CG Publishes NMSAC Meeting Notice – 8-13-24

Yesterday, the Coast Guard published a meeting notice in the Federal Register (89 FR 56397-56398) for a two day meeting of the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC) on August 13^th, and 14^th, 2024. The meeting will be held in conjunction with the 11th Annual Maritime Security West Conference in San Diego, CA.

The agenda includes public discussion about the following open CG taskings for the Committee:

• Discussion of Task T-2023-01: Update of NVIC 03-03, “Implementation Guidance for the Regulations Mandated by the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 for Facilities”,

• Discussion of Task T-2023-02: Active Shooter/Active Threat in the Maritime Environment,

• Discussion of Task T-2023-03: Unmanned Systems in the Maritime Environment, and

• Discussion of Committee Topic Out-Brief: Task T-2024-01: NPRM for Cybersecurity in the Marine Transportation System.

The virtual meeting will be open to the public, but pre-registration is required. To register contact Mr. Ryan Owens, Alternate Designated Federal Officer of the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee, telephone 202-302-6565 or via email at ryan.f.owens@uscg.mil. Written comments for consideration by the Committee may be submitted to Owens by August 9^th, 2024.

NMSAC Meeting to Address CG Cybersecurity Rulemaking

Today, the Coast Guard published a meeting notice in the Federal Register (89 FR 23601-23602) for a scheduled meeting of the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC). The meeting will be held on May 10^th. The main item on the agenda for this meeting will be the presentation of a new task for NMSAC on “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Cybersecurity in the Marine Transportation System”.

There is no specific solicitation of public comments in this notice, but typically written comments may be submitted to the Federal eRulemaking Portal site for the meeting (www.Regulations.gov; Docket # USCG-2024-0232).

CG Announces NMSAC Meeting – August 2023

Today, the Coast Guard published a meeting notice in the Federal Register (88 FR 45435-45436) for a two-day meeting of the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC) on August 22^nd and 23^rd in Arlington, VA. The public is invited to attend either the actual meeting or the virtual version.

NOTE: The ‘HomePort’ NMSAC link (https://homeport.uscg.mil/NMSAC) in the notice is worthless. There is an imperceptible space between the ‘/’ and ‘NMSAC’ which generates extra characters and external links generally do not work on the CG’s ‘HomePort’ network. A search on the HomePort web page shows no entry for ‘NMSAC’ or ‘National Maritime Security Advisory Committee’.

Cybersecurity Update

During the first day of the meeting, the Committee will provide an update on Task T–2022–5: Working Group on Cybersecurity Information Sharing.

New NMSAC Tasks

Also on the first day, there will be a discussion of three new tasks that the Committee has been requested to consider:

• Task T–2023–1: Update of NVIC 03–03, “Implementation Guidance for the Regulations Mandated by the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 for Facilities.” The MTSA regulations for facilities provide the basis for chemical facilities covered under that program being exempted from the CFATS regulation reporting requirements.

• Task T–2023–2: Active Shooter/Active Threat in the Maritime Environment

• Task T–2023–3: Unmanned Systems in the Maritime Environment

Public Comments

Personnel wishing to participate in the limited personal or virtual meeting need to register. You can register by contacting Ryan Owens at ryan.f.owens@uscg.mil by August 15^th, 2023. Personnel wishing to submit written comments on the above topics may do so by posting to the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.regulations.gov; docket # USCG-2023-0396).

2-Day NMSAC Meeting – January 24th-25th

The Coast Guard published a meeting notice in today’s Federal Register (88 FR 1080-1081) for a two-day meeting of the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC) in Baton Rouge, LA on January 24^th and 25^th, 2023. The public may attend in either personal or virtual modes.

The agenda for the meeting includes:

• Discussion of Task T-2021-2: Provide input to support further development of the Maritime Cyber Risk Assessment Model,

• Discussion of Task T-2022-4: Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Reader Program,

• Discussion of Task T-2022-5: Working Group on Cybersecurity Information Sharing, and

• Update on TSA programs to secure vessels and facilities from mass shooter events.

Registration is required. To register for either live or virtual attendance, contact Ryan Owens (Ryan.f.owens@uscg.mil) before January 22^nd. Personnel wishing to provide written comments on the agenda topics may do so via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.Regulations.gov, docket # USCG-2022-1001).

CG Publishes Meeting Notice for NMSAC – 9-13-22

Today, the Coast Guard published a meeting notice in the Federal Register (87 FR 51117-51118) for a 2-day virtual meeting the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee on September 13^th and 14^th, 2022. The meeting will be open to the public.

