As the primary federal agency that is responsible for protecting and securing GSA facilities and federal employees across the country, FPS has the authority to enforce federal laws and regulations aimed at protecting federally owned and leased properties and the persons on such property, and, among other things, to conduct investigations related to offenses against the property and persons on the property. To protect the over one million federal employees and about 9,000 GSA facilities from the risk of terrorist and criminal attacks, in fiscal year 2007, FPS had about 1,100 employees, of which 541, or almost 50 percent, were inspectors. FPS inspectors are primarily responsible for responding to incidents and demonstrations, overseeing contract guards, completing BSAs for numerous buildings, and participating in tenant agencies’ BSC meetings. About 215, or 19 percent, of FPS’s employees are police officers who are primarily responsible for patrolling GSA facilities, responding to criminal incidents, assisting in the monitoring of contract guards, responding to demonstrations at GSA facilities, and conducting basic criminal investigations. About 104, or 9 percent, of FPS’s 1,100 employees are special agents who are the lead entity within FPS for gathering intelligence for criminal and anti-terrorist activities, and planning and conducting investigations relating to alleged or suspected violations of criminal laws against GSA facilities and their occupants. FPS also has about 15,000 contract guards that are used primarily to monitor facilities through fixed post assignments and access control. According to FPS policy documents, contract guards may detain individuals who are being seriously disruptive, violent, or suspected of committing a crime at a GSA facility, but do not have arrest authority. The level of law enforcement and physical protection services FPS provides at each of the approximately 9,000 GSA facilities varies depending on the facility’s security level. To determine a facility’s security level, FPS uses the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Vulnerability Assessment Guidelines which are summarized below. A level I facility has 10 or fewer federal employees, 2,500 or fewer square feet of office space and a low volume of public contact or contact with only a small segment of the population. A typical level I facility is a small storefront-type operation, such as a military recruiting office. A level II facility has between 11 and 150 federal employees, more than 2,500 to 80,000 square feet; a moderate volume of public contact; and federal activities that are routine in nature, similar to commercial activities. A level III facility has between 151 and 450 federal employees, more than 80,000 to 150,000 square feet and a moderate to high volume of public contact. A level IV facility has over 450 federal employees, more than 150,000 square feet; a high volume of public contact; and tenant agencies that may include high-risk law enforcement and intelligence agencies, courts, judicial offices, and highly sensitive government records. A Level V facility is similar to a Level IV facility in terms of the number of employees and square footage, but contains mission functions critical to national security. FPS does not have responsibility for protecting any level V buildings. FPS is a reimbursable organization and is funded by collecting security fees from tenant agencies, referred to as a fee-based system. To fund its operations, FPS charges each tenant agency a basic security fee per square foot of space occupied in a GSA facility. In 2008, the basic security fee is 62 cents per square foot and covers services such as patrol, monitoring of building perimeter alarms and dispatching of law enforcement response through its control centers, criminal investigations, and BSAs. FPS also collects an administrative fee it charges tenant agencies for building specific security services such as access control to facilities’ entrances and exits, employee and visitor checks; and the purchase, installation, and maintenance of security equipment including cameras, alarms, magnetometers, and x-ray machines. In addition to these security services, FPS provides agencies with additional services upon request, which are funded through reimbursable Security Work Authorizations (SWA), for which FPS charges an administrative fee. For example, agencies may request additional magnetometers or more advanced perimeter surveillance capabilities. FPS faces several operational challenges, including decreasing staff levels, which has led to reductions in the law enforcement services that FPS provides. FPS also faces challenges in overseeing its contract guards, completing its BSAs in a timely manner, and maintaining security countermeasures. While FPS has taken steps to address these challenges, it has not fully resolved them. Providing law enforcement and physical security services to GSA facilities is inherently labor intensive and requires effective management of available staffing resources. However, since transferring from GSA to DHS, FPS’s staff has declined and the agency has managed its staffing resources in a manner that has reduced security at GSA facilities and may increase the risk of crime or terrorist attacks at many GSA facilities. Specifically, FPS’s staff has decreased by about 20 percent from almost 1,400 employees at the end of fiscal year 2004, to about 1,100 