Union officials said that the government agency responsible for protecting more than 9,000 federal facilities is poorly funded, understaffed and on “borrowed time” as it works to protect government installations amid a recent spate of attacks targeted at federal agencies.

But Federal Protective Service Director Gary Schenkel said his agency has taken several steps to address security gaps first exposed in a government audit published last year. Government Accountability Office investigators smuggled bomb-making materials into 10 major federal buildings across the country while photos and video showed private contract guards asleep at their posts and a young child passing through an X-ray machine in a baby carrier.

In response, FPS has developed new training on X-ray machines and magnetometers for the almost 15,000 private security contract guards it employs, Schenkel said. The agency's officers have also reviewed the certifications of private contract guards and increased spot inspections of guard posts, he said.

Buildings protected by FPS house approximately 1.5 million federal workers and more than 500,000 visitors each day, according to the agency. FPS made about 1,600 arrests, conducted more than 1,100 criminal investigations and confiscated more than 661,000 prohibited items at security checkpoints in fiscal 2009. Those prohibited items included brass knuckles, knives and some firearms, Schenkel said.

Despite those efforts, the agency remains woefully underfunded and provides inconsistent levels of security across the country, said National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen M. Kelley. Her union represents Internal Revenue Service employees, including those working in an Austin office building last month when it was hit by a small plane.

“NTEU members have consistently voiced concern over the inconsistency of safety and security measures at IRS facilities across the country,” Kelley said in her testimony. Employees are especially concerned about lax security at taxpayer assistance centers open to the public, she said.

David L. Wright, president of the union representing FPS officers, said the agency's insufficient funding has left employees uncertain of their job security, private guards routinely unsupervised and managers free to operate as they please.

“I believe we are on borrowed time when it comes to this very large gap in our national homeland security safety net, and that time is running out,” Wright told lawmakers.

Members of the House subcommittee on the federal workforce said they were compelled to review security procedures following this month's shooting at the Pentagon, last month's IRS attack and a January shooting at the Las Vegas federal courthouse.

“Violence against federal workers and installations is never acceptable,” said Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) “Those who, for cheap political pandering, find themselves justifying it most assuredly have the blood of its innocent victims…on their hands.”



Guy James, president of the Federal Contract Guards of America FCGOA, said private contract security is not the problem, the problem is the lack of funding which results in substandard training standards and understaffing. FCGOA members and those protecting these federal facilities are the first line of defense in the event of a terrorist or criminal attack stated James. We must find ways to find the funding, increase mandatory training requirements and increase staffing before we have another incident like the Holocaust Museum where a lone gunman shot and killed officer Stephen Tyrone Johns.

Though House lawmakers have no immediate plans to further address the issue, aides to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) said he plans to propose changes to FPS this month.



The Federal Contract Guards of America FCGOA one of the newest and fastest growing 9(b)3 Unions in the America Today specializing in the representation of Federal Contract Security Guards / Security Police Professionals working at Nuclear Facilities NRC, Federal Buildings, Dept of Energy DOE, Dept of Defense DOD, Dept of Homeland Security DHS, Correctional, Facilities, INS Facilities, Armor Car, Airports,Commercial and Industrial Facilities.

FCGOA Stands for and with the millions of Security Guard / Security Police Professionals nationwide who must be better organized, better trained and committed to a higher standard of providing private security to our nation's corporate offices, Federal and private properties and assets and the general public.



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Tags: Federal Contract Guards of America, FCGOA, Private Security Guards, Federal Buildings, Federal Protective Service, private security contract guards, Security Guard Training, Government Accountability Office, GAO, Security Police Union, Stephen Tyrone Johns, Holocaust Museum, Security Guard Unions