Link to the Show / Show NotesRep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, on April 24 encouraged the nation's information technology and security companies to keep bringing their new ideas and technological innovations to the Department of Homeland Security. Thompson spoke at a conference sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies that focused on pending legislation that would create voluntary security preparedness standards for the private sector.
The DHS and Thompson came under heavy fire at times from an industry audience that accused them of being too slow and too political, respectively.
Thompson, however, stood his ground and promised to hold the DHS accountable for any inaction on the technology front and defended his committee as one of "the most bi-partisan committees" in Congress.