Troubled Weapons of Mass Destruction Office Set for Overhaul (1)

A Department of Homeland Security office charged with preventing catastrophic threats from chemical and nuclear weapons would be revamped under new bipartisan legislation that responds to concerns about its organizational and morale challenges.

Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the top members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, unveiled a bill (S. 4465) Wednesday to reauthorize and reorganize DHS’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office.

The bill would also authorize the transfer of the DHS chief medical officer from the weapons division to a new centralized Office of Health Security.

The ...