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Test Reveals Security Breaches In Government Buildings; Bombs Smuggled Undetected
July 8, 2009 11:45 a.m. EST
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Kris Alingod - AHN Contributor
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Wednesday said in a report that undercover investigators were able to enter all 10 federal buildings it tested for security breaches, carrying bomb components into the facilities and assembling these in the restrooms.
The report was part of testimony during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs reviewing the Federal Protection Service (FPS), the agency responsible for protecting 9,000 government buildings.
In his prepared statement, Mark Goldstein, Director Physical Infrastructure Issues at GAO, said investigators were able to smuggle a components of an improvised explosive device (IED) into 10 level IV facilities located in four cities.
A level IV building has over 450 employees and a high volume of public traffic. The facilities tested included offices of a senator and a congressman, and agencies under the departments of Homeland Security, Justice and State.
In choosing the bomb parts, the GAO used publicly available information that could be used by a terrorist. The components, a liquid explosive and a low-yield detonator, were assembled into an IED in restrooms and then freely carried by investigators around several floors and into offices within the federal buildings.
"At security checkpoints at 3 of the 10 facilities, our investigators noticed that the guard was not looking at the x-ray screen as some of the IED components passed through the machine," Golstein said. "At some of the facilities, the restrooms were locked. Our investigators gained access by asking employees to let them in."
The FPS has failed to ensure that contract security personnel have the required training and certification, including eight hours of x-ray and magnetometer training. In one of six regions tested, the agency has not provided x-ray training to 1,500 guards since 2004.
The report also said the FPS does not have an efficient system to monitor and verify that guards meet the training and certification requirements. A review of 633 random guards showed that 62 percent had at least one expired certification, including a document guaranteeing that the guard has not been convicted of domestic violence. Anyone convicted of such a charge is prohibited from carrying firearms.
In addition, the agency "does not have specific national guidance on when and how guard inspections should be performed." Inspections of guard posts are "inconsistent" despite recorded incidents of guards not complying with post orders.
The incidents include a guard using federal computers to "further his private for-profit adult website," and another accidentally firing his gun while practicing drawing his weapon in a restroom.
The FPS has a $1 billion budget this year, 1,200 full-time employees and 13,000 contract security guards. It has undertaken measures in response to the report, according to the GAO, including conducting more intrusion tests and authorizing the use of overtime to monitor guards during non-business hours.
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