A government report that found federal buildings were vulnerable to terrorist attacks because of poor security that included guards asleep on duty or distracted by erotic Web sites drew outrage from lawmakers Wednesday.
“As we approach the eighth anniversary of 9/11 … it is outrageously unacceptable that the federal employees working in our federal buildings are still so utterly exposed to attacks by terrorists or other violent people,” said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., in a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing.
A new Government Accountability Office report said investigators smuggled bomb components past Federal Protective Service guards into 10 government buildings, including offices of senators, with high-risk security levels second only to the White House.
Guards did not even glance at the X-ray screens in nine out of the 10 buildings penetrated, according to GAO director Mark Goldstein. During one investigation, a guard was found asleep after taking a powerful painkiller. Another was found accessing an “adult Web site” on a government computer.
“I cannot fathom how security breaches of this magnitude were allowed to occur,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
FPS is responsible for securing the nation’s 9,000 federal buildings. A large majority of FPS guards are contracted out by private companies, which lawmakers suggest are less qualified than federal law enforcement.
Nearly three-quarters of FPS guards lack qualifications — from certifications to carry a weapon to X-ray and CPR training, the report found. One contractor was falsifying training for its guards, the GAO found. “It’s truly a lack of oversight on our part,” said Gary W. Schenkel, director of the FPS. He stocks his staff with so many contract guards because they are half as expensive as federal law enforcement, he said.
A former FPS guard was fired for allowing a baby to pass through an X-ray machine, the report said. But that guard ultimately won a lawsuit against the agency because FPS couldn’t prove he had received proper training, said Lieberman, chairman of the committee. “It sounds like there is no accountability in this whole system,” Collins said.
