DHS Publishes CFATS Update

This afternoon the folks at DHS Infrastructure Security Compliance Division (ISCD) published the latest CFATS update on their CriticalInfrastructure: Chemical Security web site; standard format report with only the numbers changing. The number of authorized and approved site security plans continues to increase.

The first table shows the total number of authorized and approved  site security plans shown in these reports for the last year. The sharp eyed reader will note that I have left off the March 2013 data point; the graph was just starting to get too crowded.

The second table shows the average daily rate at which SSPs have been authorized and approved. The numbers for April are down from March. Actually the average daily authorization and approval rates for April are only the 5^th best in the last year. I suspect that this may not be due to any lack on the part of the Chemical Security Inspectors (CSI) but rather that they are getting to smaller facilities where more of the security planning and execution is being done by amateurs rather than professional security staff.

In the last couple of blog posts on these CFATS Updates I have been mentioning the decline in the number of covered facilities. I have gone back and abstracted the data from past reports (fortunately I keep copies, ISCD no longer continues to post copies of these Updates to the CFATS Knowledge Center the way they used to) to show the general trend over the last year. Table three shows that trend.

There is a nice general downward trend except for November of last year. No explanation for the increase for that month, but I suspect that it had to do with actions undertaken as part of the Presidents EO on Increasing Chemical Safety and Security (EO 13650). As I have mentioned before it would be interesting to know some statistical information about the facilities that left the CFATS program.

One item of information that we are not seeing yet is the number of facilities that have had their first actual compliance inspection. That data, when it becomes available, should also include the number that have passed that inspection.