EIGHT YEARS LATER, THE FEDS DECIDE TO CLOSE A HUGE SECURITY GAP IN GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS: It took nearly a decade, a critical inspectors general report and a Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group story but the federal house-keeping agency is now going to close a major anti-terrorist security gap.
A 2008 Homeland Security directive ordered federal agencies to stop using easily counterfeited ID badges for employees and contractors. The General Services Administration oversees thousands of federal facilities, including courthouses, laboratories, ports of entry and data centers, and is responsible for ensuring such directives are observed. But nothing changed for eight years.
Then TheDCNF posted a story Thursday reporting a watchdog report that noted the eight-year delay and pointed out that having thousands of easily counterfeited badges “increases the risk of a security event, such as an active shooter, terrorist attack, or theft of government property, as well as exposure of sensitive and proprietary information.”
On Friday, GSA Administrator confirmed late in the day to TheDCNF that her agency is now moving on “discontinuing the practice of issuing building-specific local badges.” She declined to say if anybody at GSA would be disciplined or fired for the eight-year delay. And no, this is NOT an April Fool’s Day joke.