DHS CSAT FAQ Page Update 01-29-10

This last week DHS only added/update one question on the Chemical Security Assessment Tool (CSAT) Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) web page. This extensive FAQ page provides a very large list of questions that have been addressed by the CSAT Help Desk and provide some insight into the DHS CFATS program administration. This week a new question and response were added to the FAQ page. That question was: 1660 Once I get my “final” tier, can it or will it ever change? How and why? DHS notes that the ‘final’ tier is the term given to the tier designation after the Security Vulnerability Assessment (SVA) is reviewed by DHS and does not mean that this is a permanent tier ranking. The response provides three examples (presumably not exclusive) of how a facility might receive a different tier ranking. Significant Change in Operations The first example is the one explicitly covered in the CFATS regulations {§27.210(d)}. Anytime a facility has a ‘significant’ change or “material modification” in their operations they are required to submit a new Top Screen. DHS will evaluate the new Top Screen and determine if the change is significant enough to require either a new SVA or Site Security Plan (SSP). A new SVA might result in a change in Final Tier ranking. DHS has not specifically listed all of the things that might constitute a “material modification” but it would certainly include the addition or removal of a chemical of interest (COI) from a facility. A significant increase or decrease in the inventory of an already existing COI would be a material modification. The addition of a new security measure would not be captured in a new Top Screen, but could conceivably result in a change in Tiering. Facilities should probably contact the Help Desk for a determination on how to proceed in that case. Remember, removing a security measure that has already been placed on a submitted or approved SSP can only be done with the approval of DHS. Two New Tier Change Methods The second response expands on an implicit requirement of §27.210(b). That section requires facilities to periodically resubmit their SVA and or SSP. DHS has yet to publish a schedule for the resubmission of SVA’s and SSP’s (we really do need to get the current SSP process complete before anyone really wants to worry about that), but DHS could also send letters to individual facilities, or post a notice in the Federal Register requiring a class of facilities, to submit new SVA’s or SSP’s. This FAQ response notes that DHS could change their Tier ranking based on the newly submitted SVA or SSP without any underlying change in the Top Screen information. This could reflect the DHS determination that “the plan has been successful enough to lower the facility’s final tier”. Not stated in this response, but possible, would be the determination that the SSP had proven inadequate in some manner and the Tier ranking could be raised. A similar methodology has actually been used for addressing the Tier ranking of a large number of gasoline fuel terminals after DHS changed some of the SVA questions relating to the storage of gasoline products. DHS required re-submissions of the SVA for the potentially affected terminals and re-evaluated their Tier rankings based upon the new information. The third response is implicit in the Secretary’s authority determine Tier rankings and requires no new input from covered facilities. This response indicates that DHS can change the existing Tier ranking when:

“DHS considers new information about a site, chemical, threat, or process that warrants revising (up or down) an existing final tier. DHS will provide appropriate notification to the facility of the reasons justifying a change in the facility’s existing tier.”

This means that if DHS were to come into some new information that would change their basis for determining Tier rankings, DHS could go back and use that new information to re-evaluate previously issued rankings.