Index

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 .