Hiring Challenges, Ignored Recommendations Noted at Building Security Hearing
Top officials charged with protecting over 9,000 government facilities, described challenges securing the buildings, including understaffing and government agencies ignoring their advice.
That was the topic at a recent Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, which looked at buildings under the care of the Federal Protective Service (FPS).
The hearing comes as threats against federal property and employees rise. FPS Director Richard “Kris” Cline noted that there has been “an increase of incidents at federal properties involving arson, burglary, robbery, larceny, motor vehicle thefts, assault on government employees, and threats to harm government employees.”
Hiring Issues
On the issue of personnel, Director Cline told senators that FPS is facing major staffing challenges, with 25 percent of positions vacant, and the agency losing about 14 percent of staff each year due to retirements and attrition.
“We’re using overtime dollars right now, because we have officers staying later to protect our facilities. And it remains a challenge for us,” said Director Cline.
FPS is going to start offering retention incentives to uniformed officers in the GS-12 pay scale and Director Cline says the agency’s long-term goal is to bring in more recruits.
Recommendations Ignored
The hearing also explored why agencies are ignoring FPS advice. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that agencies put in place only a small percentage of FPS recommendations.
From 2017-2021, FPS made more than 25,000 security recommendations. Only six percent were considered implemented, and 57 percent had no response.
“In other words, we’re getting very useful information about how to improve security, but it’s not being implemented to the extent that it should be,” said Committee Chairman Gary Peters (D-MI).
GAO Acting Director of Physical Infrastructure David Marroni told senators the reasons for lack of implementation included cost, feasibility, and how to divide responsibility at sites housing multiple agencies.
As for those with no response, GAO’s Marroni said, “The reasons cited there ranged from the timeframe — agencies have 45 days from receiving the recommendations to make a decision. Some agencies said that was too tight of a timeframe for more complex countermeasures. Also, reluctance sometime to accept risk of not implementing recommendations they choose not to implement, they don’t want to formally note that.”
This comes on the heels of an executive order 14111 (EO) from President Biden on modernizing federal facility security. The EO updates the interagency committee that focuses on federal building security, to also allow for a discussion “best practices for securing a mobile federal workforce.”
Senators Peters said he’s also working on legislation that would require agencies to respond to the FPS’s security recommendations within 90 days.
The issue is also getting attention on the House side. Members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee recently introduced a slate of bills to address unused government office space, authorize FPS contract guards to carry firearms while on duty, and reduce crime around government buildings.