In May 2008, director Patrick Fitch said that research at the laboratory is not conducted to "create threats in order to study them." Maureen McCarthy, former Homeland Security director of research and development, said, "All the programs we do are defensive in nature. Our job is to ensure that the civilian population of the country is protected, and that we know what the threats are." Bernard Courtney, the NBACC's former scientific director, described oversight, mentioning that frequent independent reviews over particular experiments occur. These reviews are operated by a group of up to four scientists on a case-by-case scenario.