2023 CSS Presentation Slides Published
This week CISA updated their Chemical Security Summit page, adding a link to select presentation slides from the recent Summit. CISA, as has been their practice over the years, only makes slides available for select presentations. The presentations this year include:
Trends in Targeting and Tactics Among Contemporary Terrorist Organizations,
Non-State Actor Acquisition and Use of Chemical (Weapons) and Emerging Technology Implications,
Artificial Intelligence: National Level Policy and CISA Lines of Effort,
Chemical Sector Coordinating Council (SCC): Perspectives on Collaboration,
Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022,
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Threats Facing the Chemical Sector, and
Quick Review of Select Presentations
The “State of Chemical Security” presentation by Kelly Murray was a major part of the opening days’ look at the problems caused by the shutdown of the CFATS program. The slides available now provide a wealth of data about those problems. What is missing from these slides (and this is true of all of the presentations made available this week) is the eloquent explanation of that data by the presenter.
This lack is especially felt in looking at the slides on the “Extreme Weather Threats to Chemical Security” presentation by Sunny Wescott. As I noted in my post about the 2nd day’s morning session:
“Interesting set of presentations on “Extreme Weather Threats to Chemical Security”. Sunny Wescott, CISA’s lead meteorologist, had a fact filled presentation on how recent increases in extreme weather events across the country have impacted facility safety and security. She included a little noted impact on cyber issues, particularly at data centers, heat and cooling. She blew through this presentation pretty quickly, but it was a lot of information to get through in a short period of time.”
I missed the CyberSentry presentation, but the slides provide an informative overview of the program. An important part of the presentation is its focus on CISA’s effort to partner with private sector organizations in CS (CISA does love their acronyms) coverage. Looking specifically for partner organizations in the chemical sector, CISA provided point-of-contact information (CyberSentry.PMO@cisa.dhs.gov) noting that:
“CISA would like to partner with select companies across critical infrastructure sectors. The CS Program is intended to protect against threats to National Critical Functions (NCFs) – functions so vital to the US that their disruption would have a debilitating impact on the nation.”
The counter-drone case study was another of the presentations I watched via my cell phone. The slides were hard to see, but the presenters provided some interesting insights. The last page of the slides provides key information to anyone considering undertaking counter drone operations.
The “Cyber Regulations at Chemical Facilities” presentation was slightly misnamed, it was really about the pending development of the cyber incident reporting rule that CISA is currently working on. This is a nice overview of what those rules will probably look like.
Commentary
I have been following the Chemical Sector Security Summit (shortened recently to just Chemical Security Summitt) since 2009. The data density on the published slides has generally increased over time. From a live presentation point of view that is a bad thing because the audience pays more attention to reading the slides than they do listening to the presenter. But for attendees going back to review the data presented, or for people who missed the presentation, the higher data density is a good thing.