Wednesday, August 08, 2012

A Federal Security Guard Walks An IED Into A Secure Building....

Should be the opener to a joke, but it's not, it's Detroit: Report faults handling of IED at Detroit federal building

A new report harshly criticizes the handling of an improvised explosive device found outside a federal building in Detroit in 2011 that was brought inside and not detected as an explosive for three weeks.

Inspector Clouseau, you've been replaced in the incompetence department by a new gold standard. Yes, the IED sat in the building for three whole weeks and was stored under a desk.

The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general issued a 37-page report criticizing the handling of the package — which was stored under a desk near a security checkpoint at the Patrick V. McNamara Federal Building in Detroit. The building is home to many federal agencies, including the FBI.

The report also criticized the training, hiring practices and oversight of security guards at the Detroit federal building. It found other breaches of protocol in the handling of the suspicious package.

Even better, the guard is also a Sargent in the Detroit Police Department.

The guard who brought the package in should not have been working because the Federal Protective Service had not sought a "suitability investigation for the guard until April 2011" — and the last one had expired in March 2010 approximatelya year before he brought the IED into the building.

The Federal Protective Service is soliciting a new contract for guard services in Michigan. Since July 2011, the contract for Michigan guard services has been on three-month installments.

"The breaches were the result of poor judgment by the guard, not systemic problems within DECO. FPS also bears some responsibility," the report found.

The guard who brought the safe into the building was also a sergeant with the Detroit Police Department.

Read the whole article as it describes the entire amazingly incompetent and downright dangerous string of events. Luckily for all involved, the IED maker was as incompetent as they were.

Good to know that federal government installations are in the best of hands, it just gives you that warm fuzzy feeling, now doesn't it?.

2 comments:

Scott said...

So the report says there are problems with hiring, training, and oversight, but it wasn't a systemic problem - it was the guard's fault.

That guard better lawyer up - the feds are looking for a scapegoat, and he has been elected.

Aaron said...

Yes, but you really have to question his judgment and that of the other guards: Look! A suspicious package! Let's bring it inside and shove it under a desk for three weeks....