DHS Announces HSSTAC Meeting – 3-21-13

DHS posted a meeting announcement in (78 FR 14101-14102) Monday’s Federal Register (available online today) for a meeting of the Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee (HSSTAC) on March 21^st, 2013 in Washington, DC. This will be one of the relatively rare HSSTAC meetings that is open to the public.

According to the notice the “committee addresses areas of interest and importance to the Under Secretary for Science and Technology, such as new developments in systems engineering, cyber-security, knowledge management and how best to leverage related technologies funded by other federal agencies and by the private sector”.

The Agenda

The agenda for the meeting includes:

• Discuss proposed areas for study and receive taskings from the Department;

• DHS S&T collaboration with industry, and the Department's request for HSSTAC input on how to improve that collaboration;

• Cyber Security and the evolution of the Cyber Security Division of DHS S&T; and

• Briefing and discussion regarding the recent creation of a Resilient Systems Division at DHS S&T

While not mentioned in the notice, the third item may be important in the context of the implementation of the President’s cybersecurity executive order. Come to think of it, so might the first item.

Public Participation

The public is invited to attend the Committee’s meeting. Pre-registration is required and may be done on the Committee’s web site. Actually I don’t see the ‘Click here to register’ button referenced in the notice, but I may not be up yet since the notice isn’t official until Monday. Alternatively contact Mary Hanson (mary.hanson@hq.dhs.gov) the HSSTAC Executive Director. No registration deadline is provided in the notice, but the earlier the better is always the best policy.

Public comments on the agenda items are being solicited. Written comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.Regulations.gov; Docket # DHS-2013-0014). These comments must be submitted before March 19^th, 2013 to allow for distribution to Committee members and posting on the Committee web site. Brief oral comments will be allowed after each agenda item is discussed by the Committee, but advance registration for making such comments is required.