On October 19, 1995, six months after the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12977, creating the Interagency Security Committee (ISC) to address continuing government-wide security for Federal facilities. Prior to 1995, minimum physical security standards did not exist for nonmilitary Federally owned or leased facilities.

The ISC’s mandate is to enhance the quality and effectiveness of physical security in, and the protection of buildings and nonmilitary Federal facilities in the United States. The ISC standards apply to all nonmilitary Federal facilities in the United States - whether government-owned, leased or managed; to be constructed or modernized; or to be purchased.

Chief security officers and other senior executives from 53 Federal agencies and departments make up the ISC membership. Leadership is provided by the chair, who is the Department's Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection, the Executive Director, and eight standing subcommittees.

The full Interagency Security Committee meets quarterly. Members serve on subcommittees and working groups to develop physical security policies and standards, promote key management practices, and facilitate mitigation of threats to employees and the visiting public. The ISC also engages with industry and other government stakeholders to advance best practices.

Read more about the Interagency Security Committee.

Standards and Best Practices

The Interagency Security Committee's standards and best practices are designed for Federal security professionals responsible for protecting nonmilitary Federal facilities in the United States. The ISC standards and best practices help Federal security professionals implement security policies and mandatory standards. The standards, the Physical Security Criteria for Federal Facilities and the Design-Basis Threat, represent the most comprehensive Federal facility security standards created to date.

The Physical Security Criteria for Federal Facilities (PSC) establishes a baseline set of physical security measures to be applied to all Federal facilities and provides a framework for the customization of security measures to address unique risks at a facility. The PSC will apply to all buildings and facilities in the United States occupied by Federal employees for nonmilitary activities, including existing buildings, new construction, or major modernizations; facilities owned, to be purchased, or leased; stand-alone facilities, Federal campuses, and where appropriate, individual facilities on Federal campuses; and special-use facilities.

The ISC’s Design-Basis Threat (DBT) report is a stand-alone threat analysis to be used with the Physical Security Criteria. The DBT document establishes a profile of the type, composition, and capabilities of adversaries. It is designed to correlate with the countermeasures contained in the compendium of standards and to be easily updated as needed. The DBT is an estimate of the threat facing Federal facilities across a range of undesirable events and is based on the best intelligence information, reports, assessments, and crime statistics available to the working group at the time of publication.

Read about ISC standards and best practices.