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43–593 2008

HEARING ON THE ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL 

POLICE 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CAPITOL SECURITY 

COMMITTEE ON HOUSE 

ADMINISTRATION 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, MAY 1, 2008 

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on House Administration 

( 

Available on the Internet: 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/house/administration/index.html 


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COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION 

ROBERT A. BRADY, Pennsylvania, Chairman 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

Vice-Chairwoman 

MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts 

CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas 

SUSAN A. DAVIS, California 

ARTUR DAVIS, Alabama 

VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan 

Ranking Minority Member 

DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California 

KEVIN MCCARTHY, California 

S. ELIZABETH BIRNBAUM, Staff Director 

WILLIAM PLASTER, Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CAPITOL SECURITY

MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts, Chairman 

ROBERT A. BRADY, Pennsylvania DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California 


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ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE 

UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE 

THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2008 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON CAPITOL SECURITY, COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION, Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 11:39 a.m., in room 

1310, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Michael E. Capuano 

(chairman of the subcommittee) Presiding. 

Present: Representatives Capuano, Brady and Lungren. 

Staff Present: Liz Birnbaum, Staff Director; Darrell O’Conner, 

Professional Staff; Michael Harrison, Professional Staff; Matt 

Pinkus, Professional Staff/Parliamentarian; Kyle Anderson, Press 

Director; Kristin McCowan, Chief Legislative Clerk; Gregory Abbott, Policy Analyst; Fred Hay, Minority General Counsel; Alec 

Hoppes, Minority Professional Staff; and Bryan T. Dorsey, Minority 

Professional Staff. 

Mr. CAPUANO. Basically, I want to thank everybody for coming 

today. I have an opening statement I will not read, but I will put 

in for future posterity if anybody wants to read it. We have two 

panels today. Our first panel is with Chief Morse. He is accompanied by Assistant Chief Nichols and Ms. Jarmon, who is the chief 

administrative officer of the Capitol Police. Our second panel will 

be Mr. Stana from the GAO and Mr. Tighe from the U.S. Capitol 

Police Officers Labor Committee. 

We are here today to kind of catch up on certain aspects particularly with relation to the GAO report. But whatever else comes up 

is fine. I want to make it clear to everybody that we are having 

a public meeting today, but I believe firmly that Capitol security 

matters are best handled in a nonpublic forum on a regular basis. 

So I wouldn’t expect that we have a whole lot of public hearings 

on this particular matter. I know some people don’t like that, but 

I think that security is more important than anything else, and it 

is important to have it in a forum where people can speak openly 

and honestly. 

Today we have certain issues that can be spoken about in a public manner, and I think they are appropriate for it. And with that, 

I will stop and ask Mr. Brady for his lengthy opening statement. 

And when Mr. Lungren gets here if he wants to do one, he is more 

than welcome to. 

With that, I am just going to turn it over to you, Chief, and feel 

free to say whatever you want. 

[The statement of Mr. Capuano follows:] 


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STATEMENT OF CHIEF PHILLIP D. MORSE, UNITED STATES 

CAPITOL POLICE; ACCOMPANIED BY DANIEL NICHOLS, ASSISTANT CHIEF OF POLICE; AND GLORIA L. JARMON, CHIEF 

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER 

Chief MORSE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the 

subcommittee. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to be 

here today. We are going to discuss with you a lot of things about 

the Capitol Police and what we have done in the last 15 months. 

I am pleased to be joined here to my right by my assistant chief, 

Dan Nichols, and my chief administrative officer, Gloria Jarmon, 

here to my left. 

As you know, Ms. Jarmon recently joined the Capitol Police from 

the Government Accountability Office. And her background and expertise provide the department with well-rounded leadership and 

completes our team that is necessary for our efforts to become a 

premiere organization, both operationally and administratively. 

I would also like to thank the subcommittee for its interest and 

support for the men and women of the United States Capitol Police. Your support, as well as the support from our oversight and 

appropriations committees, is crucial to the successful execution of 

our mission. 

It has been a little over a year since I was selected to be the chief 

of police. During this time, the department has undergone many 

cultural, operational, and management changes. These changes are 

a larger process to modernize the department for mission capability 

and efficiency, while enhancing our ability to protect Congress. I 

welcome this opportunity to provide you with an update on our successes thus far and the challenges that remain before us, as well 

as a vision for shaping the future. 

As in any organization, teamwork and leadership are essential 

qualities of a well-managed security and law enforcement operation. It is through this teamwork and leadership that the Capitol 

Police has been able to achieve many successes over the last year. 

I would like to recognize the hard work of all the sworn and civilian staff of the United States Capitol Police, who exhibit their leadership and dedication to teamwork in meeting our mission every 

single day. Every day of the year, without exception, these dedicated individuals, with the support of the Capitol Police Board and 

the Congress, ensure the safety of Members, staff, and millions of 

visitors from across the globe who come to see democracy at work. 

In addition, I would like to recognize the department’s unions, 

the Fraternal Order of Police and the Teamsters, for their contributions to our overall success as well. 

It is through this teamwork that the department has been able 

to progress over the last year. 

I would like to talk a little bit about our progress. To ensure our 

success, we have established several tiers of management communication in order to keep all employees better informed on the 

workings of the department and the expectation of leaders and 

stakeholders. The Executive Management Team, the Senior Management Team, and our Frontline Management Team have been effective in developing accountability down through all levels of management so that the senior leaders can count on the frontline suVerDate Nov 24 2008 03:32 Jan 10, 2009 Jkt 043593 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\A593.XXX A593

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pervisors to run day-to-day operations while we make a concerted 

effort to map out the strategic path for the department. 

Here are some of our progress highlights. We have handled multiple special events to include the State of the Union, Capitol concert series, large demonstrations, and congressional events. We 

have adopted a concept, similar to community policing, which provides direct outreach by our Capitol Police officers and officials to 

the committees and Members’ offices with the congressional community. We use this program to visit every office in the House Office Building to inform them of emergency evacuation procedures 

for their specific building. We implemented new security screening 

guidelines throughout the Capitol complex. We planned, coordinated, and evaluated a number of exercises within the Capitol related to air evacuations, lock downs, and active shooter response. 

We finalized our 

continuity-of-operations plan and implemented a process for review 

and enhancement of the plan to meet evolving threats and requirements. We conducted multiple training exercises across the Capitol 

campus to improve readiness for sworn personnel in the field. 

