Interagency Security Committee Highlights Achievements, Key Initiatives Amidst Heightened Threat Environment
The Interagency Security Committee (ISC), the committee tasked with safeguarding the security of non-military federal facilities and personnel, released its annual review for 2022.
The ISC brings together 66 federal departments and agencies to talk about best practices, enhance resilience, and review security protocols.
“As the threats to our federal facilities remain heightened, much as they have been the last few years, and domestic violent extremists persist in targeting our government, the need for pertinent policies and best practices is ever-present,” wrote David Mussington, Executive Assistant Director for Infrastructure Security at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
The ISC Annual Review broke down the accomplishments into six sections and featured success stories from agencies in each of the sections.
Strengthening ISC Authorities
Executive Director Mussington highlighted a new General Services Administration (GSA) rule, that “demonstrates the importance our national leadership places on the protection of federal facilities nationwide.”
The amendment to Title 41 Part 102-81 (Physical Security) requires that every agency and federal facility operating under the jurisdiction, custody, or control of the General Services Administration (GSA) comply with ISC policies and recommendations. That includes following “The Risk Management Process for Federal Facilities: An Interagency Security Committee Standard (RMP Standard).”
In addition, ISC says it is waiting for updates to Executive Order (EO) 12977, which is being revised to adapt to current threats. It was issued by President Bill Clinton after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
Compliance
ISC cites major success in compliance reporting, with 100 percent of primary members reporting and 100 percent of associate member reporting, except for exempt members.
Compliance reporting includes details on an agency’s adherence to ISC policies and standards.
The average compliance score rose from 4.0 out of 5.0 last year to 4.1 out of 5.0 this year.
There were also 218 sub-organization benchmarks and 14,100 facility benchmarks completed and certified in 2022.
The ISC also established a Compliance Verification Program to provide a third-party analysis of compliance.
“During the pilot, the compliance team uncovered several lessons learned and used them to better build out the program going forward,” stated the report.
ISC is setting a goal of 100 percent compliance for 2023.
Policies, Standards, and Recommendations
The ISC continued to release publications to help agencies learn and implement best practices in security. That brings the ISC library to more than 20 documents including white papers, templates, and guides that review standards, policies, and best practices.
In addition, the ISC pointed out its various subcommittees and working groups and encouraged members to inquire about joining.
In 2023, ISC hopes to publish several documents including the Mail Center Security Guide, 5th Edition, Making a Business Case for Security, and a security guide for the mobile federal workplace.
Training
The ISC highlighted that it offers a variety of training courses, both in-person and virtual. Training includes Risk Management Process (RMP) and Facility Security Committee (FSC).
The FSC training is valuable for “executives, managers, and personnel involved in making facility funding, leasing, security, or other risk-management decisions.
ISC pointed out that RMP and FSC training received a 96 percent approval rating from students.
This year, ISC will continue to offer training and is launching a new Facility Security Committee Workshop.
Regional Advisors
ISC regional advisors focus on raising standards and awareness and answering questions from within their region.
Currently there are five regional advisors serving ten regions across the country.
The report points out that regional advisors are “a great resource for increasing facility-level compliance.”
Outreach
Outreach is a major portion of the ISC mission. The report states, that the “key to effective understanding, utilization, and implementation of ISC standards is communication.”
One of the ways this is accomplished is through annual meetings.
The ISC hosted 56 of these meetings with membres in 2022, and also hosted 11 non-member meetings.
“These open discussions result in improvements to ISC publications, trainings, networking, subcommittee and working group participation, and connecting members to ISC Regional Advisors,” said the report.
The ISC also wrote about its appearance at conferences and events, and says that in 2023, it hopes to have a bigger presence on its website and in social media.