(a) Delegations from the Assistant Secretary for Administration. Pursuant to § 2.24(a)(8) and (9), and with due deference for delegations to other Departmental Administration officials, the following delegations of authority are made by the Assistant Secretary for Administration to the Chief Security Director:
(1) Promulgate Departmental policies, standards, techniques, and procedures; and represent the Department in maintaining the security of physical facilities and providing security guidance to the Food and Agricultural Sector nationwide. This includes the following activities:
(i) Lead and coordinate the development and maintenance of a mission critical facility inventory with agency involvement to ensure proper security countermeasures are implemented in the Department's most critical infrastructure.
(ii) Provide guidance to USDA agencies in matters of physical security through use of physical security assessments and development of mitigation strategies.
(iii) Conduct physical security investigations and compliance reviews Department-wide.
(iv) Review and provide coordinated technical physical security assessments for all new construction of laboratories, data centers, germplasm repositories, and other mission critical infrastructure during the design phase, and all leased facilities prior to contract award.
(v) Oversee and manage physical security aspects of the Common Identification Card (LincPass) Program to ensure National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and General Services Administration (GSA) compliancy within the National Capital Region and the physical access to USDA facilities.
(vi) Provide enterprise connectivity to agency physical access control systems that provide cost leveraging and provisioning/de-provisioning nationwide.
(2) Promulgate Departmental regulations, standards, techniques, and procedures and represent the Department in managing and maintaining a comprehensive physical and technical security program including access control, management of special police officer and guard services, executive driving, parking, ID badging in accordance with HSPD-12, occupant emergency and warden services at the USDA Headquarters Complex, George Washington Carver Center and, in coordination with GSA, USDA leased facilities in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, as well as at emergency relocation sites and certain critical facilities specified by the Assistant Secretary for Administration.
(3) Carry out protection operations for the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, and other individuals as specified in Section 12520 of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, including by authorizing law enforcement officers or special agents to carry firearms; conduct criminal investigations into potential threats to the security of individuals protected under Section 12520; make arrests without a warrant for any offense against the United States committed in the presence of the law enforcement officer or special agent; perform protective intelligence work, including identifying and mitigating potential threats and conducting advance work to review security matters relating to sites and events; and coordinate with local law enforcement authorities (7 U.S.C. 2279k).
(b) [Reserved]
[85 FR 65521, Oct. 15, 2020]