Dems question protections

A database of the nation's critical infrastructure is inconsistent and incomplete, and hampers Homeland Security Department efforts to prioritize and protect these resources, House Democrats said.

DHS' Office of Infrastructure Protection's database of 33,000 critical assets and sites is to be used to prioritize infrastructures for protection, but the department has not ensured all relevant data is gathered and is in a standard form, said a dozen minority members of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

Significant government and commercial sites are missing from the database, and some sites in it no longer exist, the lawmakers said.