Not-So Protective Service

In this post-911 world, one would expect our federal buildings to be some of the best protected in the world . In a report that has suddenly thrown the agency charged with this task, the Federal Protective Service, into crisis management mode, the Government Accountability Office has accused the service of a myriad of offenses.

Mark Goldstein of the Government Accountability Office testified about the investigators’ operations.

“We brought in all the components that we needed to make a real bomb,” he said, though the concentration of explosives was “below the trigger point” for safety reasons. Investigators obtained the components at local stores and over the Internet for less than $150, the report says.

“In a number of the locations — three or four of them — the guards were not even looking at the screens that would show materials passing through,” Goldstein said.

In a devastating quote from his CNN interview, Goldstein told reporters that a major problem was security at the buildings being, “budget-driven…not risk driven.” The worst crises are ones that could have been prevented, but were not, for short-term financial reasons. In this case, the Federal Protective Service is lucky that they are only dealing with public shame and not a loss of life – yet.

JB

Jonathan Bernstein
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/