**GAO-09-859T**                      Published: Jul 08, 2009. Publicly Released: Jul 08, 2009.                  

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## Highlights

To accomplish its mission of protecting about 9,000 federal facilities, the Federal Protective Service (FPS) currently has a budget of about $1 billion, about 1,200 full time employees, and about 13,000 contract security guards. This testimony discusses GAO's preliminary findings on (1) the extent to which FPS ensures that its guards have the required training and certifications before being deployed to a federal facility, (2) the extent to which FPS ensures that its guards comply with their assigned responsibilities (post orders) once they are deployed at federal facilities, and (3) security vulnerabilities GAO recently identified related to FPS's guard program. To address these objectives, GAO conducted site visits at 6 of FPS's 11 regions, interviewed numerous FPS officials, guards, contractors, and analyzed FPS's policies and data. GAO also conducted covert testing at 10 judgmentally selected level IV facilities in four cities. A level IV facility has over 450 employees and a high volume of public contact.

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## Topics

Homeland Security

AccountabilityFacility securityFederal facilitiesHomeland securityInspectionInvestigations by federal agenciesPhysical securityProtective equipmentRisk assessmentRisk managementSafetySecurity investigationsSecurity policy violationsSecurity threatsSystem vulnerabilitiesUS government securitiesX-ray machinesSecurity assessments

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FPS Covert Testing and IED ExplosionWednesday, July 08, 2009Receive GAO Updates
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