The American National Standards Institute's Homeland Security Standards Panel (ANSI-HSSP) has as its mission to identify existing consensus standards, or, if none exist, assist the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and those sectors requesting assistance to accelerate development and adoption of consensus standards critical to homeland security. The ANSI-HSSP promotes a positive, cooperative partnership between the public and private sectors in order to meet the needs of the nation in this critical area. Recent News Items Overview Participation Sponsorship Organizational Structure Meeting Calendar Document Library Further Resources Membership in ANSI Staff Contacts

• National Preparedness Month 2010
  September is National Preparedness Month, sponsored by the Ready Campaign in partnership with the Ad Council and Citizen Corps. National Preparedness Month is designed to encourage Americans to take steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, businesses, and communities. Organizations are encouraged to become National Preparedness Month coalition members, agreeing to promote emergency preparedness in any way possible during the month of September. Interested organizations can register by visiting the following link: http://ready.adcouncil.org. For additional preparedness tools and resources please visit www.ready.gov.

• DHS Adopts Standards for Private Sector Emergency Preparedness Program
  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced the adoption of three standards in a 9/11 Commission–recommended program intended to improve preparedness for disasters and emergencies in the private sector.

• ANSI-HSSP Workshops Spark Discussions on Accessibility and Product Standards for Persons with Disabilities
  As the twentieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) approaches, the accepted definition of disability has shifted from an underlying physical or mental condition to a complex interaction between a person and his or her environment. In turn, barriers in the environment that prevent full social participation are increasingly being identified, addressed, and removed to support independence and promote involvement in all aspects of society for all people. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Homeland Security Standards Panel(HSSP) is addressing these barriers as they relate to emergency preparedness for persons with disabilities through a series of workshops. On May 24-25, 2010, ANSI-HSSP hosted two workshops to highlight elements of this important topic: Accessibility Codes and Standards and Product Standards for Assistive Products and Devices.

• ISO/TC 223 / WG 3 Workshop on Emergency Capability Assessment
  ISO/TC 223 / WG 3 will hold a workshop on Emergency Capability Assessment on September 16-17, 2010 in Shanghai, China. The purpose of this workshop will be to collect emergency capability assessment standards and research achievements from the ISO/TC 223 member countries as inputs of international standards. To register for this workshop please e-mail Mr. Yang, Rui (ryang@tsinghua.edu.cn) prior to July 31, 2010.

• ANSI-HSSP Workshop Details Standards Needs for Non-Invasive Inspection Systems
  Following the attempted car bombing of Times Square on May 1, explosives screenings are at the forefront of everyone’s minds, from tourists, citizens, and security personnel on the ground to policy makers on Capitol Hill. No matter the type of explosives detection, standards and conformity assessment activities are critical to assuring that these technologies are interoperable, scalable, and properly implemented by the security teams working to keep people and facilities safe and secure.

• ISA and ANSI Release New Action Guide to Help Business Leaders Mitigate the Risk and Damage of Cyber Attacks
  The Internet Security Alliance and the American National Standards Institute released a new action guide to assist business executives in the analysis, management, and transfer of financial risk related to a cyber attack.

• Sponsorship Packages for ANSI Homeland Security Standards Panel Now Available
  The ANSI-HSSP is offering several sponsorship packages for the Panel’s 2010 events. Sponsorship offers stakeholders the opportunity to publicize their organization’s commitment to homeland security standards efforts through promotional materials, signage, banner ads, and more, while supporting the initiatives of the HSSP.

• HSSP Convenes Eighth Plenary Session on Homeland Security Standards
  On October 21, 2009, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) hosted nearly 90 public and private sector stakeholders at its eighth annual Homeland Security Standards Panel (HSSP) Plenary. Held at the Renaissance Washington, DC hotel, the meeting’s theme was homeland security standards and their business application in the private sector.

• As Hurricane Season Unfurls, Standards Protect Homes Nationwide
  With the first Atlantic hurricane of the season approaching the southeast part of the nation, Americans are actively working to prepare their homes and communities against storm damage. Standards are in place to assure the integrity of buildings and the safety of residents as Hurricane Bill picks up

• ANSI-HSSP Releases Workshop Report on Emergency Preparedness for Persons with Disabilities

• ANSI-HSSP Workshop Examines Urgent Needs in Transit Security Standardization

• ANSI-HSSP Workshop Spotlights Emergency Preparedness Needs for Persons with Disabilities

Established by ANSI in February 2003, per its charter the ANSI-HSSP has as its scope to catalog, promote, accelerate and coordinate the timely development of consensus standards within the national and international voluntary standards systems intended to meet identified homeland security needs, and communicate the existence of such standards appropriately to governmental units and the private sector. The Panel supports the work of the DHS Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate’s Office of Standards.

Participation in the ANSI-HSSP is open to representatives of industry, government, professional societies, trade associations, standards developers, and consortia groups directly involved in U.S. Homeland Security standardization.

The roster of Panel Participants is posted for information. Members of the ANSI-HSSP Steering Committee are listed in bold.

Any organization wishing to become a Panel Participant should contact the ANSI-HSSP Program Administrator (jcarl@ansi.org 212-642-4903) for further details on how to join.

ANSI-HSSP officers:

Co-Chair (private-sector):
Christian Dubay
Vice President and Chief Engineer
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)

Co-Chair (public-sector):
Gordon Gillerman
Conformity Assessment Advisor for Homeland Security
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Efforts are ongoing examining standardization in the following workshop areas:

• Cyber Security Phase II
• Emergency Preparedness for Persons with Disabilities and Special Needs
• Credentialing and Access Control for Disaster Management
• Transit Security

Final deliverables have been produced for the following workshops:

• Cyber Security
• Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina
• Emergency Communications
• Perimeter Security
• Enterprise Power Security and Continuity
• Training Program Standardization for First Response to WMD Events
• Private Sector Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity
• Biometrics
• Biological and Chemical Threat Agents

ITU-T Workshop on "Addressing security challenges on a global scale" An ITU-T workshop on addressing security challenges on a global scale will take place at ITU Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, from December 6-7, 2010. This workshop will address the challenges of the ICT/telecommunication security and how ITU and standards developing organizations deal with those challenges.

• The eighth Plenary meeting was held on October 21, 2009 at the Renaissance Washington, DC Hotel.

• A workshop on Emergency Preparedness for Persons with Disabilities and Special Needs was held February 3-4, 2009 at the Kellogg Conference Center at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC.

• A workshop on Transit Security Standardization was held January 27-28, 2009 at the Executive Conference Center in Arlington, VA.

• The seventh Plenary meeting was held on October 2, 2008 at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, DC.

• The sixth Plenary meeting was held October 3-4, 2007 at NIST in Gaithersburg, MD, in conjunction with the World Standards Council (WSC) International Workshop on Transit Security.

The The ANSI-HSSP Document Library contains documents relating to the work of the Panel and are available to Panel Participants.

• ReadyClassroom
• Citizen Preparedness
• Public Sector Resources
• Private Sector Resources
• International Resources

If you are not already a member of ANSI, find out more about the benefits of ANSI membership.

Karen Hughes
Director, ANSI-HSSP
American National Standards Institute
25 West 43rd Street, Fourth Floor
New York, NY 10036
Tel: 212.642.4992
Fax: 212.398.0023
E-mail: khughes@ansi.org

Jessica Carl
Program Administrator, ANSI-HSSP
American National Standards Institute
25 West 43rd Street, Fourth Floor
New York, NY 10036
Tel: 1.212.642.4903
Fax: 1.212.840.2298
E-mail: jcarl@ansi.org