There have been expressed interest and concern related to the 

department’s effort to address the GAO’s recommendations, and 

today I am happy to report that, since October 2007, we have 

closed 33 percent of the GAO recommendations, and we are actively working to address the rest of them. We have developed a 

full set of financial statements for FY 2007 and are actively working on statements for 2008. We have completed a full inventory of 

our capital assets and assigned values to these assets. We have redesigned our budget planning and execution process to include formalizing the department’s Investment Review Board. 

At the direction of the committees of jurisdiction, we completed 

the operational and administrative requirements to the merger of 

the Library of Congress Police, and this resulted in the passage of 

legislation. We have revised the uniform and equipment policy of 

the Capitol Police that will result in uniformity of appearance and 

overall cost. 

And in closing, I would like to say that I am looking forward to 

continuing my efforts as chief to make the U.S. Capitol Police a 

best practices organization. I would like to thank you once again 

for allowing us to appear before you. And my colleagues and myself 

would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. 

[The statement of Chief Morse follows:] 


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Mr. CAPUANO. Thank you, Chief. 

I don’t know if Chief Nichols or Ms. Jarmon had an opening 

statement, but even if they do, I would like to offer Mr. Lungren 

an opportunity to make an opening statement. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and I am 

sorry that I was late. I had to be a ranking member at two other 

subcommittees so far this morning, and it isn’t even noon yet. So 

thank you. 

One of the reasons I returned to the Congress was my desire to 

keep our country safe and secure from future terrorist attack. And 

because we cherish freedom and the democratic process in our Nation, obviously we want to keep our legislative process, our Capitol 

buildings and our lawmakers to be accessible and therefore accountable to those they serve. But the very openness with which 

we operate this legislative body also produces unique security challenges when considering the vigor with which some want to inflict 

terror and harm on our country. 

So I am pleased today this subcommittee is taking the opportunity to have a hearing on this important subject. Since being selected to serve on this subcommittee, I have made it a point to visit 

the Capitol Police Command Center and the K-9 training facility. 

I have even visited the Capitol Power Plant to see firsthand some 

of the more unusual challenges that come with securing the Capitol 

complex. 

So, Mr. Chairman, the topic of Capitol security is a bipartisan 

issue, and I look forward to working with you in the days ahead. 

And the administrative functions of the department are important 

and ultimately allow the force to more ably and efficiently meet its 

security requirements. 

However, I believe it is important for the subcommittee to be 

more fully informed and engaged in the present threats—on the 

present threats facing the Congress and the actions that the Capitol Police are taking to address these threats. I would hope that 

we could have a classified briefing on the actual security matters 

as soon as possible and that we could include a discussion on recent troubling incidents and the steps that have been taken in response. 

And I just have to say this, since this is the first meeting of our 

subcommittee, I find it very troubling to see the manner in which 

a recent incident was handled in the Capitol complex where an unknown was allowed to exist for 3 weeks. And the procedures that 

were followed at that time seemed to contradict every bit of training and every bit of information that I had received up to that time 

as to how we handle security threats here at the Nation’s Capitol. 

So I hope that we can get involved with the hearings, not to make 

headlines, but behind closed doors perhaps as quickly as possible. 

Mr. CAPUANO. That is what I said at the beginning before you 

got here, Mr. Lungren, is I plan to have many more meetings privately, because I think that is where we need to talk about certain 

things. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you. 

Mr. CAPUANO. Chief, I am not sure if you wanted either Chief 

Nichols or Ms. Jarmon to make a statement, then that is fine. 

Whether you do or you don’t, whatever you want, is fine by me. 


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Mr. NICHOLS. No, sir. I am here to support the chief and answer 

any questions you may have. 

Ms. JARMON. No. 

Mr. CAPUANO. All right. 

In that case, I have several questions. First of all, I know the 

GAO report was just about a year ago, a little over a year ago, I 

am just curious, do you have a general idea of the time frame of 

completion of adoption? I know you are in the midst of them. I 

know you have done some; you are doing others. Do you have an 

idea how long it will take to adopt all of them, or goal, I should 

say, or a target? 

Chief MORSE. Every single day, we are certainly working toward 

actively closing them. We have, made certain things a priority in 

doing so. One is certainly the hiring and staffing of employees in 

certain areas like financial management, in which many recommendations came. Ensuring that the financial statements, that 

we get a clean audit on them. And the chief administrative officer 

is responsible for that. And perhaps she can talk a little more to 

that in a second. And then we have policies and procedures that 

need to be adopted or drafted and put into place. And then protection of our information and systems. So we’ve identified a methodology in which to do that. And I think within the last fiscal year 

closing 33 percent of those shows that we are very actively working 

on that. 

Mr. CAPUANO. Do you think that if we have a hearing next year 

you will be able to tell me you closed a hundred percent of them 

or 90 percent of them? 

Chief MORSE. I would think that next year we would probably be 

able to match what we have done this year. And I look forward to 

next year, because I think that we will have significant, significant 

progress in all areas, as we have shown in the past year. 

Mr. CAPUANO. I am specifically interested in human capital, if 

you want the truth. And there are two areas that have concerned 

me a little bit—well, two areas with one subset area. One is the 

financial services end of it. Honestly, it makes it almost impossible 

for us to really kind of oversee anything unless we have an idea 

of the numbers. And the numbers have to be—I have to have confidence in those numbers, and we can’t do it without an auditing 

company saying that those numbers are fair and reasonable and 

appropriate. That can’t be done unless you can attract and maintain appropriate financial services people. I am just wondering—I 

know you have hired somebody in the last recent weeks—what is 

the problem? Why are we having so much difficulty attracting and 

retaining them? 

Chief MORSE. Well, first, the appointment of Gloria Jarmon is 

one step toward improvement of that overall process. And her expertise, knowledge, skills and abilities really are about financial 

management. 

With regard to the office itself, there were several factors involved in the hiring and turnover. One of them was the fact of all 

the recommendations not being accomplished there, the lack of policy and procedure and direction, which created sort of a chaotic atmosphere, if you will, which led to overworked employees. So that 

was one thing that we had to address. The second thing was there 


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were some losses to the private industry, which are very highly 

paid. 

And then we worked under a CR for some time where we 

couldn’t hire. But what we did during that time was we reviewed 

positions. We took a look at what we needed to close those recommendations, the knowledge, skills, and abilities of those employees we were going to hire, and we upgraded those. And I am happy 

to report that, on May 12th, our new director of financial management will be joining us, Mr. Steve Haughton. And also we are in 

the process of hiring a budget and procurement analyst. 

Ms. JARMON. Right. Just to add a little more to that, I have been 

here almost 3 months, and I have been focused on trying to make 

sure we can hire and retain competent financial management people. Because of the GAO recommendations, three of those recommendations that were not closed or are considered little progress 

completely related to the ability to hire and retain people so we 

have been focused on that. And I think we made good progress. We 

have had some very competent applicants for the positions. And I 

think if we are back here next year, you will see we have made significant progress in that area. 

