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Guards at D.C. facilities have criminal records, are unqualified: audit
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Some guards at federal buildings in Washington have felony assault convictions, work without weapons or lack clearances because of lax supervision by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, an audit said.
"The security of federal employees, facilities and visitors may be at risk because (DHS) contractors are not consistently deploying qualified and certified contract guards," the report by the DHS inspector general's office said.
The 5,700 guards are employed by private companies under contract to the federal agency and are posted at 125 facilities in the Washington area, the report said. The guard program is the largest item in the $487 million operating budget of DHS's Federal Protective Service unit, the report said.
Among the facilities are the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, the Commerce Department and the Agriculture Department, said Daya Khalsa, a spokesman for Akal Security, whose guards work at these three buildings under DHS supervision.
The 36-page report said one guard with a felony assault conviction was flagged by DHS in May 2005 but was allowed to continue to work.
The agency didn't know the guard was still at her post until the inspector general's office brought it to the DHS' attention in January 2006 while doing its report.
Although the DHS found 18 guards whose criminal background checks had expired late last year, they also were allowed to keep working, said the Oct. 30 report, which was posted on the DHS Web site earlier this month.
Another guard worked for 201 days with an expired criminal background check.
Auditors said eight of 48 guards they examined were unarmed though they were at armed posts. Three of 10 guards audited did not have required "secret" or "top secret" clearances for their posts.