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)
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Source: Voice of America
.