Mr. CAPUANO. That is good, because, again, it makes it difficult 

for us to do our oversight unless we have numbers that we feel 

comfortable with. 

If you need assistance, Chief, whether it is with a CR or anything else, attracting and retaining personnel, obviously, I think we 

would like to hear about it so we can be helpful. 

It also relates to my last question really, at the moment, is relative to the same thing, relative to officers. I know you have a relatively high rate of turnover. And I am just curious, what are we 

trying to do in general to address those issues? 

Chief MORSE. This all really goes back to really gaining control 

of how the office is operated, providing a vision and direction for 

where we are wanting to go. And right now, we have an Executive 

Management Team that is in place that is very highly skilled. 

These are some of the positions that a year ago, a year-and-a-half 

ago, were not filled. For instance, our information technology, 

human resources, our office of homeland security and planning, 

just to name a few. And now with a new CAO, a new director of 

finance, we have a complete team and a very talented team. And 

with that, we expect to have great things happen. 

The other side is the recommendations themselves. I mean, they 

are the guidance to our success, along with those things that we 

also developed of our own. And we work with the GAO, and we 

work with our Inspector General in order to find the best path to 

success. We have also adopted the Government’s Performance Act. 

We have methodology for closing our GAO recommendations. And 

we have a plan. And I don’t know that with lacking the GAO recommendations and having those in place, that we really had a plan 

for any success. So, with all those things combined, we are looking 

forward to the coming years and really professionalizing and making it a best practices organization. 

Mr. CAPUANO. In the year that both you have been here and this 

report has come out, have you seen a change in retaining young officers, or has it stayed steady, or have you gotten worse? 


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Chief MORSE. With regard to officers, I think that we have a very 

good retention rate. And I spoke to an officer yesterday who told 

me that he saw a change, and positive change, and he was excited 

about that. And I think that with change and the significant 

change that we have had over the course of the 15 months, you are 

going to have some resistance. But that resistance is overcome 

when they see the result of that. And the result of that is that the 

organization is going in the right direction. We are making significant progress, both administratively and operationally. Some of the 

things that we have done over the past year are just extraordinary, 

and as a result of the committees of jurisdiction allowing us to use 

our facilities here to train our personnel. We were able to train all 

our personnel on lockdown procedures, evacuations, and active 

shooter response. That is something that has never been done before, especially right here on campus. And that was a significant, 

not only a morale booster but also from the standpoint of being prepared and being prepared for the things that occur or can occur 

here on the campus was significant. So, you know, retention is 

where it should be. We would always want it to be lower. And I 

think that a lot of that has to do with the progress that we are 

making. 

Mr. CAPUANO. Thanks, Chief. 

Mr. Lungren. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Chief, can 

you tell me what’s the total number of personnel for your agency? 

Chief MORSE. The authorized strength is 1,702, and I think we 

are currently at 1,611. That would be sworn personnel. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Sworn. 

Chief MORSE. The authorized strength for civilian is 414, and I 

believe we are currently at 59 below that. I don’t have the 

exact—— 

Mr. LUNGREN. How does that compare with other metropolitan 

departments, that is civilian to sworn? 

Chief MORSE. With respect to the ones in this area, I would believe that the metropolitan police has a larger sworn force than us, 

as well as civilian. I would say we are probably average. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I am not talking about total size. I am talking 

about percentage of civilian versus sworn. You say you are average? 

Chief MORSE. I think that would be average. 

Mr. LUNGREN. That would be average around the country, or do 

you know? 

Chief MORSE. I think the numbers, the numbers of supporting civilians for supporting the number of sworn officers and programs, 

initiatives that come with that, I think that our authorized numbers are pretty much where they should be. 

Mr. LUNGREN. As I understand it, an officer at appointment receives $49,631, and after they successfully complete training, they 

are bumped up to $51,370 annual pay. And after their first 30 

months on the job, they become private first class at a salary of 

$57,601. At least that is the latest information I have. How does 

that compare with other law enforcement agencies in this area? 

Chief MORSE. That is much higher than most municipal or State 

law enforcement agencies in the metropolitan area, and it is very 


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competitive with the Federal agencies here in the District of Columbia and the United States. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Chief, let me ask you this about your statement 

that you have followed a threat-based staffing model as you explained your efforts to tie resources to risks. Could you give us 

some examples of changes that we would see in a transition to a 

threat-based staffing model and how far along you are on that? 

Chief MORSE. Well, the concept of operations for a threat-based 

model is concentric rings of security, which we have; prevent, detect, respond, and mitigate as a part of that. We would like to be 

able to address the threat as far away from the Capitol complex as 

we possibly can. Some of the changes that you might see and some 

that we are currently actively doing are in relation to, for instance, 

our truck interdiction and monitoring program. Where we are able 

to establish 75 new camera systems that focus on possible threats 

approaching the campus well before they get here. Giving the officers the time to react to that and apply the prevention and/or mitigation of that threat before it reaches the campus. And that is really what our truck interdiction and monitoring program is. And you 

see that here on the four corners of the campus. And we are expanding upon that daily using technology to do so. That would be 

an example. 

Another example would be the bollard systems that you see, 

Delta barriers for access into secure locations. All our screening 

methodology addresses all the most current threats, to include, you 

know, obviously weapons and chemicals, biological, nuclear, et 

cetera. 

Mr. LUNGREN. You pronounced that last word the same way the 

President does. That is very interesting. In designing training 

plans, Chief, to meet the human capital requirements for the 

force—and the reason I ask that is there are different cultures in 

different departments. And I saw that as the Attorney General of 

California looking at various departments throughout California, 

saw that as I was able to compare them with others across the 

country. And some departments have a culture where physical fitness is very, very important. Others don’t seem to have that. I happen to be one that happens to believe that that’s important, particularly here at the Capitol, because not only do you want people 

to be able to physically respond to any emergency, and we could 

have any type of emergency here, but it also has to do with, it is 

the Nation’s Capitol, and we ought to look our best so to speak. So 

I wonder whether you would be considering mandatory physical fitness standards for sworn personnel, not only as they come out of 

the training program and as they are first employed but on a regular basis. 

Chief MORSE. Yes, that is something that we are looking at. 

Mr. LUNGREN. You are looking at it, but I mean what does that 

mean? 

