Witness: The federal government may not have reasonable assurance that its facilities are secure. Image: JL IMAGES/Shutterstock.com
GAO has said that it has seen some progress toward carrying out recommendations to improve physical security at federal facilities since a report it issued in May finding that agencies had carried out only some 1,800 or more than 32,000 recommendations made by the Federal Protective Service since 2017.
GAO told a Senate hearing that the Interagency Security Committee—which sets security standards that form the basis of the FPS recommendations that are up to individual agencies to carry out—has announced plans to require agencies to report on security measures they have taken, including those recommended by FPS. The ISC also plans to verify the documentation of risk acceptance for countermeasures not implemented for 10 facilities, a GAO witness said.
However, until the ISC performs those assessments, “the implementation status of more than half of FPS’s recommended countermeasures will remain unknown and the federal government may not have reasonable assurance that its facilities are secure,” the witness said.
The FPS meanwhile told the committee that “Over the past year, we have seen an increase of incidents at federal properties involving arson, burglary, robbery, larceny, motor vehicle thefts, assault on government employees, and threats to harm government employees.”
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