Short Takes – 8-29-23

Stop it. Mark Meadows Actually Took the Stand? StatusKuo.Substack.com commentary. Pull quote: “And Meadows, should he succeed here, would have a pretty good shot at getting dismissed under a Supremacy Clause argument. After all, the judge would have already ruled that Meadows was in fact acting in the course of his official duties—the very kind of thing the Supremacy Clause exists to protect defendants against when it comes to state level prosecutions.”

NIAC reports cybersecurity compromises in water sector will require a more specialized workforce. IndustrialCyber.co article. Pull quote: “The [National Infrastructure Advisory Council] report also laid down that the [proposed Department of Water] DOW must work with public water system owners to identify necessary infrastructure upgrades and determine funding plans that include local investments, national subsidies, and water rate increases, when necessary. It will also institute policies and budgets necessary to ensure equitable access to water, wastewater, and the benefits of stormwater, and collaborate with related agencies and programs to ensure cross-government alignment.” Draft report approved this week.

CISA Director Jen Easterly Remarks at 2023 Chemical Security Summit. C-Span.org video. Long discussion about the importance of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards from today’s opening of the Chemical Sector Security Summit.

Virgin Galactic’s president explains how VSS Unity is now flying frequently. ArsTechnica.com interview. Pull quote: “To understand why there was such a long downtime after Sir Richard Branson's flight on Virgin Galactic in 2021 and to learn how the company has reached a monthly flight cadence, I recently had a long interview with Mike Moses, the company's chief of operations and president. Moses came to Virgin Galactic in 2011 from NASA, where he worked as a flight director and then as a senior leader of the Space Shuttle program.”

National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) Accelerate Adoption of Digital Identities on Mobile Devices. Federal Register NIST notice. Summary: “The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) invites organizations to provide letters of interest describing technical expertise and products to support and demonstrate International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 18013–5 and ISO/IEC 18013–7 standards capabilities for the Accelerate Adoption of Digital Identities on Mobile Devices project. This notice is the initial step for the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) in collaborating with technology companies to address cybersecurity challenges identified under the Accelerate Adoption of Digital Identities on Mobile Devices project. Participation in the project is open to all interested organizations.”

Hazardous Materials: Information Collection Activities. Federal Register PHMSA 30-day ICR notice. Summary: “In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, PHMSA invites comments on information collections pertaining to hazardous materials transportation for which PHMSA intends to request renewal and extension from the Office of Management and Budget. PHMSA published a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on these information collections in the Federal Register on March 22, 2023, and did not receive any comments.” Comments due September 28^th, 2023.

Reminder – 2 Days Left – CFNS Subscription Sale through August 31st - https://chemical-facility-security-news.blogspot.com/2023/08/cfsn-detailed-analysis-subscription.html  See article for links to reduced rate subscriptions.