Chief MORSE. We are analyzing it. There is a lot of things that 

go with putting a physical fitness program in place, from a legal 

standpoint and then from a validation standpoint. We would want 

it to be right for what we do. And we would want it to be something that was achievable. And we would want it to be something 

that our current employees could also achieve. So I do agree with 


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you that physical fitness and appearance are not only important for 

people to see, but it is also important for the health of our officers, 

and it serves as a great deterrent. 

Mr. LUNGREN. So, as I take it, that is something you would like 

to achieve, but you are looking at how it is achievable as opposed 

to whether or not you think it is a good idea to do. 

Chief MORSE. That is correct. I think it is a great idea, and it 

is something that we are hopefully going to be able to achieve. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you. 

Mr. Chairman, I have some other questions, but are we going to 

have a second round? 

Mr. CAPUANO. Yes. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Okay. 

Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Brady. 

The CHAIRMAN. Yes. 

Thank you, Chief, for being here. As you know, my father was 

a police officer, so I feel some type of bond here. And I was a sergeant at arms, so I feel some type of bond with our sergeant at 

arms, Mr. Livingood. I know both of you work together, and I do 

appreciate and want to thank you for the cooperation that you have 

always given me. And I appreciate that. You know, when these 

bells and whistles go off, and when we hear airplanes flying above 

us, you know, we are all being escorted out of the building and you 

all are running into the building. So you certainly have my respect 

simply because you deserve it. In any way I can be cooperative and 

help you, please feel free to call me. And thank you again for your 

appearance today and also for your men. Thank you. 

Mr. CAPUANO. Chief, I just have one other question. It relates to 

overtime. I have no problem with overtime. I think overtime is actually a good thing for most of the rank-and-file. I think it helps 

encourage morale and gets the most out of your employees. 

Of course, there is always a balance. I am just curious, do you 

have any operating procedures or whatever, limitations in place as 

to how much overtime an individual can get or—I am not worried 

about the dollar amounts. I am more interested in making sure 

there is not somebody on duty who has been on duty constantly for 

36 hours unless absolutely necessary. 

Mr. NICHOLS. Yes, sir, that is one of our ongoing concerns. We 

do have a current cap in place for our officers. They can work up 

to 56 hours a pay period, which is a 2-week period of additional 

duty. And it is for the same reasons that you just articulated. We 

want to make sure that our officers are sharp and are able to respond to an emergency situation. If they are overworked, working 

too much overtime, it degrades that readiness and capabilities. So 

we have those policies and procedures in place for that very reason. 

Mr. CAPUANO. Thank you. 

Mr. Lungren. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chief, one of the concerns I think outlined by the GAO report, 

or at least it has come to my attention, was that there appeared 

to be a significant number of employment-related lawsuits in the 

past. As you have reformed human resource practices, have we 

seen a reduction in lawsuits or complaints? 


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Chief MORSE. I don’t know the answer to that question right 

now. I can get statistics for you—— 

Mr. LUNGREN. Can you get that back to me, please? 

Chief MORSE [continuing]. And get that for the record. 

[The information follows:] 


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Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you. Last year I had the chance, with Assistant Chief Nichols, to meet at the Command Center. And at that 

time, I asked you, you know, what resources did you think you 

needed? You didn’t ask me to give you that; I asked you that. You 

responded with two letters, including one that outlined the costs involved. It is not insubstantial, nor did I think it would be insubstantial. 

And I wonder, Mr. Chairman, if in the future, at some point in 

the time in the future we could off line sit down with the chief and 

the assistant chief about that list. And again, I say they didn’t ask 

me to do it, I asked them, what do you need in terms of additional 

capital investments so that we could be informed and take a look 

at it. And I think some of them it would be better for us to probably discuss it behind closed doors just because of the nature of the 

equipment and what it would be used for. And I think maybe, at 

least for me, it would be helpful and perhaps for the subcommittee. 

Mr. CAPUANO. Just one final question, Chief, and I apologize I 

didn’t ask earlier. I am also interested in diversity, particularly in 

the higher ranks, not as much in the entry level ranks. I mean, 

from what I see, I don’t know the numbers, but it looks like a diverse workforce. But when it gets up there, it doesn’t look like a 

diverse workforce. I am just curious, are you taking positive steps 

to address—first of all, is my perception correct? And second, if it 

is, are you taking steps to address that? 

Chief MORSE. Well, first of all, I am very proud of our posture 

regarding diversity in the workplace. And we are obviously committed to moving forward to an increased representation of both 

women and minorities in the police department, both sworn and civilian, as well as in the sworn ranks. What we do is, to ensure that 

we have the highest qualified people and that the promotional 

process is not one that is biased or discriminatory, is that we use 

an outside contractor. And we also use subject matter experts from 

within the police department. We are inclusive of everyone from 

the top down. So that makes for a process that everyone feels comfortable in being a part of. And I think that increases the number 

of people who enlist to become officials. 

Also of our 21 SES-equivalent positions, 6 are represented by 

women and 3 are represented by minorities, which is over 43 percent of our Executive Management Team that we spoke of earlier. 

And most recently, in the last 6 months, four women and minority 

sworn employees have been promoted to the official ranks. And in 

addition, we recently promoted two internal minority females to 

manager positions in our financial management and human resources offices. So these are done through a competitive process. 

They are done in an open and fair way, which I think attracts the 

most qualified people for the position but also is a process that is 

transparent and people want to be a part of. 

Mr. CAPUANO. Chief, I respect all that, but I have done a fair 

amount of hiring in my life, and I have almost never found a job 

for which one person is solely and uniquely qualified. That includes 

my job. That includes your job. I mean, for my job I got 635,000 

constituents, and my expectation is there are 634,000 that are 

more qualified than me, but I got it. And that being the case, I totally understand and absolutely agree. I am not looking for quotas. 


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I am not looking for some alleged neutral review of the whole 

thing. I would never suggest that the best qualified person 

shouldn’t get it. But it is awfully hard, I can never believe—not 

never, but seldom believe that there is any job for which one person, regardless of anything, where one person is the only person 

who is qualified for that job. I have almost always found I could 

get 10 people for any one job, and then you get down to, of those 

10 people, any one of them are qualified for it, which one do I pick. 

And my hope and expectation is that a goal of diversity is part of 

that judgment process once you get down to those qualified people. 

Chief MORSE. One of the things that we requested in our 2009 

budget that will address the type of situation that you are talking 

about where we get direction is for a diversity officer. And specifically, that person, we are an organization that does not have that, 

and that particular position would allow direction, best practices 

and so forth in relation to diversity and promotion and hiring and 

recruiting and such. So that is one positive step that we have made 

to diversity within our organization. And we hope that we would 

be able to bring that person on in 2009 to help us. 

Mr. CAPUANO. That is fair enough, Chief. 

