Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa Susan Walsh/AP

Senator awaits DHS response to allegations against employees

Chemical security program employees allegedly received improper pay.

Correction: This post was based on reporting by Doug Guarino that originally appeared in Global Security Newswire.

Call Grassley, maybe?

Our colleague Doug Guarino reports that Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, hasn't yet received a response from the Homeland Security Department regarding allegations against chemical-security program employees. They allegedly received improper pay and bought supplies they didn't need.

From Guarino:

Grassley had asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to respond to the accusations by Monday but has yet to receive a response from the department.

The DHS chemical-security operation has been under scrutiny since an internal report was leaked to the media late last year detailing a host of problems, including a failure by department officials to conduct inspections of chemical facilities that could be targeted by terrorists and to approve security plans submitted by the plants.