Review - OCS Publishes CFATS Update – 6-2-23

Last Friday, CISA’s Office of Chemical Security updated their CFATS Monthly Statistics website to provide information on the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program. The statistics reported involve activities for the Chemical Security Inspectors in support of the program during the month of April 2023 and the status of the facilities in the program at the end of the month. The overall number of CSI activities was up from the previous month. There was an increase in the number of covered facilities with 95% of the facilities in the program having an approved site security program.

 

For more details about the month-to-month changes in this data, including a discussion of the Expedited Approval program – see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/ocs-publishes-cfats-update-6-2-23 - subscription required.

Review - OCS Publishes CFATS Monthly Update – 5-1-23

Yesterday, CISA’s Office of Chemical Security, updated their CFATS Monthly Statistics website to provide information on the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program. The statistics reported involve activities for the Chemical Security Inspectors in support of the program during the month of April 2023 and the status of the facilities in the program at the end of the month. The overall number of CSI activities were sharply down from last month. There was a slight decline in the number of covered facilities.

 

For more details about the reported numbers, including a look at the month-to-month changes, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/ocs-publishes-cfats-monthly-update-5f1 - subscription required.

Review - OCS Publishes CFATS Monthly Update – 4-3-23

Yesterday, CISA’s Office of Chemical Security, updated their CFATS Monthly Statistics website to provide information on the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program. The statistics reported involve activities for the Chemical Security Inspectors in support of the program during the month of March 2023 and the status of the facilities in the program at the end of the month. The overall number of CSI activities increased slightly over last month. There was a slight decline in the number of covered facilities.

With the CFATS program up for renewal this year, it might be a good time for one of the three oversight committees to request that GAO look at why facilities leave the CFATS program. Or, proactively, the Office of Chemical Security could produce such a report on their own. That might be particularly appropriate given the recent 15^th anniversary of the program.

 

For more details about the trends in these monthly figures, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/ocs-publishes-cfats-monthly-update-3e8 - subscription required.

Review - OCS Publishes CFATS Monthly Update –June 2022

This week, CISA’s Office of Chemical Security, updated their CFATS Monthly Statistics website to provide information on the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program. The statistics reported involve activities for the Chemical Security Inspectors in support of the program during the month of June 2022 and the status of the facilities in the program at the end of the month. The number of activities were reported at slightly below average level and the number of covered facilities increased over the level of the last two months.

For a more detailed analysis of the numbers and their change over time, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/ocs-publishes-cfats-monthly-update-a57 - subscription required.

ISCD Publishes CFATS November Update – 12-7-20

Today the CISA Infrastructure Security Compliance Division (ISCD) updated their Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) Monthly Statistics page to provide information for Chemical Security Inspector activities and facility status for the month of November.

CSI Activities

The table below shows the activities conducted by the CSI in November.

Inspection Data	Aug-20	Sep-20	Oct-20	Nov-20
Authorization Inspections	24	31	21	14
Compliance Inspections	107	131	90	68
Compliance Assistance	115	140	100	102
Compliance Audit	9	23	5	0

The web page does not explain the month-to-month variations in the CSI activities. The numbers this month continue the decline in activities that we saw last month. The November numbers dropped to the lowest levels since the Federal Funding Fiasco in December 2018. Since the largest component of that drop is the number of Compliance Inspections conducted, it is possible that this is due to a drop in the number of facilities that are due for their periodic re-inspections; it is just not yet time for the CSI to come back and check facility site security plan compliance again.

Facility Status

The table below shows the status of facilities covered under the CFATS program.

Facility Status	Aug-20	Sep-20	Oct-20	Nov-20
Tiered	124	108	90	85
Authorized	147	159	161	146
Approved	3056	3053	3048	3050
Total	3327	3320	3299	3281

We are continuing to see a rather sharp drop in the number of facilities covered under the CFATS program. This has been a general trend since the program began. There is, of course, a financial incentive for companies to try to reduce their level of risk of a terrorist attack by reducing or eliminating the inventory of DHS chemicals of interest at the facility. Unfortunately, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is also possible that the sharp decrease seen in covered facilities over the last two months may be partially attributable to facility closures or declining manufacturing rates.