The agenda includes a discussion of the following assigned tasks:

• Task T-2021-2: Provide input to support further development of the Maritime Cyber Risk Assessment Model,

• Task T-2022-4: Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Reader Program, and

• Task T-2022-5: Working Group on Cybersecurity Information Sharing.

Personnel wishing to participate in the meeting may contact Ryan Owensemail at ryan.f.owens@uscg.mil. Personnel wishing to provide written comments on the topics to be discussed can submit them via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.Regulations.gov, Docket # USCG-2022-0574.

NMSAC Vacancies Announced

Today, the Coast Guard published a request for applications notice in the Federal Register (87 FR 48036-48037) for the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee. The National Maritime Security Advisory Committee provides advice, consults with, and makes recommendations to the DHS Secretary, via the Commandant of the Coast Guard, on matters relating to national maritime security, including on enhancing the sharing of information related to cybersecurity risks that may cause a transportation security incident.

The NMSAC has two vacancies for positions representing:

• Facilities owners and operators,

• State and local governments.

If you are interested in one of these Committee positions, email your cover letter and resume along with the brief biography to ryan.f.owens@uscg.mil. Applications should be submitted by September 6^th, 2022.

NMSAC Meeting to Include Maritime Cybersecurity Reports

On Friday, the Coast Guard published a meeting notice in the Federal Register (87 FR 22541-22542) for the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee. The NMSAC will conduct a public teleconference that will include a final report on cybersecurity taskings.  That final report will include:

• Feedback on cyber vulnerability assessments that are being conducted within the industry,

• Input to support further development of the Maritime Cyber Risk Assessment Model, and

• Recommendations on Cybersecurity Information Sharing.

Personnel wishing to participate in the teleconference should contact Ryan Owens (email ryan.f.owens@uscg.mil.). Written comments can be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.regulations.gov; docket # USCG-2022-0159).

CG Publishes NMSAC Meeting Notice – 12-15-21

The Coast Guard has posted a meeting notice in tomorrow’s (on line today) Federal Register (86 FR 67482-67483) for a teleconference for their National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC) on December 15^th, 2015. The Coast Guard intends to present a new tasking to the NMSAC: “Recommendations on Cybersecurity Information Sharing”. A copy of the tasking document should be on the NMSAC web site by December 13^th.

Personnel who wish to join the teleconference should contact the Ryan Owens (ryan.f.owens@uscg.mil) by December 7^th, 2021. Those wishing to submit comments for the Committee’s consideration focused on improving and enhancing the sharing of information related to cybersecurity risks that may cause a transportation security incident may submit them through the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.Regulations.gov; Docket # USCG-2021-0824).

NMSAC to Look at Maritime Cybersecurity Efforts

Today, the Coast Guard published a meeting notice in the Federal Register (86 FR 53973-53974) for a teleconference of the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC) on October 28^th, 2021. The meeting will include the presentation of two new cybersecurity tasks for consideration by NMSAC.

NOTE: There are currently some problems with the CG Homeport web site and the links to the NMSAC page are returning a ‘Cannot Be Found’ message as of this writing.

The two new cybersecurity taskings are:

• Provide feedback on cyber vulnerability assessments that are being conducted within the industry, and

• Provide input to support further development of the Maritime Cyber Risk Assessment Model.

To register to join the teleconference or provide public comments during the meeting, contact Mr. Ryan Owens (telephone 202-302-6565 or email ryan.f.owens@uscg.mil).

NMSAC to Discuss CG Cybersecurity Guidance

On Friday the Coast Guard published a meeting notice in the Federal Register (82 FR 55847-55848) for a teleconference of the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC) on December 14^th, 2017. The conference will discuss the Cybersecurity Working Group’s recent work on the draft of the Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular (NVIC) 05-17 (Note: the new CG Homeport does now support standard links, yeah); Guidelines for Addressing Cyber Risks at Maritime Transportation Security Act Regulated Facilities, that was released earlier this year.

The teleconference is open to the public but registration is required. There will be a public comment period at the end of the NMSAC discussion.

Coast Guard Announces NMSAC Meeting

Today the Coast Guard published a meeting notice in the Federal Register (82 FR 16407-16408) concerning an upcoming meeting of the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC). The two-day meeting will be held on Aprils 25^th, 2017 in Norfolk, VA.

The agenda items of potential interest to readers of this blog includes:

• Unmanned aerial vehicles;

• Extremely hazardous cargo strategy; and

• Cybersecurity strategy

Coast Guard Announces NMSAC Meeting – 10-18-16

Yesterday the Coast Guard published a meeting notice in the Federal Register (81 FR 66977-66978) for a two-day public meeting of the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee on October 10^th, 2016 in Leesburg, VA. There will be a webcast of the meeting as well as a teleconference link.

