President Biden Set to Sign Legislation to Improve Security at Federal Buildings
Over 1.4 million federal employees work in federal buildings at least part of the time, and federal facilities also have numerous visitors.
Now, legislation that would require tougher standards for ensuring the 9,000 federal buildings around the nation are safe and secure, is awaiting the signature of President Biden.
This after the House passed the Improving Federal Building Security Act (H.R. 8530), after the bill earlier passed the Senate.
“As federal buildings continue to face threats, my bipartisan bill will help ensure federal agencies are following the most up-to-date security recommendations to protect both these buildings and the people in them,” said Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and sponsor of the Senate’s version of the legislation.
The legislation requires that the facility security committees of federal buildings adopt security recommendations from the Federal Protective Service (FPS). The committees have 90 days to tell the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) whether they plan to adopt or reject the recommendation. If rejecting, the committee must provide DHS with a justification for the rejection.
In addition, DHS must establish procedures to monitor recommendations and responses and must submit annual reports to Congress.
GAO Reports Flag FPS Concerns
The legislation was introduced after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that 57 percent of security recommendations issued by FPS between fiscal years 2017 and 2021, never received a response. 12 percent were rejected outright.
Agencies blamed a lack of funding for not implementing the recommendations.
Another GAO report released in July 2024 found that undercover investigators were able to smuggle prohibited items including pepper spray, knives, and batons, into about half the federal buildings tested.
And at a hearing in summer 2024, FPS Director Richard “Kris” Cline told lawmakers that FPS is facing hiring challenges and was short about 400 officers at the time. To counter that, FPS introduced a retention incentive for uniformed law enforcement at the GS-12 level and below.