Sen. Schumer Calls for Legislation to Secure Utility, Power Plants -FBI background checks on workers

[The Straight Story]

Sen. Schumer Calls for Legislation to Secure Utility, Power Plants from Terror

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) called for new legislation, which if passed will help to further secure Illinois’s eleven nuclear power plants and sensitive utility sites.

Sen. Schumer announced on August 15, 2011, that he will be introducing legislation when Congress reconvenes, requiring major electric, gas, and water utilities plants to run background checks on employees to help prevent terrorist acts which the Department of Homeland Security fears could occur by insider extremist employees.

According to Senator Schumer there is a gap in current legislation that must be filled to provide security for America. According to Schumer, “power plants and utilities present a tempting and potentially catastrophic target to extremists who are bent on wreaking havoc on the United States which is why thorough background checks on all workers with access to the most sensitive areas of this operation are a must.” According to Senator Schumer, nuclear power plant workers are already required to undergo a thorough background check but utility and power plants are not included in existing legislation. His proposed legislation would require major utilities and critical infrastructure facilities to vet employees with access to the most sensitive areas of utilities against the FBI’s criminal history repository, the Interstate Identification Index(Triple I) system, that contains fingerprint records from all states, U.S. territories , federal, and international criminal justice agencies.


http://www.examiner.com/homeland-security-in-chicago/sen-schumer-calls-for-legislation-to-secure-utility-power-plants-from-terror