Topics of specific interest to readers of this blog will be addressed on the first day of the meeting. They include:

• Extremely Hazardous Cargo Strategy;

• Transportation Worker Identification Credential;

• Facility Security Officer Regulation and Training; and

• Regulatory Update.

There is no indication in the notice that advance registration is required to attend, view the web cast (https://share.dhs.gov/​nmsac/​) or listen to the teleconference connection (1-855-475-2447; pass code 764 990 20#).

Written comments on the above topics may be submitted to NMSAC for consideration. Comments can  be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.Regulations.gov; Docket # USCG-2016-0499).

CG Announces NMSAC Meeting in September

Today the Coast Guard published a meeting notice in the Federal Register (79 FR 51186-51187) for a two day meeting of the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee starting September 16^th in Baltimore, MD. Cybersecurity will be one of the topics discussed at the public meeting. The meeting will be available on-line and via teleconference.

The agenda for the meeting includes:

• Cybersecurity symposium;

• Suspicious activity reporting;

• Radiation portal monitoring;

• Notification of Maritime Security Level changes to international partners; and

• Future security issues;

The Coast Guard is planning on conducting a one-day cybersecurity symposium. The agenda item for this meeting is the review of a draft agenda for that symposium.

Public input may be sought during each of the agenda items and there will be a period of time put aside at the end of each day’s meeting for public comments. Registration is required for 5 minute presentations made during those comment periods. Written comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.Regulations.gov; Docket # USCG-2014-0790).

CG Announces NMSAC Meeting – 9-24-25-13

The Coast Guard published a meeting notice in Monday’s Federal Register (78 FR 44089-55091; available on line today) for the next meeting of the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee in Washington, DC on September 24^th and 25^th, 2013.

Some of the agenda items for this meeting are a little out of the ordinary, but that probably makes them more important than normal. The agenda includes discussions about:

• Cybersecurity Executive Order (EO 13636);

• Presidential Policy Directive-21;

• Chemical Facility Safety and Security Executive Order;

• TWIC Reader Rule;

• Fall Regulatory Agenda;

• Boston Marathon lessons learned;

• Hurricane Sandy lessons learned;

• FSO training initiative; and

• Future security issues.

Actually the notice states that the first two items are continuations of discussions that were started at the April 2013 NMSAC Meeting. There is also a repeat of the comment from the April meeting notice that: “NMSAC will meet to review the Executive Order and begin initial work in developing a framework for the maritime community.” As I mentioned earlier the NIST Preliminary Cybersecurity Framework will apply to the maritime community as well as all other critical infrastructure communities. It will be interesting to see what comes of this NMSAC effort.

The Coast Guard has been working with the Infrastructure Security Compliance Division (ISCD) of NPPD to work out a memorandum of understanding about how the two organizations will coordinate their chemical facility security efforts in MTSA and non-MTSA facilities. Interestingly, I have heard that the Coast Guard is intending to scrap its proposal to implement a Top Screen reporting rule (1625-AB64) for MTSA covered facilities (which are exempt from CFATS coverage). This will probably be addressed in the discussion of the Fall Regulatory Agenda.

Coast Guard Announces NMSAC Meeting Agenda

The Coast Guard is publishing in Monday’s Federal Register (available online today) a notice (77 FR 51817-51818) announcing the upcoming two-day meeting of the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee on September 11^th and 12^th in Washington, D.C.. This meeting will cover chemical security and cybersecurity topics along with the typical maritime topics.

Topics of specific interest to the chemical and cybersecurity communities include:

• Maritime domain awareness and information sharing;

• Cyber-security;

• Utilization of the marine highway for the protection of metropolitan areas from hazardous cargo;

• Integration of facility security plans and systems; and

• Port security grant program priorities.

Cybersecurity

The information provided on the cybersecurity topic of the agenda is more than a little vague. It states that:

“The Committee will discuss the parameters of a new tasking from the Coast Guard to provide guidance/recommendations on cyber-security initiatives within the maritime sector.” (77 FR 51817)

This wording would seem to indicate that there is a potential to include control system security issues in the discussion as there are a wide variety of water-side and shore-side control systems used in the ‘maritime sector’. It would be particularly interesting to see if the discussion included the cyber-security of various security systems.

Information Sharing

The Coast Guard probably has a better history of information sharing about security matters than any other organization in DHS. This makes it particularly interesting to see how the NMSAC uses the community feedback that it has obtained to suggest further improvements in that information sharing process.

