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Security at US federal buildings breaking down as conservatives - acting out their ideological hatred of government - contract out security responsibilities to liability-adverse private companies that shrink from challenging suspicious people.
Note: I originally put this blog post together for a progressive Muslim blog, which is why the focus is on the politics of the matter and the effects on Muslims of such an attack. Of course the people who would potentially be harmed by such an attack are reason enough to advocate, but I write to the interests of the intended audience.
I'm posting this here to inspire advocacy up the political chain to be onguard against George Bush again dropping the country's guard as he did right when he came into office and allowed 9/11, which seems to be happening again.
Remember this picture from the deadliest terror attack in the history of the country before 9/11? A fire rescuer carries a victim of white extremist bomber Timothy McVeigh out of the rubble of the Alfred P Murrah federal building in Oklahoma. Obviously, there are many non-Muslim groups out there who would like to attack the US government, but if terrorists with the sophistication of the Mumbai attackers put their collective efforts to it, I would be very worried that current security might be insufficient to stop them, based on the report below.
What's alarming is that the report shows that America is again at risk of an attack which could provoke yet another unrestrained vengeful Bush-like response that will land on US Muslims as it undermines efforts of civil libertarians to roll back the damage inflicted on the constitution by the Bush administration. Sometimes I wonder if ideological conservatives let the country drop its guard on purpose to practice their own version of crisis capitalism and crisis government reform.
The article below cites budget constraints as the reason for privatizing federal building security but I'm convinced that is just a pretense.
From Government Executive.com:
After the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building 13 years ago, things changed for federal employees, especially in Oklahoma City. On April 19, 1995, just after 9 a.m., a truck rented by Timothy McVeigh and packed with more than 6,200 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, nitromethane and diesel fuel detonated on the north side of the Murrah building. The blast - which killed 168 people, including 15 children in the federal day care center, and left more than 800 injured - destroyed one-third of the nine-story federal building and shattered glass in 258 buildings in a 16-block radius. It was, at the time, the deadliest terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil.
Within two weeks of the attack, one building just four blocks away - occupied by the Internal Revenue Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and other agencies - installed X-ray machines, magnetometers and glass security walls, and posted security guards in the lobby. Every person entering the building was scanned and their credentials verified.
Tightened security soon became a familiar sight at federal buildings throughout the nation, with policies quickly implemented to prevent similar attacks. Facilities in major cities were ordered to immediately erect Jersey walls to restrict the proximity of vehicles, and construction standards for new federal buildings were changed to require car bomb-resistant barriers and setbacks from surrounding streets.
But what a difference a decade makes. That post-bombing ramp- up has been almost completely rolled back, says Lauri Goff, president of the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 45 and an employee in that Oklahoma City building. And security faded even more after the Federal Protective Service's post-Sept. 11 transition to the Homeland Security Department's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, she says.
The 10-story, 400,000-square-foot building where Goff works houses hundreds of federal employees. Nonetheless, she says, it has almost no security. There are no guards in the lobby, no one patrols the vacant floors and the cameras work intermittently."People talk all the time about being uncomfortable with the security situation," Goff says. "I'm willing to concede the fact that the people in Oklahoma City who were here, such as me, during the Murrah building bombing might be a little antsier than others, but even those who weren't talk about it."Her concern is echoed by federal employees across the country, who have told Government Executive they do not feel safe, and by the Government Accountability Office, which has sounded the alarm on federal building security.
More on the flip:
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Who's in charge
Regardless of how well the contract guard program is run, some fear it has inherent flaws that put federal buildings at risk.
Contract guards, for example, do not have arrest authority, and Goldstein says it remains unclear whether they even have clearance to detain someone suspicious or threatening. "Many officers have told us that in instances where there might be an issue of liability, guards are not encouraged by their companies to take any action," he says.
Ambiguity has led to instances of suspicious individuals being denied access to federal buildings but not detained or questioned. GAO reported one situation in which contract guards stopped a person attempting to carry illegal weapons into a federal facility. They restricted his access to the building but did not detain him or confiscate his weapons; they simply allowed him to leave, a violation of FPS policy.Goff witnessed a similar incident in her building, only it was an FPS officer who failed to detain someone she felt was clearly a threat. An individual whom she describes as "a very angry, disheveled, shabbily dressed man" with "electronic equipment" in his backpack came into the IRS taxpayer service center and began threatening the contract guards. They alerted the area FPS officer, who arrived at the building and escorted the man outside. Goff said the IRS' own security coordinator stepped in to work with Oklahoma City police to find and detain the individual, a former mental hospital patient who was off his medication.
Khalsa says contract guards receive more 120 hours of pre-employment training, including 40 hours of firearms instruction. They undergo background checks and certifications conducted by FPS. Nonetheless, Goldstein says, "there's some question as to how effective the contract guard force is.
"Most contract guards are stationed at building access points or other fixed posts. While this positions them to check identification and direct employees and visitors through metal detectors and magnetometers, it means many buildings do not have security guards on patrol either inside or outside.
Despite the lack of proactive patrols, GAO said anti-terrorism reports from multiple agencies noted their importance "in detecting and deterring terrorist surveillance teams, which frequently use information such as the placement of armed guards and proximity to law enforcement agency stations when choosing targets and planning attacks."
Story here.
Cross-posted from www.progressiveislam.info |
