Interagency Security Committee

The order establishes the Interagency Security Committee, a standing body chaired by the Secretary of Homeland Security and made up of representatives from 18 executive departments and agencies plus several senior officials. The Committee is directed to set and evaluate security policies and standards for federal facilities, encourage intelligence-sharing among agencies with security responsibilities, assess security technology, develop blast-resistant construction standards where needed, evaluate child care center security, help build a centralized federal facilities security database, and provide best practices for a mobile federal workforce. Each agency must designate a senior official responsible for compliance, and the Secretary of Homeland Security must monitor compliance through benchmarks, periodic reporting, and risk-based verification.

The order supersedes Executive Order 12977 of 1995 but preserves all existing Interagency Security Committee policies and standards until the new Committee rescinds or replaces them. It does not create any enforceable rights or benefits for private parties, and implementation is subject to available appropriations.

Federal agencies and their senior officials responsible for facility security, federal employees working in federally owned or leased buildings, federal contractor workers who access federal facilities, and owners of contractor-operated buildings used exclusively for federal nonmilitary missions.

Federal agencies must now comply with a unified set of security standards and designate a responsible senior official for that compliance. Agencies that miss benchmarks face risk-based compliance verification. Federal employees and contractors working in government buildings are the direct beneficiaries of any improved protections the Committee's standards produce.

The Secretary of Homeland Security chairs the Committee and provides administrative support from DHS resources. Each agency designates a senior official to oversee compliance and support Facility Security Committees in multi-tenant buildings. The Secretary monitors compliance through benchmarks, periodic reporting, and risk-based audits. The full Committee must deliver a biennial compliance summary to OMB and the National Security Advisor, with the first report due one year after signing. The Intelligence Community may opt out of specific requirements when compliance would jeopardize sources and methods.