Integration of Security Plans and Systems

Section 822 of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 required that the owner/operator of an MTSA covered facility (Congress did not include ‘vessels’ in this requirement) to “integrate, to the maximum extent practical, any security system for the facility with compatible systems operated or maintained by the appropriate State, law enforcement agencies, and the Coast Guard” {46 USC §70102(c)(2)}.The Coast Guard is asking the NMSAC to help develop guidance for implementing this rather vague requirement.

One would like to think that ‘integrating facility security systems’ would include such things as linking alarm notifications (both intrusion and chemical release) to local law enforcement and emergency response dispatch centers, ensuring that first responders are familiar with local facility procedures, and that emergency response plans are fully coordinated and exercised with local authorities.

Public Participation

As we have come to expect with the NMSAC, there are multiple modes available for public participation in this two-day meeting. First written comments on the topics may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.Regulations.gov; Docket # USCG-2012-0797). People may attend the meeting in person (limited seating available, contact Mr. Ryan Owens, ryan.f.owens@uscg.mil), via teleconference {(866) 810-4853; the pass code to join is 9760138#.}, or webcast (http://connect.hsin.gov/nmsac91112/). There will be a public comment period at the end of each day’s session.

Reader Comment – Corrected Information on TWIC Reader Rule

Late yesterday afternoon John C.W. Bennett provided some corrective information to a blog posting that I had made last week. I had noted that the OMB reported having received the TWIC Reader NPRM for review. John informs us that a presenter at yesterday’s National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC) reported that the OMB is actually reviewing is “a policy document providing interim guidance for voluntary use of TWIC readers in advance of the Final Rule”.

John also noted that the briefer explained that the interim document “could be on the streets in four months” (Note: John’s blog explains that that includes a 30-day OMB review and a public comment period). That makes more sense in light of the reported November time frame for the NPRM submission listed in the Unified Regulatory Agenda published last month. It’s unfortunate that MTSA facilities will have to rely on this interim guidance for TWIC Reader deployment information, but that would certainly be better than waiting blindly for at least two years for a final rule to become effective.

John also points us at his blog posting providing more details about yesterday’s NMSAC meeting.

National Maritime Security Advisory Committee Meeting 1-19-11

The Coast Guard published a notice in today’s Federal Register announcing a meeting of the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC) on January 19th and 20th. The meeting in Arlington, VA will be open to the public. While there will be very limited seating available at the meeting site, the public will also be able to hear the meeting via teleconference or observe the meeting on-line.

The Agenda for this meeting includes:

• Port Security Grants
• Global Supply Chain Security Policy Efforts
• Update to the Maritime Infrastructure Recovery Plan and the Maritime Transportation System Security Recommendations
• Results of Maritime Transportation Security Act Tasking

The teleconference will be available at 866-717-0091 (Access Code - 3038389#). The on-line access will be available via the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN) at https://connect.hsin.gov/uscgnmsac/.

Members of the public wishing to make oral presentations at the meeting or provide written comments to be distributed to the committee members must contact the ADFO (ryan.f.owens@uscg.mil) by January 11th, 2011. Written comments may also be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (http://www.regulations.gov/, Docket Number USCG-2010-1005).

NMSAC Meeting 8-24-09

The Coast Guard published a notice in today’s Federal Register about a teleconference meeting of the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee to be held on August 24th. The meeting is open to the public and the Chair may allow oral presentations to be made by the public. Written material for distribution to committee members and requests to make oral presentations should reach the Coast Guard on or before August 17, 2009. The agenda for the meeting includes:

Maritime Information Sharing Taskforce Briefing; and Discussion of a Certain Dangerous Cargo (CDC) Tasking for the Committee

National Maritime Sec Adv Comm Meeting – 05-04-09

In Monday’s Federal Register the Coast Guard is announcing that the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC) will be meeting on May 4th, 2009. The day long meeting will be a combination public/closed meeting. The public agenda will be discussed in the morning. The afternoon session will be closed to allow the Committee to address classified national security issues. Written material and requests to address the Committee during the public portion of the meeting should be submitted by April 24th. According to the meeting notice the public agenda will include:

(1) “Update on Transportation Workers Identification Credential. (2) “Update on Seafarers' Access to Shore leave. (3) “Discussion of USCG 5 year review of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) code. (5) “Discussion of Tiering Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) regulated facilities. (6) “Discussion of the eNOAD process.”

The two issues of probable interest to the chemical security community will be the update on the TWIC and the facility tiering discussion. The tiering issue is discussed briefly in the TWIC Reader ANPRM (74 FR 13367), and I have covered that discussion in an earlier blog.