Another CFATS Webinar

The folks at ChemicalProcessing.com have announced a new webinar on the CFATS process. The March 17th webinar will feature a familiar trio as presenters; Ryan Loughin from ADT, Steve Roberts head of Roberts Law Group, and William Almond a SOCMA VP. All three are well known commentors on matters related to chemical security.

Two of the topics that will be covered look to be especially interesting. First Steve Roberts is going to address the difference between Pre-Authorization Inspections and Authorization Inspections. Since DHS has actually started (to a very limited extent) the Authorization Inspections this could be some valuable information, particularly to those facilities that have gone through a PAI.

Bill Almond, who is VP for Government Relations at SOCMA, will look at DHS and Legislative policy updates. Currently the advertising says he will look at material modifications and personal surety policy, both of which are certainly important. I suspect that, if new legislation is introduced this week as reported by SOCMA, he will also look at that CFATS reauthorization legislation.

As is usual, you can’t beat the cost. I’ve already signed up.

Another CFATS Seminar

It’s a new year and it seems like CFATS webinars are popping up all over the place, like daffodils in an early spring. Last week I received an email inviting me to register for one put on by ChemicalProcessing.com. The webinar is scheduled for March 17th at 1:00 EST. The three presenters are all well known in the industry and have been mentioned a number of times in this blog, two of them as CFATS bloggers (Ryan Loughin and Steve Roberts) and the other as a source of information on Congress (William Allmond). Any one of these on the bill for a webinar would ensure that it would be worthwhile.

According to the information provided in the email:

• Loughin “will discuss capital vs. operating costs, asset vs. facility, value engineering and more”;

• Roberts “will discuss the interaction with DHS Inspectors; Corporate and Site Preparation for CFATS Authorization Visits; and the differences between CFATS Pre-Authorization Inspections and CFATS Authorization Inspections”; and

• Allmond “will review the latest updates on material modifications and personal surety and more”.

You can register for this webinar here. As always I recommend getting the whole CFATS team into a conference room and doing the webinar as a group.

CFATS Webinar

The folks at Chemical Processing Magazine and ADT Advanced Integration are sponsoring a CFATS Webinar on June 17th at 1:00 pm EDT. The three presenters, Ryan Loughin (ADT), Michael Kennedy (SOCMA), and Steve Roberts (Roberts Law Group) will address:

• CFATS Road Map & Timeline • CFATS Regulatory & Legislative Updates • CFATS Regulatory Considerations for SSPs

All three of these presenters are very knowledgeable and experienced speakers. The topics are timely and they certainly have the experience and background to provide valuable insights on their respective topics. Traci Perdum, the Senior Digital Editor for ChemicalProcessing.com will be moderating the program and live Q&A session that will follow the presentations. The only thing missing from this webinar is participation by DHS. ADT has had DHS presenters at earlier webinars. What would be interesting would be to have Larry Stanton give his presentation on the IST reporting tool that DHS is considering adding to the CFATS program. I have an article on their proposal coming out in the upcoming issue of the Journal of Hazmat Transportation. Stanton made his presentation back in March at a CCPS meeting and it would be interesting to see the response to the proposal before a more general audience like this.

CIKR Webinar Page Update 03-03-10

Earlier today DHS updated their Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources (CIKR) Learning Series web page. As was expected, they have now provided a link to the CFATS Update Webinar that they conducted last month. For a review of the webinar see my blog; I highly recommend this one-hour free webinar for anyone interested in the current CFATS program. Understanding where the program is now will be important as we continue to debate legislation to make the program permanent.

DHS CFATS Webinar

This is just a quick reminder that DHS will be conducting a webinar on Monday, February 22nd, on the CFATS program. Sue Armstrong, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection, will be providing an update on the CFATS program. You can still register for the webinar.

CFATS SSP Webinar

My thanks to Ryan Loughin’s (cfatssecurity) tweet pointing me at a webinar that ADT Security Services recently sponsored concerning the implementation of the CFATS SSP. The webinar was originally conducted on November 4th, but ADT is maintaining a free link to that webinar on their web page. The two webinar presenters were Marybeth Kelliher, Infrastructure Security Compliance Division, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Edward Clark, Senior Security Consultant, O’Brien’s Response Management. Ms Kelliher provided a concise overview of the CFATS program in general and the SSP implementation in particular. Mr. Clark (no connection to the Tom Clancy hero) provided insights on SSP implementation that could only come from someone that has consulted on such implementations. Both of their presentations were clear, concise and professional, making this a clearly worthwhile use of an hour and a half of one’s time. There are plusses and minuses to viewing this recording of an active webinar. The original participants were able to ask questions that were addressed at the end of the presentation (actually the last 30 minutes covers answers to these questions). People watching this recording do not have that option. Balancing that negative is the capability to stop the presentation at will and even go back to listen to something that was missed. DHS Outreach Program The participation of Ms Kelliher in this webinar is part of the continuing outreach effort being made by ISCD to engage those industries and facilities that are affected by the CFATS program. They also use these opportunities to provide updated information about the CFATS program. This webinar is no different; Ms Kelliher made the following points of interest to the covered community:

CFATS inspections to begin in January; Turnaround for SSP at DHS is 60 to 90 days; and Tier 4 Designation letters to be sent out by years end.

She also mentioned some new CFATS programs that are coming down the road. First she reported the development and impending deployment of a CSAT Corporate reporting tool to allow corporate management to track CFATS activities of multiple facilities from a single site. She mentioned on November 4th that it was due out “this month”. Since we have yet to see this I expect it to be fielded this month. The other program is designed to resolve a common complaint about the current CSAT applications. Once a facility submits a document (Top Screen, SVA or SSP) it is unable to pull that document up and make appropriate changes when submitting an update for that document. This means that the facility has to go through the entire time consuming process when they only need to add or subtract a single COI from the Top Screen, for instance. Ms Kehiller announced that ISCD intends to field a new CSAT Revision Tool in January to correct this problem. Webinar Recommended While I am well familiar with the CFATS program and the CSAT tools, I found this webinar a valuable use of an hour and a half of my time. Anyone working on a facility security team getting ready for their Site Security Plan preparation should invest the time necessary to watch this webinar. All you have to do to get started is to go to the webinar site and fill out the minimal registration form. Once the registration is submitted, you will be taken to the start of this valuable webinar. You won’t be disappointed. Many thanks to ADT Security Services for making this free webinar available on their web site.