National Archives Security Vulnerable, Report Finds

Private security officers who guard the headquarters of the National Archives in Washington, D.C. are not properly trained to respond to threats to visitors, the staff, or the holdings, a report by the agency watchdog reveals. Without a more robust system of testing and drills for the guards, the Archives has no assurance officers are proficient enough with their weapons to respond to an attack, the agency Inspector General (IG) said in an emergency memo to top Archives officials. We lack the confidence the security officers would be able to respond appropriately during an incident, the IG warned an Archivist in a 2-page letter last fall. The letter had not been made public, but a copy was recently obtained by the Washington Post. The IG said building security deserves heightened priority in light of the September hostage crisis at the Discovery Channel headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland and the 2009 shooting inside the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. The IG’s concerns echo previous alarms sounded by federal auditors about the security provided by contractors hired to protect workers at federal buildings around the country. The Federal Protective Service, an arm of DHS guards 9,000 federal facilities with a mix of about 800 full-time federal inspectors, and 15,000 private guards.