DATE=6/7/2000
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=U-S SECURITY BREACHED IN CONGRESSIONAL TEST
NUMBER=6-11859
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
TELEPHONE=619-3335
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
INTRO: Earlier this year, a group of congressional
investigators wearing concealed pistols breached
supposedly strict security precautions at two
international airports and at more than a dozen U-S
government buildings in Washington. The revelations
came in recent congressional testimony, causing
embarrassment to the Clinton administration and calls
for better security. The nation's press has been
commenting on the lapses, and we get a sampling of the
comments now from ____________ in today's U-S Opinion
Roundup.
TEXT: The security study was conducted by a group
from the General Accounting Office, an investigative
agency of the U-S Congress. The investigators
equipped themselves with loaded guns, and made false,
police identification badges from material they found
on the Internet and other easily available sources.
Then they walked up to security officers at
Washington's Ronal Reagan Airport, and Orlando
International Airport, and several cabinet offices
here in Washington. In almost every instance, they
were allowed past the security with their guns
unchecked, and gained access to the outer offices of
at least two cabinet officers.
Several investigators pointed out that if they had
been terrorists, they would have had a good
opportunity to assassinate several key government
officials.
With that background, we go to our sampling of how the
news was greeted by the American press, opening with
this editorial from the Los Angeles Times:
VOICE: The U-S government, properly concerned about
the security of its missions overseas, must also start
paying urgent attention to the security of its
facilities at home. It is an inexcusable mess. The
House [of Representatives] Judiciary subcommittee on
crime asked the General Accounting Office to test
security at a number of federal sites. ... What
undercover investigators found is that breaching
security was almost laughably easy. /// OPT ///...
Sixteen of the sites housed the offices of cabinet
secretaries or agency heads. ... Among the targeted
installations were the departments of Justice, State
and Defense, [and] the C-I-A .../// END OPT /// Why
did it take the G-A-O to discover what on-site
security officials should have found and remedied on
their own? One or two lapses might suggest mere
laxity, but this many instances strongly points to
general incompetence.
TEXT: Writing under the headline "Walking Right In,"
Boston's Christian Science Monitor also decries the
lapses, wondering:
VOICE: Now what? Tightening the "wave `em through"
treatment for fellow cops is in order. I-Ds
(identification badges) should be given a close look,
especially when people are showing up without
appointments. Heightened awareness should help close
the fake I-D gap. Legislation to criminalize the sale
of such documents is also in the works. Security in
public places is a matter of ratcheting up
(increasing) vigilance while allowing as much as
possible, normal daily business - - including, in
Washington, an unending flow of tourists. Closing the
security breaches brought to glaring light by the G-A-
O should serve both those purposes.
TEXT: In the Midwest, the Kansas City [Missouri] Star
asks rhetorically:
VOICE: Why bother to prosecute spies and domestic
terrorists if the nation's most important military,
intelligence and law enforcement systems are virtually
defenseless because of laziness, sloth or
indifference? That defenselessness is fact, according
to an investigation by the General Accounting Office.
... "A team of undercover agents successfully
penetrated (these agencies) and could have introduced
weapons, explosives, chemical-biological agents,
listening devices or other hazardous materials,"
according to Robert Cast, the G-A-O's assistant
comptroller general. /// OPT /// [Mr.] Cast said
undercover employees, including two retired Secret
Service agents, gained admittance with false F-B-I or
New York police credentials obtained from sources that
advertised on the Internet. /// END OPT /// ... The
revelations come after several high-profile security
breaches were disclosed in Washington. Some,
including intrusions in the areas containing the most
sensitive information, were discovered at the State
Department ... which recently resulted in unspecified
punishment against six intelligence officers. ...
[It's] past time for heightened security to become a
greater concern. Otherwise, we are setting ourselves
up for crises that were easily preventable.
TEXT: In New Hampshire, The [Manchester] Union Leader
joined the chorus wondering why things were so sloppy
and applauding Congress for finding the lapses.
VOICE: Florida Representative Bill McCollum, who
chairs the congressional subcommittee on crime,
requested this exercise and reported the results ...
[Mr.] McCollum proved any character with Internet
savvy and ill will toward the United States could walk
right into the antechamber of almost any cabinet
official, or onto a plane at Washington's Reagan
National [airport] or Orlando's airport. The federal
government must do better, for the protection of
United States citizens and residents. Compliments to
the [General] Accounting Office and [Mr.] McCollum's
subcommittee ...[And] Shame on the 19 agencies and two
airports that were duped.
TEXT: That concludes this sampling of comment from
the U-S press on a recent congressional investigation
that disclosed serious security lapses at several
high-level government facilities.
NEB/ANG/KL
07-Jun-2000 14:11 PM EDT (07-Jun-2000 1811 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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