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GAO-01-1069R 1 (2001-08-31)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptamuo0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 



  SGAO

       Accountability * Integrity  Reliability
United States General Accounting Office
Washington, DC 20548


         August 31, 2001

         The Honorable Lamar Smith
         Chairman
         Subcommittee on Crime
         Committee on the Judiciary
         House of Representatives

         Subject: Responses of Federal Agencies and Airports We Surveyed About Access
                   Security Improvements

         Dear Mr. Chairman:

         This letter responds to the Subcommittee's December 2000 request that we determine
         what security improvements were implemented by federal agencies and airports as a
         result of the testimony we presented to the Subcommittee in May 2000 regarding
         security breaches at selected agencies and airports.'

         Our May 25, 2000, testimony presented our findings with respect to the
         Subcommittee's request that we investigate the potential security risk posed by the
         use of stolen or counterfeit law enforcement badges and credentials. The concern
         was that such badges and credentials, which are readily available for purchase on the
         Internet and from other public sources, could be used by criminals, terrorists, and
         foreign intelligence agents to gain access to secure government buildings and
         airports.

         To address these concerns, Office of Special Investigations agents conducted an
         undercover operation in April and May 2000 to gain entry into 19 federal sites and 2
         commercial airports in the Washington, D.C., area and in Orlando, Florida.2 At each
         site, the agents carried bogus badges and credentials, declared themselves as armed
         law enforcement officers, and gained entry without submitting to magnetometer and
         x-ray screenings. Our agents were 100-percent successful in penetrating the 21
         targeted sites, and at no time were their bogus credentials or badges challenged by
         anyone. Before the May 2000 hearing, we briefed agency officials on how we gained
         entry to their facilities.


         ' Security: Breaches at Federal Agencies and Airports (GAO/T-OSI-00-10, May 25, 2000).
         2 The Central Intelligence Agency; Federal Aviation Administration; Federal Bureau of Investigation;
         Federal Emergency Management Agency; Immigration and Naturalization Service; Library of Congress;
         National Aeronautics and Space Administration; National Archives and Records Administration; and
         the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and
         Urban Development, Justice, Labor, State, and Transportation; Orlando Airport; Ronald Reagan
         National Airport; and the U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building in Orlando, FL.


GAO-01-1069R Security Improvement Inquiry

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