2013 Chemical Sector Security Summit

DHS, at long last, has announced that there will be a 2013 Chemical Sector Security Summit. The new web page is up (move your link to the 2012 CSSS to your historical section; it is still active and contains links to some of the more important presentations) and the dates are set for July 10^th and 11^th in Baltimore, MD. As with previous years there will be a set of pre-Summit workshops on Tuesday, July 9^th.

The full agenda is not yet available and the registration site is not yet established; I’ll be keeping an eye out for those. The new web site does provide a short list of Key Topics for this year’s Summit. They include:

• Chemical Security Regulations Update

• Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards for Tier 3 & 4 Facilities

• Cybersecurity

• Voluntary Programs

• Information Sharing

I’ve been wondering when I was going to be saying this, but with the latest data on site security plans out last week, it really does look like ISCD is going to  finally be getting around to Tier 3 and 4 Facilities, perhaps later this year. This makes the second ‘key topic’ all the more important.

Cybersecurity is of central importance at DHS this year with the upcoming publication of the Cybersecurity Framework (okay we are still waiting on the draft, but it is not yet late). CFATS is one of those regulatory programs that may be able to incorporate ‘voluntary’ cybersecurity controls into its existing requirements without specific authorization by Congress. This combined with proposed coverage of current threats and specific coverage of Industrial Control Systems will make the CSSS doubly important this year.

With the late decision to go forward with the Summit this year, even in the face of sequester cut backs, I expect that we will be seeing more information about the agenda and registration in short order. After all it is just less than two months away.

BTW: I will again start plugging my long standing suggestion that the folks at NPPD (this is after all more than just CFATS) expand the potential attendance at the Summit by web casting key portions of the program. In the current sequester environment it would allow more of the Chemical Security Inspectors to attend the Summit.