Chemical Sector Training and Resources Page Update

Today, the DHS Chemical Sector-Specific Agency (SSA) updated their Chemical Sector Training and Resources web page. They updated the availability dates of some previously announced live training courses, canceled one such date, and announced a new training program.

Scheduled Training Dates

There are two training programs listed on the page where there are live training classes held at various locations around the county. These programs are

● Chemical Sector Explosive Threat Awareness Training Program (CSETAT); a course for chemical facility security officers to increase sector awareness of IEDs and VBIEDs; and

● Security Seminar & Exercise Series for Chemical Industry Stakeholders; a program designed to foster communication between facilities and their local emergency response teams by encouraging representatives to share their insight.

The following dates were added for CSETAT training sites that previously listed the dates as “TBD”

● Orlando, Fla. (3/10);
● Cedar Rapids, Iowa (6/17);

One previously ‘TBD’ Security Exercise was canceled (Columbus, OH) and a date is now listed for the exercise at Ponce, PR (4/26).

New Security Awareness Training Program

The updated page lists a new security awareness training program that is part of the Department’s "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign. The program is the Surveillance Detection Awareness – Discussion Resources Kit. It provides resources on a CD that would allow a facility to conduct their own training on counter-surveillance operations.

Contact Information

There are no links on this web page for any of these programs. To get more information on them you have to send an email requesting that information to: ChemicalSector@dhs.gov.

BTW: Last week ISCD updated their Chemical Security web page to update the verbiage associated with the link to this page. They added the following note:

“Voluntary use of the tools and resources does not ensure CFATS compliance.”

In other words security training required under CFATS is more than just using these free training programs. Risk-Based Performance Standard #11 addresses this issue. The training programs on this recently updated page will help a facility meet some of their training needs, but they will probably not be sufficient by themselves.