Everyday English - Probe finds security flaws in US govt buildings

• Source: Global Times
• [15:54 July 09 2009]
• Comments

Investigators testing security at key US government buildings were able to sneak bomb-making materials into 10 sites over the past year, the investigative arm of the US Congress reported yesterday.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said the officials, carrying liquid explosives and low-yield detonators, “passed undetected” through security checkpoints, then assembled the bombs and “walked freely” around the buildings with the devices in a briefcase.

The GAO did not specifically identify the facilities, citing security concerns and lasting fears about terrorism since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

But the agency said eight of them were government owned while two were leased, and that they included the offices of a US Senator and House member, as well as the departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security.

On its official website, the GAO also provided a video of one of its investigators walking through a security checkpoint carrying bomb-making materials.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee was due to take up the GAO’s findings at a hearing yesterday on the failings of the Federal Protective Service tasked with guarding such facilities.

More than 1 million US government employees work in 9,000 facilities around the country protected by the Federal Protective Service, including 350,000 in and around Washington.

“It is simply unacceptable that federal employees working within buildings under FPS’ protection, and the visitors who pass through them, are so utterly exposed to potential attack by terrorists and other enemies,” said Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman, who chairs the committee.

Republican Senator Susan Collins, the panel’s ranking member, called the security lapses “stunning and unacceptable.”

“In post-9/11 America, I cannot fathom how security breaches of this magnitude were allowed to occur,” she said in a statement.

The GAO listed other lapses, including a nighttime post inspection that found a guard asleep at his post after taking the prescription painkiller Percocet.

In another instance, a guard failed to recognize or did not properly X-ray a box containing handguns at the loading dock at one facility, according to the GAO report.

AFP

Notes:

Sneaked – (verb) To go stealthily or in this case to bring in something that one is not supposed to carry.

The teenage boy was supposed to be in his room studying, but instead he sneaked out of the house to hang out with his friends at a party.

Leased – (verb) To rent a piece of property for a contracted period of time.

Landlords are anxious about leasing out their properties because any empty apartment will bring no revenue to cover the mortgage.

Utterly – (adverb) Carried to the highest degree.

The teacher was utterly appalled that her entire class had failed her exam.

Lapses – (noun) A slight error caused by forgetfulness or inattention.

Once in a while we all have lapses in judgment of our abilities; we must accept our failures and try to do better next time.