Last week, I learned that the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC) is holding a public meeting on January 18-19, 2012 in Washington, D.C. to discuss various issues relating to national maritime security. NMSAC will meet on Wednesday January 18 from 9 am to 3 pm and on Thursday January 19 from 9 am to 12 pm.

Day 1's agenda will include discussion of the following topics:

On December 21, Fox News obtained a copy of an internal memo by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) evaluating the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program. While copies of the memo have not been circulated beyond Fox News, it reportedly identifies significant shortfalls in DHS's progress of reaching compliance and a number of human resource problems slowing its implementation.

It's been quite a year in the chemical industry.

Last week, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a notice of inquiry seeking public comments on the impact that implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) has had on commercial activities involving “Schedule 1” chemicals during 2011.

Last week, it was reported that a hacker conducted a cyber attack on a Springfield, Illinois public water utility that resulted in the destruction of one of the utility's pumps. Experts indicated that the attack involved hacking a Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) which caused the water pump to burn out.

Security integrators serving the chemical and petrochemical markets - and particularly for those customers that have regulated facilities - face changing expectations. Companies expect security integrators to understand the regulatory environment and use that knowledge to develop more security solutions to support these requirements.

Last week, the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA)’s member-driven Safety and Security Committee held its final meeting of the year in Washington, DC to hear from agency issue experts and set an agenda for its 2012 activities.  At past meetings, members have heard from process safety experts in academia and government and have received regular updates from regulators at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) who oversee CFATS compliance enforcement.

As the industry looks ahead to 2012, the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) will continue to have a significant impact, especially as more sites undergo Authorization Inspections.

Don Keen, Acting Eastern District Commander, Infrastructure Security Compliance Division, DHS, joined me at the 4th Annual Homeland Security Regulatory Briefing, held in Houston, TX on November 1, 2011 to provide an update on CFATS.

We were very pleased to have Elizabeth O’Neil, Government Affairs, National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD) and Bill Allmond, VP of Government Relations, Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA) on a panel at the joint Chemical Security Regulatory Workshop with the Chemical Industry Council of California (CICC) to discuss