But you know, the city I ran had more people than you have, and 

we didn’t have a diversity officer. We didn’t need one. Not a problem having one, but the commitment has to come from people who 

do the hiring. The commitment has to come from the people who 

do the promotions. In the final analysis, a diversity officer is only 

just somebody there whose only job really is to make sure that you 

do the right thing. And if you want to do the right thing, you don’t 

really need somebody who is standing there telling you to do the 

right thing, though my staff does that to me on a regular basis, and 

my wife in particular. I need it. My hope is that the people who 

are making the decisions don’t really need that. And if they do, 

they won’t need it for long. 

Chief MORSE. I just wanted to add that we do want to do the 

right thing. And hopefully, this will help us make it so it is transparent. But I am committed to doing the right thing. And I support 

what you are saying. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I just have one last question. Chief, you mentioned that you have authorized 1,702 sworn, and you have 1,611. 

Do you need 1,702, or do you need 1,611? And if you need 1,702, 

why aren’t we closer to that? And if you don’t, should we reduce 

the authorization down to 1,611? 

Chief MORSE. We actually need more than that, which is evident 

by the amount of overtime that we expend. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Why are we missing 91 then? 

Chief MORSE. Well, several factors there. One, our new mission 

sets. For instance, the CVC, 10 sworn were requested in 2009 to 

fill that position and 11 sworn to support the new Visitors Experience at the Library of Congress. And also we have attrition. And 

I believe, in 2009, we are asking for classes to train 264 personnel. 

Mr. LUNGREN. What about your civilian? You say you are down 

59. Do you need those people or not need those people? 

Chief MORSE. We absolutely do need those people. But in the 

budget, sometimes the budget is prioritized in a way that we have 

to prioritize hiring. And we absolutely need those people, which is 


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why we requested it. And in the 2009 budget, we have re-requested 

civilian personnel from previous budgets that were not appropriated for. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Okay. Thank you. 

Mr. CAPUANO. Thank you, Chief. I appreciate it. Asst. Chief 

Nichols, Ms. Jarmon, I appreciate your coming and your openness 

and candor. And I look forward to working with you on a regular 

basis and more often on a more private basis. 

Chief MORSE. Thank you, Chairman. 

Mr. NICHOLS. Thank you very much. 

STATEMENTS OF RICHARD M. STANA, DIRECTOR, HOMELAND 

SECURITY AND JUSTICE, U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE; AND U.S. CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER MATTHEW TIGHE, CHAIRMAN, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE LABOR COMMITTEE 

Mr. CAPUANO. On the second panel we have Mr. Stana, who is 

a director of homeland security and justice issues at the U.S. GAO, 

and Mr. Tighe, who is a U.S. Capitol Police Officer and chairman 

of the Fraternal Order of Police at the U.S. Capitol Police Labor 

Committee. And I believe we will start with Mr. Stana. 

STATEMENT OF RICHARD M. STANA 

Mr. STANA. Thank you, Chairman Capuano, Mr. Lungren, for the 

invitation to testify on our work on the U.S. Capitol Police. 

As you know, USCP performs many essential functions that are 

key to the efficient and effective workings of the congressional 

branch. It is responsible for securing the 276-acre Capitol complex, 

for protecting Members of Congress, their staffs, visitors, 19 buildings, and national treasures, and for regulating traffic within the 

Capitol grounds. Having efficient and effective operations and related administrative and management functions are important if 

USCP is to achieve its overall mission to protect the United States 

Capitol complex and the on-site public. 

Over the years, in response to various requests of legislative 

mandates, we identified and reported on management control problems in a range of operations, financial management, human capital management, and information technology, and made 46 recommendations for improvement in these areas. In response to our 

work, USCP recently created a framework to help them, us, and interested congressional committees to track progress in implementing our recommendations. Our recent review showed that 

USCP has completed actions on 15 recommendations and is making progress toward addressing 28 recommendations but has not 

made progress on 3 recommendations. My prepared statement discusses in detail the nature and importance of these recommendations and the status of USCP’s efforts to address them. 

In my oral statement, I would like to highlight just a few main 

points. First, we reported that USCP needed a system to link its 

resource requests and allocations to identified risks, threats, and 

vulnerabilities. In response, USCP has completed risk assessments 

for 18 of 19 congressional facilities it currently protects and is 

scheduled to complete all assessments in this fiscal year. It also 

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bility for the Library of Congress facilities in just a few months. 

Additional actions will be required to adequately test and review 

its overall risk management approach. And until this process is 

completed, it will not be in the best position to justify resource requests and mitigate potential threats to Members, staff, visitors 

and facilities. 

Second, USCP faces major challenges in its financial management. We reported in the past on a high level of staff turnover and 

open vacancies, weaknesses in financial reporting, problems with 

the implementation of a new financial management system, and 

the need to follow through with plans to develop and implement an 

internal control problem. In the past year, USCP assessed its staffing needs and procurement processes and issued its first full set of 

financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. USCP is also making progress in the areas of financial management training, policies, procedures, and internal controls. On the other hand, it had not made significant progress in 

filling vacancies that are critical to stabilizing its financial management workforce. Until our recommendations are fully implemented, 

its ability to sustain improvements and meet long-term financial 

management goals will be limited. 

Third, in the area of human capital management, USCP has 

adopted a hiring policy and is making progress on other recommendations related to workforce planning and training. Work 

still remains to be done to complete a strategic workforce plan and 

master training plan, which should include long-term strategies for 

acquiring, developing, retaining a workforce with the critical skills 

and competencies needed to accomplish the department’s mission. 

And lastly, USCP has made progress in the information technology management area by establishing important IT management capabilities, such as those used—as the use of a disciplined 

system acquisition management practice. However, more work remains to be done in the area of enterprise architecture, investment 

management, information security, and continuity-of-operations 

planning. 

In closing, USCP has made significant progress in addressing 

operational and administrative weaknesses, but there still remains 

a substantial amount of work to be done. Until these weaknesses 

are completely addressed and our recommendations are fully implemented, USCP will not be in the best position to achieve its overall 

mission in the most efficient and effective manner. This underscores Congress’s need to stay closely attuned to USCP’s progress 

toward addressing the administrative and management challenges 

we identified. I would be happy to answer any questions you may 

have. 

[The statement of Mr. Stana follows:] 


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Mr. CAPUANO. Thank you, Mr. Stana. 

Mr. Tighe, I think we are going to have to go to a vote soon. 

Okay, I just want people to know we are going to have to go off 

to a vote. And I apologize, we have a series of votes, but Mr. Tighe, 

we will be more than happy to take your testimony. 

