Undetected Weapons, Percocet-Induced Sleep, and Adult Web Sites: Federal Security Guards at Work

After 9/11, federal buildings were supposed to become safer, right? Does that include: failing to detect bomb components, armed guards asleep on the job after taking Percocet^©, using government computers to manage a pornography website business, and not seeing a box of weapons at a federal facility's loading dock?

A new GAO report investigating security lapses by guards hired to protect federal buildings found all these security breaches, and more.

The report reveals shocking security and apparent training lapses by  guards working under contract for the Federal Protective Service ('FPS') a unit of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Stationed at federal buildings across the country, many of these guards were found to have:

at least one expired certification, including for example, firearms qualification, background investigation, domestic violence declaration, or CPR/First Aid training certification.

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...over 75 percent of the 354 guards at one level IV facility had expired certifications, or the contractor had no record of the training

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[Although the ]FPS requires its guards to carry weapons in most cases...five of the six regions we visited did not have current information on guard training and certifications.

You can read the complete GAO report here: