More on Senate Markup of DHS Spending Bill

Yesterday I noted that the Senate Appropriations Committee had reported their version of HR 2017, the FY 2012 DHS appropriations bill. I still haven’t seen the actual revised language, but most of the important details are included in the Report (112-74) that I have been able to go through in some detail.

Spending Amounts

A number of commentators will be looking at spending levels in this version of the bill. Looking for numbers that would directly concern the chemical and cyber security communities I came up with the following broad numbers with the appropriate comparison to the House version of the bill.

• TSA Surface Transportation - $134.7 Million vs House $129.7 Million

• TSA Credentialing - $164.0 Million vs House $184.0 Million

   • Crew and Other Vetting Programs - $71.5 Million vs House $91.5 Million

• Infrastructure Security Compliance - $99.3 Million vs House $91.8 Million

• Cybersecurity - $450 Million vs House $438 Million

   • US-CERT $80.0 Million vs House $79.1

Transportation Workers Identification Credential

I don’t see an explanation of how the Committee expects the TSA to absorb the $20 Million in ‘Crew and Other Vetting’ programs. Perhaps they just think that there will be fewer people being vetted by this process; the process that includes the TWIC program, the Hazmat Endorsement for CDL’s and the start of the vetting process for the CFATS program.

In addition the Committee directs the TSA to “TSA to expand Universal Enrollment Centers, which will result in no less than a 50 percent expansion in the number of available TWIC enrollment sites” (page 78). This will make it easier for personnel to apply for and pick-up their TWIC documents. This will be important as many chemical facilities, especially those away from port areas, will have their workers apply for a TWIC as a method for complying with the CFATS personnel surety requirements.

The Report also calls for two separate reports on the TWIC program. The first is a requirement for the TSA to report “act on the projected resource requirements, security impacts, and a potential timeline to effect changes in the TWIC enrollment system to permit cards to be shipped directly to the recipient” (page 78). This is apparently a politically popular idea and a requirement to implement this is embodied in HR 1143. I discussed an earlier GAO report on the topic.

The second report requirement is laid upon the Coast Guard. The Committee want them to report “on the progress being made to implement the recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office [GAO] in report (GAO–11–657) relating to internal control weaknesses of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program” (page 90).

Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards

As I mentioned in my earlier blog the Committee, as expected, maintained the inclusion of the one-year CFATS extension in their version of the bill. Section 538 of this version of HR 2017 will continue the CFATS program through October 4, 2012.

According to the Report; “The Committee is concerned that there are not enough inspection, enforcement, and compliance personnel to effectively implement the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards.” (page 109) Accordingly they are requiring NPPD to report “on the progress being made to implement the recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office [GAO] in report (GAO–11–657) relating to internal control weaknesses of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program”.

Cyber Security

Disappointingly all references to cybersecurity that I found in the report include the adjectives ‘network’ or ‘information’; no mention anywhere of control systems.