STATEMENT OF U.S. CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER MATTHEW A. 

TIGHE 

Mr. TIGHE. Thank you, sir. First time I have ever done anything 

like this, so bear with me. 

Mr. CAPUANO. Don’t worry, we are easy. 

Mr. TIGHE. Thanks a lot. 

Honorable Chairman and members of the committee, I would like 

to thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. I am 

here not only to speak to you as chairman of the Capitol Police 

Labor Committee, but as a police officer as well. 

As chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Committee 

for the United States Capitol Police, I represent more than 1,000 

sworn Members of our department. We meet regularly to discuss 

our experiences on the job. While much of what we discuss relates 

to traditional workplace issues that face union memberships in a 

variety of work settings represented by organized labor, we also 

hear constant constructive criticism regarding how well we protect 

those we are sworn to serve. I am proud of my fellow officers’ interest in supporting the goals our oath of office sets for us. They are 

professionals who want to contribute more. 

The men and women of the United States Capitol Police take 

great pride in being given the responsibility to protect Members of 

Congress, the congressional community, and the millions who visit 

here. Those who are recruited and trained to carry out our vital 

mission are among the best educated and motivated people I have 

encountered anywhere in the law enforcement community. They 

bring intellect and on-the-ground experience to the myriad tasks 

associated with securing and protecting everyone within the Capitol complex. I believe we are a well of underutilized insights and 

ideas that could support further improvements in securing the Capitol. 

The Capitol complex faces a constant threat that is not always 

easy to detect or identify. To deter and combat threats, the department must be given adequate and appropriate resources to fulfill 

our mission. We believe a longer view of the technology and equipment that can significantly enhance our mission must be taken. 

Further, that the integration and scalability existing in future systems must be given more weight in order to maximize the effectiveness of tax dollars spent while projecting future needs in a manner 

that will make improvements more affordable and compatible. 

In addition to the obvious need for training, equipment and adequate funding to carry out our mission for the Congress and the 

Nation, we need you to understand our mission and your cooperation in the performance of our mission. We recognize that often our 

duties may be viewed as an inconvenience, but they are essential 

for maintaining the security throughout the Capitol complex. An officer needs to stay focused on the possible threat without fear from 

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changing threat, officers cannot passively monitor activity, but 

must be able to take a proactive approach to investigate suspicious 

activity. The effectiveness of the individual officers at each post, 

each of the patrol vehicles, and various support positions around 

the department is most affected by their personal motivation. It is 

dangerous for everyone who relies upon us if we are reluctant to 

do what is difficult but required. 

The human factor in our profession is unusually critical because 

a blind eye or turned head can allow the person intent on harm to 

bring arms, toxins or other dangerous commodities to the halls and 

offices of the Capitol Complex. Your police officers must feel that 

they will be supported by their supervisors, their chief, the Police 

Board, and Members when they make good faith efforts to do their 

job. If they come to a common sense, that good efforts are punished 

by the powers that be because they feel inconvenienced, then more 

damage is done to our security than you may understand. 

I urge this committee and the Congress to regularly publish its 

support for its police officers who diligently perform their duties as 

individuals and as an agency. When inconvenience meets security, 

we must encourage the responsible officers and officials to support 

security and to recognize those who work to secure those who we 

protect. I have devoted a lot of my time to our mission to protect 

you. 

Now I wish to raise a serious issue that is a more traditional 

union concern. I would like to highlight our retirement. The law 

enforcement profession is more competitive now than ever. It is 

critical to the Capitol Police to not only recruit the most qualified 

personnel possible but also to retain them for the length of their 

career. One of the greatest deciding factors that an applicant considers when making a decision for employment in law enforcement 

is the compensation package offered by each agency. Our goal is to 

enhance our retirement benefits to be more competitive with other 

agencies, thus more appealing to potential applicants. In doing so, 

we will not only be able to attract the best applicants but retain 

the officers that are currently in the field. 

The costs associated with training a new officer just to have 

them leave for another agency is wasting the resources provided by 

Congress and the taxpayers. In too many instances, the U.S. Capitol Police department is the recruiting arm for competing local and 

Federal law enforcement agencies. Many young men and women 

who become U.S. Capitol Police officers begin to look elsewhere 

after completing a few years in our department. This very issue 

faced the Metropolitan Police Department in the early 1970s when 

the Congress approved an expansion of its authorized strength. 

Even with the unprecedented step of authorizing early outs for 

military personnel who joined the Metropolitan Police Department, 

the MPD was unable to reach the new authorized strength because 

too many new recruits left for law enforcement careers elsewhere 

after securing a few years of experience. It is a matter of record 

that the only thing that stabilized MPD’s workforce was the adaptation of a 20-year retirement system by the Congress. Subsequent 

to home rule for the District, the city abandoned the 20-year retirement. They are now in the process of passing legislation that will 


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restore 20-year retirement as they work to increase the size of their 

police department and stabilize their police force again. 

We look forward to working with all the relevant committees to 

accomplish this goal in the future. That concludes my statement. 

I will be happy to answer any questions. 

[The statement of Mr. Tighe follows:] 


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Mr. CAPUANO. Again, as I said, I apologize, but we have a roll 

call vote over which, as you all know, we have no control. I expect, 

I am told there are four votes, guessing 45 minutes or so. When 

we return, I will understand if you can’t stay, but if you can stay, 

obviously we would like you to stay. And I apologize again. 

Mr. CAPUANO. First of all, thank you for sticking around. I apologize, but this is what we do. I have also been informed that my colleagues will not be able to make it back. And they have asked and 

I think it is perfectly fine to let the record show that we will be 

allowing written questions. Hopefully you will be able to answer at 

a later time. 

Oh, you are here. You can still do written questions. 

For myself, I have a few questions. I would like to start with you, 

Mr. Stana. I heard you use some very carefully selected words, and 

that’s a good thing. I tend not to do that the way I should. But I 

know that there has been progress made, and I know there are 

things left to do. We all know that. 

In your opinion, has satisfactory progress been made? Nobody expects any of these things to be done overnight. Do you think there 

has been satisfactory progress on the report, on adopting recommendations in the report? And do you think that what you 

heard earlier about the general time frame of potential completion, 

understanding it is just a time frame, do you think that is a reasonable response? 

Mr. STANA. Let me put my answer into a context. These deficiencies that we have identified, we have identified them again and 

again over the years. So we were a bit disappointed and in March 

2007 we reported that many of these existing and persistent deficiencies had really not been addressed. And that was because of a 

couple of reasons. One is there is quite a bit of turnover at the 

highest levels. The other, they were focused a lot on the day-to-day 

as opposed to the strategic. 

So when the Chief came in and took to heart the recommendations that we made and created a framework for addressing them, 

we were heartened. So what he listed as some of the recommendations that were closed, we were glad to see that. 

I also would like to say that where we are still looking for policies and procedures to be put in place, it is not the case that none 

currently exist. The issue is they are not particularly robust in 

some cases. In other cases, they have to be more attuned to the 

current circumstances and situations, and so on. 

With respect to how long it is going to take to close the recommendations I wish I could say it is going to take 5 months, 10 

months, 2 years, 5 years. Some of these things are living and 

breathing, like enterprise architecture, which is a blueprint for the 

organization, where they are today, where they want to get to tomorrow or in 5 years, 10 years, and what kind of technology they 

need to get there. Those efforts are never ending. Some they could 

do relatively quickly. 

There are two things that I think are particularly important to 

get done. One is to get on top of the staff turnover and churning. 

Get the already authorized positions filled, get the people on board. 

Get the people trained so they have the right knowledge, skills and 


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abilities to get the job done. Then we’re going to see how many people we need, to answer Mr. Lungren’s question. 

The second thing is they will need a top management commitment to see that these new policies and procedures are actually implemented and that people are held to account for the results, and 

that this isn’t just another set of recommendations that we answer 

for today and tomorrow it is a different story. 

Mr. CAPUANO. I appreciate it, Mr. Stana. I can only tell you that 

as long as I am here we are going to do that. I understand fully 

well where there are differences of opinions on certain things. I 

didn’t hear them today and maybe we will hear them later on. That 

I respect. But when everybody is on the same page as to what 

should be done, I can promise you we will be holding everybody to 

account. 

Mr. STANA. I appreciate your concern, Mr. Chairman, about some 

of the sensitive items, particularly with our set of recommendations 

dealing with threat assessment, and vulnerability assessment, and 

the way you right size an organization, and where you place the 

people, allocate the resources to respond to threats. We really 

shouldn’t discuss those kinds of things in this forum, but I can say 

that they have applied a threat matrix that we worked with them 

on to the buildings and to the grounds. That was encouraging, too. 

It is not quite finished yet, but at least they are on the road to 

being able to say this is the right number or this is the right capability, this is the right equipment because we have a systematic 

way of assessing that. 

Mr. CAPUANO. I think those are fair comments. I see the Chief 

shaking his head a little bit and I think he accepts it. 

Mr. Tighe, relative to your testimony, the thing that I am most 

interested in, I understand fully well that there are changes going 

on in the Capitol Police ranks all across the board, new leadership 

and new procedures. I am particularly interested in morale, which 

I know is a difficult thing to assess, a difficult thing to put your 

finger on. 

I heard you say concerns about retirement benefits. Retirement 

benefits obviously is subject to financial limitations and negotiations and the like. Are there other things in particular that you 

think would improve the morale? Well, I shouldn’t say improve too 

much. I would like your assessment on the general level of morale, 

not specifically on a specific point. And then I would also like your 

opinion on one or two items other than retirement. I have heard 

the retirement thing, I accept it. We might be able to do it in the 

short term to be able to improve that if you think it needs improving. 

Mr. TIGHE. Morale has really increased, I would say, in the last 

couple of months. The Chief has made a great effort to get out 

there and get his message out to the officers. I think when the 

Chief first came on board the message wasn’t getting out there. 

Since the message is really filtering down to the officers I think 

morale has made a huge turn around in the last few months. It is 

really increasing. 

Mr. CAPUANO. That is great to hear. Again, having done this in 

my past life, I have always thought you will have differences of 

opinion, but communication—— 


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Mr. TIGHE. If I could add one thing, I am not used to doing this. 

I think a lot of times you are so accessible to Members of Congress 

and we really appreciate, the officers appreciate that there is always an ear that we can speak to. Sometimes what happens is the 

squeaky wheel will come up and talk to you. I don’t think you get 

to talk to the 90 percent of these guys that are out here, and are 

getting the message, and are happy with the way the department 

is going. 

Mr. CAPUANO. I understand the squeaky wheel. As a matter of 

fact, most Members of Congress’ lives are built around the squeaky 

wheel. If I heard from all 635,000 constituents in one day the world 

would come to a halt. We understand that. Most of us are pretty 

adept at recognizing that. At the same time I also know that oftentimes when we get a comment or complaint or a suggestion, it is 

not just that one person. Sometimes it is broad based, and that is 

why you, in your representative capacity, I thought it was important to ask you as well. 

Thank you. 

Mr. Lungren. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Well, let me be the squeaky wheel to ask some 

questions here. 

Mr. Stana, you talked about disappointment year after year after 

year, although you have seen improvement in the last year. Can 

you venture an opinion as to whether or not the difficulty in making some of these changes is as a result of the fact that you have 

got a police department that responds to a Capitol Police Board? 

It responds to authorization committees both in the House and 

Senate and responds to appropriations subcommittees in both 

Houses? Does that have anything to do with the difficulty in making some of these changes? 

Mr. STANA. Well, the kinds of changes that we are interested in 

pursuing I don’t think would be particularly sensitive to that. We 

are talking about bread and butter management issues. We are 

talking about having policies in place. We are talking about having 

position descriptions that adequately describe the work that is supposed to be done and the training that is supposed to be received. 

We are talking about an enterprise architecture that any organization of any size should have. We are talking about financial management to produce documents that you can rely on with numbers 

that are reliable. We are talking about a police force that should 

be able to have a rational way of assigning staff and knowing what 

the right number is to perform its mission. 

So no, I wouldn’t say that there would be any difficulty there. 

Mr. LUNGREN. You gave us some reasons or at least you articulated the frustration with not seeing changes year after year after 

year, but you have seen some changes in the last year. Can you 

venture an opinion as to why the department’s been able to achieve 

some of these changes in this last year but were unable to in the 

previous years? 

Mr. STANA. Well, I would say this. For years and years and years 

these problems persisted because there was preoccupation with 

other issues. And perhaps you would have to ask the former regime 

whether they figured that that was as important as some of the security missions. But when the Chief took over he was responsive 


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to our recommendations. He set up a framework of assigning responsibility and accountability, checking quarterly on progress and 

reporting to you semiannually on progress there. 

Now, I am not saying that there is a difference between night 

and day. What I am saying, it is midnight and maybe 9 a.m. There 

is a ways to go here, but the signs are all pointing in the right direction. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Have you had to identify any major remaining 

risks from the standpoint of how you would see the greatest risks 

or failures to improve in the administrative operations of the department? What would those risks be as you would see them, and 

do you have a sense that they are being viewed by the administration with a sense of urgency? 

