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DHS Deploys Phase Two Of Its
Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standard!
If you
submitted a Top Screen for your facility to the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS) per the requirements of its
Chemical Facility Anti-terrorism Standard (CFATS) and DHS
has determined that your facility is a high risk facility,
you will be receiving a package from the DHS instructing
you about your next step in the CFATS process.
The DHS
launched the on-line Security Vulnerability Assessment
(SVA) tool this month (June 2008). Facilities that
receive a correspondence from DHS are initially considered
high risk and preliminarily assigned to Tier 1, 2, 3 or 4
based on an analysis of the Top-Screen questionnaire they
submitted to DHS. The facility must complete the on-line
SVA by the deadline noted in the correspondence (unless
granted an extension of the deadline).
In general,
the deadlines are:
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Preliminary Tier 1
facilities have about 90 days to complete and submit the
SVA;
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Preliminary Tier 2
facilities have about 120 days to complete and submit
the SVA;
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Preliminary Tier 3
facilities have about 150 days to complete and submit
the SVA; and
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Preliminary Tier 4
facilities have about 180 days to complete and submit
the SVA or an Alternative Security Program (ASP) in lieu
of an SVA.
SVA
deadline extension: If a facility would like to request
an extension of the SVA deadline (in accordance with 6 CFR
§27.210(c) of the CFATS rule), letters can be sent via
regular mail to:
Department
of Homeland Security
Infrastructure Security and Compliance Division
Mail Stop 8100
Washington, DC 20528-8100
The SVA
questionnaire requires that you identify the CFATS
chemical of concern and that you provide data on security
provisions in place at the facility. The SVA will also
require that you define facility assets and perform a
vulnerability analysis. To see a listing of the SVA
questions and view SVA instructions go to
http://www.dhs.gov/chemicalsecurity.
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It is important that you
note that the Top Screen, the correspondence from
DHS, and the SVA are examples of Chemical-Terrorism
Vulnerability Information (CVI) that are required to
be treated as classified information that is only
disseminated to individuals with an need to know.
For more about managing CVI go to
https://csat.dhs.gov/cvi_training/
All individuals
accessing and entering data into the SVA on-line
must be CVI certified! |
NOTE:
The Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) expects to review a facility's Top-Screen
within 60 days of its submission, but that is not to say
that they have reviewed all Top-Screens submitted
to-date. For any questions regarding the status of your
facility’s Top Screen Information you may call the
Helpline at 866-323-2957 from 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.,
Eastern Time, Monday-Friday.
For questions about the CFATS
requirements, including the new SVA requirements, contact
Linda Swift at (508 )970-0033 extension 119.
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