DHS Announces New Enhancements To Protect Federal Facilities

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano recently announced two enhancements to federal facility security -- initiatives that further strengthen the Department’s ability to protect thousands of government buildings across the United States one week prior to the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.

The DHS-led Interagency Security Committee (ISC) released new standards establishing baseline physical security measures for all federal buildings and facilities -- bolstering protection against terrorist attacks and other threats based on ongoing risk assessments.

“Protecting our federal facilities against evolving threats requires setting and implementing robust, risk-based security standards,” said Secretary Napolitano. “These standards leverage over a decade of collaboration and research by experts across the federal government to establish adaptable security measures that will better secure our federal infrastructure.”

ISC was created on Oct. 19, 1995 -- six months after the Oklahoma City bombing -- to enhance the quality and effectiveness of efforts to secure and protect the more than 300,000 civilian federal facilities across the United States. The committee, led by the DHS Office of Infrastructure Protection, includes high-level security representation from 45 federal agencies.

The standards announced today include the Physical Security Criteria for Federal Facilities, which establishes comprehensive standards to address site, structural, interior and system security, as well as security operations and administration; and the Design-Basis Threat Report, designed to inform these customizable standards with current threat-based intelligence.

The Physical Security Criteria for Federal Facilities also provides for the customization of security measures to address unique risks at every U.S. building and facility occupied by federal employees for non-military activities -- ensuring the flexibility necessary to adapt to the circumstances surrounding individual facilities.

The Design-Basis Threat Report complements the Physical Security Criteria for Federal Facilities by utilizing timely and reliable intelligence information, Intelligence Community reports and assessments, and current crime statistics to help calculate estimated risks to federal facilities and appropriate levels of protection.

The new standards will undergo a 24-month validation period of field testing and implementation by the federal security community. The ISC will publish final editions of the standards following this period.

The Physical Security Criteria for Federal Facilities supersedes physical security standards in the ISC Security Standards for Leased Space, ISC Design Criteria for New Federal Office Buildings and Major Modernization Projects, and the 1995 DOJ Report.

In addition, DHS’ Federal Protective Service (FPS) today announced the next deployment phase for the new Risk Assessment and Management Program (RAMP) -- a computer-based tool that enhances access for FPS Inspectors to information about security threats and risks associated with more than 9,000 facilities owned and leased by the General Services Administration (GSA).

“Our Inspectors and Protective Security Officers provide law enforcement and security services to more than one million tenants and daily visitors to GSA-owned and leased federal facilities throughout the United States,” said FPS Director Gary W. Schenkel. “RAMP makes our work processes more efficient by reducing the time FPS Inspectors spend on repetitive, manual tasks and allowing them to focus on threat awareness and customer service.”

RAMP is a secure and comprehensive computer-based tool developed by FPS to improve and standardize collection and management of information at every step of the federal facility security planning and oversight process. The system allows FPS Inspectors to access, review, revise and upload facility information using ruggedized mobile computers on a single platform and produce complete reports at any time and location.

A critical component of RAMP’s development was a series of town hall meetings between the FPS workforce and leadership, which provided a forum for FPS personnel and stakeholders to assess the effectiveness of the program in the field, provide recommendations to improve RAMP, and lay the groundwork for additional enhancements to future iterations of the program.

To date, 750 rugged mobile computers have been issued for field operations; more than 56,000 documents, images and other files related to federal facility protection have been entered into RAMP; and more than 1,000 inspections have been conducted using the system.

 

Featured

  • New Report Reveals Top Trends Transforming Access Controller Technology

    Mercury Security, a provider in access control hardware and open platform solutions, has published its Trends in Access Controllers Report, based on a survey of over 450 security professionals across North America and Europe. The findings highlight the controller’s vital role in a physical access control system (PACS), where the device not only enforces access policies but also connects with readers to verify user credentials—ranging from ID badges to biometrics and mobile identities. With 72% of respondents identifying the controller as a critical or important factor in PACS design, the report underscores how the choice of controller platform has become a strategic decision for today’s security leaders. Read Now

  • Overwhelming Majority of CISOs Anticipate Surge in Cyber Attacks Over the Next Three Years

    An overwhelming 98% of chief information security officers (CISOs) expect a surge in cyber attacks over the next three years as organizations face an increasingly complex and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven digital threat landscape. This is according to new research conducted among 300 CISOs, chief information officers (CIOs), and senior IT professionals by CSC1, the leading provider of enterprise-class domain and domain name system (DNS) security. Read Now

  • ASIS International Introduces New ANSI-Approved Investigations Standard

    • Guard Services
  • Cloud Security Alliance Brings AI-Assisted Auditing to Cloud Computing

    The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining standards, certifications, and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, today introduced an innovative addition to its suite of Security, Trust, Assurance and Risk (STAR) Registry assessments with the launch of Valid-AI-ted, an AI-powered, automated validation system. The new tool provides an automated quality check of assurance information of STAR Level 1 self-assessments using state-of-the-art LLM technology. Read Now

  • Report: Nearly 1 in 5 Healthcare Leaders Say Cyberattacks Have Impacted Patient Care

    Omega Systems, a provider of managed IT and security services, today released new research that reveals the growing impact of cybersecurity challenges on leading healthcare organizations and patient safety. According to the 2025 Healthcare IT Landscape Report, 19% of healthcare leaders say a cyberattack has already disrupted patient care, and more than half (52%) believe a fatal cyber-related incident is inevitable within the next five years. Read Now

New Products

  • EasyGate SPT and SPD

    EasyGate SPT SPD

    Security solutions do not have to be ordinary, let alone unattractive. Having renewed their best-selling speed gates, Cominfo has once again demonstrated their Art of Security philosophy in practice — and confirmed their position as an industry-leading manufacturers of premium speed gates and turnstiles.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • Compact IP Video Intercom

    Viking’s X-205 Series of intercoms provide HD IP video and two-way voice communication - all wrapped up in an attractive compact chassis.