Chemical Security Assessment Tool (CSAT) Top-Screen

CFATS Announcement

As of July 28, 2023, Congress has allowed the statutory authority for the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program (6 CFR Part 27) to expire.

Therefore, CISA cannot enforce compliance with the CFATS regulations at this time. This means that CISA will not require facilities to report their chemicals of interest or submit any information in CSAT, perform inspections, or provide CFATS compliance assistance, amongst other activities. CISA can no longer require facilities to implement their CFATS Site Security Plan or CFATS Alternative Security Program.

CISA encourages facilities to maintain security measures. CISA’s voluntary ChemLock resources are available on the ChemLock webpages.

If CFATS is reauthorized, CISA will follow up with facilities in the future. To reach us, please contact CFATS@hq.dhs.gov.

Facilities that possess any chemicals of interest (COI) listed in Appendix A at or above the specified screening threshold quantities (STQ) and concentration are considered chemical facilities of interest under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program and must report their chemical holdings to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) within 60 days of possession by filing a Top-Screen survey.

The Top-Screen is an online, easy-to-use survey available through the Chemical Security Assessment Tool (CSAT).

Chemical Security Assessment Tool (CSAT) 2.0 Top-Screen Instructions(PDF, 453.62 KB )

CISA uses the Top-Screen information to determine whether the facility presents a high level of security risk and is, therefore, subject to the CFATS regulation. For more information, visit the CFATS Process webpage.

Please note that if your facility makes a material modification or comes into possession of additional COI listed in Appendix A at or above the STQ and concentration after submitting a Top-Screen, your facility must complete and submit an updated Top-Screen to CISA within 60 calendar days of possession. If the chemical holdings at your facility will be fluctuating within a business cycle, see Top-Screen Submission Tips for more information.

How To Submit a Top-Screen?

The Top-Screen survey is housed in CSAT—a secure, online portal used by covered chemical facilities and CISA to submit and receive CFATS-related applications and documents. CSAT is only accessible to Chemical-terrorism Vulnerability Information (CVI) certified individuals.

Note: CVI Authorized User Training is not currently available as it was taken offline due to the lapse of CFATS authorities.

After completing CVI training, facilities should register for a CSAT user identification and password. CISA will validate a facility's registration and notify the facility on how to access CSAT.

Note: CSAT Registration is not currently available as it was taken offline due to the lapse of CFATS authorities.

Facilities can then log into CSAT and submit a Top-Screen survey to CISA for review.

Note: The CSAT Top-Screen is not currently available as it was taken offline due to the lapse of CFATS authorities.

Facilities Excluded from CFATS

Certain facilities are excluded from the CFATS regulation by statute if they are:

Regulated by the Maritime Transportation Security Act. Facilities regulated under 33 CFR Part 105 — Maritime Security are excluded from CFATS. For facilities where only a portion of the facility is regulated under MTSA, and the facility possesses a threshold level of a COI in the portion of the facility not covered under MTSA, then the facility is only partially excluded and must complete a Top-Screen for the portion of the facility not subject to MTSA.
A public water system, as defined in 42 U.S.C. § 300.
A treatment works, as defined in 33 U.S.C. § 1292.
Owned or operated by the Department of Defense or Department of Energy
Subject to regulation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) (42 U.S.C. § 2021). The exclusion does not apply to NRC-licensed facilities that only have a few radioactive sources and for which NRC security requirements are not imposed. The scope of exclusion has been formalized in a memorandum of understanding between CISA and the NRC, including waste in combined storm water and sanitary sewer systems.

An agricultural production facility that uses the COI on crops, feed, land, livestock, or poultry may also be granted an indefinite extension from reporting COI to CISA. Read more in Federal Register Vol. 73, No. 6, page 1640.

Download a printer-friendly CFATS Agricultural Production Facilities fact sheet to understand the agricultural extension and which facilities may be required to report their chemical holdings under CFATS.

Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) and Agricultural Production Facilities Fact Sheet(PDF, 592.80 KB )

The Transportation Security Administration is the lead component within the Department for regulating the security of transportation facilities such as railroads and natural gas pipelines. CISA does not currently require railroad facilities and truck terminals that possess COI at or above STQ to complete a Top-Screen. See FAQs 1178 and 1789 on the CFATS Knowledge Center for more information. (The CFATS Knowledge Center was taken offline after the lapse in CFATS authorities.)

The CFATS regulation does require the reporting of COI that meets or exceeds the STQ found within any rail car that is detached from motive power. However, if the COI is attached to motive power, the COI does not need to be reported. The regulation requires the reporting of threshold quantities of theft/diversion and sabotage COI within any rail car at the facility, whether or not the rail car is attached or detached from motive power.

Covered chemical facilities with a pipeline within their boundaries must also identify the pipeline as an asset and address it, as appropriate, in the facility's Security Vulnerability Assessment (SVA)/Site Security Plan (SSP).

Top-Screen Submission Tips

Based on the review of tens of thousands of Top-Screen submissions, CISA has identified helpful tips to assist with completing and submitting your Top-Screen.

Enhanced Tiering Methodology

In September 2016, CSAT 2.0 was released in conjunction with the CFATS enhanced tiering methodology to improve integration between surveys and to more appropriately identify and tier high-risk chemical facilities.

All chemical facilities of interest and CFATS-covered chemical facilities that previously submitted a Top-Screen to CISA had to resubmit a Top-Screen in CSAT 2.0 to be run through the new tiering engine.

In April 2017, CISA began sending tiering determination letters to chemical facilities based on the new methodology. Tiering notifications continue as new Top-Screens are processed.

Learn more about the enhanced tiering methodology by visiting the CFATS Tiering Methodology webpage.
Learn more about the CSAT 2.0 updates by visiting the CSAT SSP Revisions webpage.

Additional Resources

Chemical Security Assessment Tool (CSAT) 2.0 Top-Screen Instructions(PDF, 453.62 KB )

Chemical Security Assessment Tool (CSAT) 2.0 Portal User Manual(PDF, 13.09 MB )

Chemical Security Assessment Tool (CSAT) 2.0 Survey Application User Manual(PDF, 6.30 MB )

Contact Information

For questions, please send an email to CFATS@hq.dhs.gov.

For technical assistance with CSAT, please call the CSAT Help Desk at 866-323-2957 Monday through Friday (except federal holidays) from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (ET).