Guards say Homeland Security HQ insecure

This just in from Progressive Gold: The headquarters of the Department of Homeland security is guarded by poorly trained Wackenhut rent-a-cops:

WASHINGTON (March 6) - The agency entrusted with protecting the U.S. homeland is having difficulty safeguarding its own headquarters, say private security guards at the complex.

The guards have taken their concerns to Congress, describing inadequate training, failed security tests and slow or confused reactions to bomb and biological threats.

For instance, when an envelope with suspicious powder was opened last fall at Homeland Security Department headquarters, guards said they watched in amazement as superiors carried it by the office of Secretary Michael Chertoff, took it outside and then shook it outside Chertoff's window without evacuating people nearby.

The scare, caused by white powder that proved to be harmless, "stands as one glaring example" of the agency's security problems, said Derrick Daniels, one of the first guards to respond to the incident.

"I had never previously been given training ... describing how to respond to a possible chemical attack," Daniels told The Associated Press. "I wouldn't feel safe nowhere on this compound as an officer." [AOL News]

As the Republic of Pelau explains at Progressive Gold, crack Whackenhut personnel are also on duty in our airports, our prisons, and our nuclear facilities. For more information on the private security giant, see the EyeOnWackenhut website.

Comments

[Dr. Bonzo]

Reminds me of the good ol' days when the EPA headquarters building was diagnosed with "sick building syndrome" -- and people actually cared.

[lemon]

off topic, but related.

Barbara Boxer is posting at Dkos, talking about Patriot act. must read. Plus a senator posting on the net and talking to real people?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/6/18386/56711

[bicyclemark]

Man.. what a great name for a private security company. Brilliant.