employees at the end of fiscal year 2007, as shown in figure 1. In fiscal year 2008, FPS initially planned to reduce its staff further. However, a provision in the 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act requires FPS to increase its staff to 1,200 by July 31, 2008. In fiscal year 2010, FPS plans to increase its staff to 1,450, according to its Director. From fiscal year 2004 to 2007, the number of employees in each position also decreased, with the largest decrease occurring in the police officer position. For example, the number of police officers decreased from 359 in fiscal year 2004 to 215 in fiscal year 2007 and the number of inspectors decreased from 600 in fiscal year 2004 to 541 at the end of fiscal year 2007, as shown in figure 2. At many facilities, FPS has eliminated proactive patrol of GSA facilities to prevent or detect criminal violations. The FPS Policy Handbook states that patrol should be used to prevent crime and terrorist attacks. The elimination of proactive patrol has a negative effect on security at GSA facilities because law enforcement personnel cannot effectively monitor individuals who might be surveilling federal buildings, inspect suspicious vehicles (including potential vehicles for bombing federal buildings), and detect and deter criminal activity in and around federal buildings. While the number of contract guards employed in GSA facilities will not decrease and according to a FPS policy document, the guards are authorized to detain individuals, most are stationed at fixed posts from which they are not permitted to leave and do not have arrest authority. According to some regional officials, some contract guards do not exercise their detention authority because of liability concerns. According to several inspectors and police officers in one FPS region, proactive patrol is important in their region because, in the span of one year, there were 72 homicides within 3 blocks of a major federal office building and because most of the crime in their area takes place after hours when there are no FPS personnel on duty. In addition, FPS officials at several regions we visited said that proactive patrol has, in the past, allowed its police officers and inspectors to identify and apprehend individuals that were surveilling GSA facilities. In contrast, when FPS is not able to patrol federal buildings, there is increased potential for illegal entry and other criminal activity at federal buildings. For example, in one city we visited, a deceased individual had been found in a vacant GSA facility that was not regularly patrolled by FPS. FPS officials stated that the deceased individual had been inside the building for approximately three months. In addition, more recently, at this same facility, two individuals who fled into the facility after being pursued by the local police department for an armed robbery were subsequently apprehended and arrested by the local police department. While the local police department contacted FPS for assistance with responding to the incident at the federal facility, FPS inspectors were advised by senior FPS supervisors not to assist the local police department in their search for the suspects because GSA had not paid the security fee for the facility. In addition to eliminating proactive patrol, many FPS regions have reduced their hours of operation for providing law enforcement services in multiple locations, which has resulted in a lack of coverage when most federal employees are either entering or leaving federal buildings or on weekends when some facilities remain open to the public. Moreover, FPS police officers and inspectors in two cities explained that this lack of coverage has left some federal day care facilities vulnerable to loitering by homeless individuals and drug users. The decrease in FPS’s duty hours has also jeopardized police officer and inspector safety, as well as building security. Some FPS police officers and inspectors said that they are frequently in dangerous situations without any FPS backup because many FPS regions have reduced their hours of operation and overtime. Contract guard inspections are important for several reasons, including ensuring that guards comply with contract requirements; have up-to-date certifications for required training, including firearms or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and that they perform assigned duties. While FPS policy does not specify how frequently guard posts should be inspected, we found that some posts are inspected less than once per year, in part, because contract guards are often posted in buildings hours or days away from the nearest FPS inspector. For example, one area supervisor reported guard posts that had not been inspected in 18 months while another reported posts that had not been inspected in over one year. In another region, FPS inspectors and police officers reported that managers told them to complete guard inspections over the telephone, instead of in person. In addition, when inspectors do perform guard inspections they do not visit the post during each shift; consequently some guard shifts may never be inspected by an FPS official. As a result, some guards may be supervised exclusively by a representative of the contract guard company. Moreover, in one area we visited with a large FPS presence, officials reported difficulty in getting to every post within that region’s required one month period.