and detectors: The subcommittee will work on standards for detection equipment related to CBRNE threats. The committee also plans to identify standards for detecting CBRNE weapons hidden in containerized cargo or in small packages and letters. The work will also identify standards for portable equipment employed by first responders at the scenes of terrorist attacks.
Emergency preparedness training and procedures: The subcommittee will develop standards for planning, designing, equipping, training and testing systems and procedures for use by first responders.
Decontamination: This subcommittee will establish standards for decontaminating buildings, equipment, people, personal protective equipment and utilities, such as power plants and water treatment facilities.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Over the years, comprehensive standards have been developed to cover a wide range of personal protective equipment. This subcommittee will not attempt to redevelop these standards; instead, it will focus on areas not covered by existing standards and develop a comprehensive user guide to available standards related to Homeland security tasks.
Building and Infrastructure Protection: The work of this wide-ranging subcommittee will involve barriers, locking systems, fencing, barbed tape, as well as technologies designed to protect buildings against electronic eavesdropping. Subcommittee members will also establish building standards related to the security of architectural and engineering drawings and chemical and biological threats. Standards related to the placement of building operations control centers will also be part of this work. Finally, the subcommittee will develop Homeland security inspection standards for buildings.
Security Controls: Standards related to access control, closed circuit television (CCTV), intrusion alarms, integrated operational systems and credentialing systems will be developed by this subcommittee.
Threat and Vulnerability Assessment: This group will evaluate and categorize existing assessment processes and tools developed by the CIA, FBI, Secret Service, Department of Defense, Sandia Laboratories and other public and private groups. The goal will be to consolidate guidelines and methodologies for assessing vulnerabilities, threats and the likelihood of terrorist attacks against facilities and information systems of all kinds. Since this summer’s organizational meeting, the E-54 Committee has begun to solicit government and private experts to help in the effort, while developing schedules that will guide the work of thes massive new standards undertaking.
