HJ Res 1 Passed in House – DHS Continuing Resolution

As I noted in an earlier post HJ Res 1, a DHS continuing resolution, passed in the House on January 3^rd. A .PDF version of the bill is still not available, but Congress.gov does have a .TXT version available. The bill would amend the currently expired Continuing Resolution (Division C, HR 6157, 115^th Congress); extending the expiration date in §105 for DHS spending until February 8^th, 2019. It would also authorize back-payment payment of salaries for all furloughed employees.

What the CR does not contain is any extension of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program that is currently set to expire on January 17^th. While HR 251 does address the issue of extending the program, its enactment is not assured, especially enactment by January 17^th. Of course, at this point, it is not clear that the Senate will take up HJ Res 1 either.

This is probably a good place to start to discuss what happens to CFATS if HR 251 (or some other bill extending the CFATS program expiration) does not pass by January 17^th. Unfortunately, it depends on circumstances; if, January 17^th arrives and

• There is no CFATS extension and there is no DHS spending bill (either stand-alone or as part of a consolidated spending bill), the program will exist in a sort of purgatory until one or the other is signed by the President;

• There is no CFATS extension and a DHS spending bill is passed that contains funding for the program, the program would probably (there is some disagreement amongst lawyers about this) continue as long as the funding was available;

• There is no CFATS extension and a DHS spending bill is passed that does not contain funding for the program, the program would shut down;

• There is a CFATS extension and there is no DHS spending bill; the program continues under its current Federal Funding Fiasco status with most personnel furloughed; or

There is a CFATS extension and there is a DHS spending bill passed that contains funding for the program, the program resumes operation as before the FFF.

Clearly the best solution is the last one in the list.

ISCD Publishes CFATS Update – 12-04-18

Today the DHS Infrastructure Security Compliance Division published the latest data on the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program implementation. Facilities with approved site security plans are now 81.2% of the 3,355 facilities covered by the program, a continued increase, while the total number of covered facilities continues its slow decline.

The first table below shows the number of activities that ISCD Chemical Security Inspectors conducted in support of the CFATS program.

CFATS Activities	Sep- 18	Oct-18	Nov-18
Authorization Inspections to Date	3854	3875	3886
Authorization Inspections Month	35	25	14
Compliance Inspections to Date	3891	3995	4135
Compliance Inspections Month	71	106	143
Compliance Assistance Visits to Date	4897	5008	5065
Compliance Assistance Visits Month	126	121	53

Compliance inspections continues to be the major focus of the CSI force. The 143 inspections conducted this month is the highest number since June 2017 when ISCD resumed reporting on the CSAT 2.0 based results.

The next table shows the status of the facilities covered by the CFATS program.

CFATS Facility Status	Sep-18	Oct-18	Nov-18
Tiered	211	205	178
Authorized	493	456	454
Approved	2665	2701	2723
Total	3369	3362	3355

We see the expected decline in the number of Tiered and Authorized facilities as the percentage of facilities with approved site security plans increases.

ISCD Publishes June 2014 CFATS Update

Today the good folks at DHS Infrastructure Security Compliance Division got around to publishing their June update for the CFATS program. The new data covers the month of May so my charts will call the latest data points ‘May 2014’ instead of ‘June 2014’. Generally speaking the number of both authorized site security plans and approved site security plans continues to rise while the total number of covered facilities continues to fall.

Diagram 1 shows the last 12 months’ worth of data for the program. We continue to see an increasing number of authorized and approved site security plans.

 Diagram 1: Total Authorized and Approved SSPs

  

Diagram 2 shows the rate of authorizations and approvals; only two months have seen a higher rate of site security plan approvals.

 Diagram 2: Rate of SSP Authorizations and Approvals

Diagram 3 shows the number of facilities covered by the CFATS program. The total number of covered facilities continues to decline. ISCD still does not provide an explanation of how much this decline is related to decreased risk or poor economic activity.

Diagram 3: Number of Covered Facilities