Mr. STANA. I pointed out that there are many policies and procedures and plans that have to be put in place, and many can soon 

be put in place. But I think the two greatest risks are first, they 

can’t get on top of the churning of staff, can’t stabilize that staff. 

This is extremely important, particularly in two areas, the financial management and information technology. 

Mr. LUNGREN. You are talking primarily administrative staff? 

Mr. STANA. Yes, yes. I think that is key. 

The other is I just hope that we don’t declare victory by having 

all these policies and procedures put in place and sort of putting 

them on the shelf and worrying about the next thing. You have to 

sustain the interest in accountability, in getting this job done right 

day after day, and putting controls in place to recognize when circumstances are requiring a different way of doing things. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you. 

Officer Tighe, would you individually and the organization that 

you represent support the idea of mandatory physical fitness standards for Capitol Hill Police officers? 

Mr. TIGHE. We would have to see how it would be put into place, 

how it would affect the officers that are on the job right now. I 

think physical fitness for any officer is a good idea. I think encouraging even voluntary, giving officers time to work out while they 

are on duty is a good idea, but I imagine it would be very costly 

to be able to do that. 

Mr. LUNGREN. So you don’t have an already formed position 

against the idea? It is the question of how it would apply and how 

we would make it work, is that correct? 

Mr. TIGHE. No, sir. I believe every officer on this department 

should be physically fit, and be able to go out there and effectively 

do their job. And I think it would be another tool that you put in 

your tool belt to help the officers. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Let me ask you this, it seems to me that one of 

the difficulties in the job of being a Capitol Hill Police officer is 

that as opposed to many other departments where you are out on 

patrol, most of the officers out on patrol are detectives doing their 

work. We have, because of what the role is here of the department, 

the obligation to have permanent stations. They are physical stations where officers are basically standing there, trying to look out 

for any potential problem that might exist and also being officer 

friendly to the people who are there. 


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It seems to me you could run the risk of getting stale at that. 

How do we do in terms of the department’s either rotating of positions or keeping your people fresh? How is that done and how successfully is that done right now? Because it seems to me if I were 

part of this department and I am manning my station day after 

day after day after day, I might look at another department and 

say I could be in a patrol car out there on a regular basis or I could 

be moving around, and that would attract me as long as you have 

equivalent wages and retirement, and so forth. 

Mr. TIGHE. No. The officers for the most part know what the job 

is when they come here. They are prepared to stand post. They are 

made fully aware when they come here they are going to be more 

of a security force than proactive police force of what you associate 

with a traditional police department. I guess is what I’m trying to 

say. 

I think making more career paths available to the officers, giving 

them more training and making them feel they are part of the system, making them know that we are backing them up and when 

they are doing their job that they will have the full backing of the 

department and the community. The officers that are here take 

great pride in what they protect. It is not the same when you go 

to a local department. I mean, you are protecting the Nation’s Capitol. That is something to go home and be proud of. I think our officers take great pride in that, and that is why we are here to do 

our job. We are here because we want to be here. 

Mr. LUNGREN. In your testimony you mentioned the dichotomy 

between creating the security against a potential attack on the one 

hand. An inconvenience I think is the word you used, but it’s probably more than inconvenience. It is a sense of hospitality. It is a 

sense of welcoming people. 

From the standpoint of the officers and the training they receive, 

how is that dealt with? How is that dealt with so that the officer 

can be officer friendly and at the same time be the officer that is 

on the lookout for suspicious activity given the fact that you are 

there for hours and hours? 

Mr. TIGHE. I think it is the training we are given in the academy. It is to be engaging to the people coming through the doors. 

Believe it or not, that is a great way of finding out. If people are 

not receptive to your friendliness and engaging them in conversation, that is a great way to get a clue right there. 

The training, the security training we have been given right now 

is a lot more comprehensive than when I went through the academy. You are trained to look for a lot more threats than just a simple knife or a gun coming through the doors. Now there are a lot 

of different items that we are looking for, and it is a lot more training than was initially given to guys who have been in the department 10, 15 years ago. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Mr. Stana, from the standpoint of the GAO report, 

was there any inquiry made of how the department is organized to 

ensure that you have supervisory personnel on a regular basis 

checking the performance of officers? 

Mr. STANA. No, that was outside the scope of our review. We 

have done a number of reviews of the U.S. Capitol Police over the 


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years. I don’t think we have gone into the area much beyond staffing ratios. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Okay, thank you very, very much. Thank you, Mr. 

Chairman. 

Mr. CAPUANO. I just have one last question, Mr. Stana. It is my 

understanding that the department has engaged the services of an 

outside company to look at best practices, and I am just wondering 

if they are working with you or are you aware of their efforts? 

Mr. STANA. We worked with the Capitol Police on a risk matrix 

to identify potential threats, vulnerabilities and potential responses. I believe they have engaged with Enlightened Leadership 

Solutions, ELS, to take that threat assessment further. We have 

not reviewed that study. We would be happy to do so if you would 

like us to. 

Mr. CAPUANO. I would like that. Not because I have any questions about it, but because I think every view you get, every 

thoughtful, insightful view you get of anything always adds to it. 

Mr. STANA. Yes, I know they’ve engaged with that firm to do a 

number of things, not the least of which was in some sense a peer 

review, to call around to the different agencies in town to see if the 

way the Capitol Police is structuring its risk management framework is similar to what the FBI would do or the CIA or Homeland 

Security would do. And ELS got back pretty high marks for the 

Capitol Police effort, but then they did their own assessment, and 

we haven’t reviewed that. 

Mr. CAPUANO. Okay. 

Mr. STANA. We have been briefed on it, but we haven’t reviewed 

it. 

Mr. CAPUANO. Whenever you feel it is appropriate. I don’t feel 

these things have to be done right this minute. When you get a moment, I think it would be helpful to get another set of eyes on it. 

Not because I have any questions about it, it is just an independent 

review of the matter. 

I have no further questions. Again, gentlemen, thank you very 

much. I appreciate it, I apologize for the delay, but it is what we 

do here. I know you know that. I want to thank everybody. 

I also want to repeat what Mr. Brady said earlier. I can’t tell you 

how high a regard we hold the Capitol Police here. We think you 

do a great job for us. I feel like every member of the force is very 

friendly, very open, yet very professional, and I think I can speak 

for every Member that we really appreciate what you do for us. 

And we really appreciate how you balance security with the desire 

to have an open, friendly environment to the best of your ability. 

I want to thank you and praise you for what you have done, and 

I look forward to working with you as you go forward to improve 

it even more. 

Thank you. 

[Whereupon, at 1:38 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

Æ 


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