Norton Hearing to Reveal Misuse of Police who Protect Federal Employees and Sites (2/07/08)

Washington, DC-Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management will hold a hearing on preliminary findings by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) of what Norton says is "shocking deterioration and use for non-police functions of the Federal Protective Service, charged with security and safety functions for one million federal employees and sites." The hearing will take place on Friday, February 8, 2008 at 9 AM in 2167 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Norton said that when the GAO informed the Subcommittee of its preliminary findings, she believed she could not "sit on them." The complete evaluation and final report on FPS protection efforts is expected in May 2008. "We have to be mindful that federal facilities where federal employees work have been major sites for terrorist attacks in this country," Norton says in her opening statement, citing the Pentagon and the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, she said. "There is a reason that one of the 9/11 planes struck the Pentagon, becoming part of the worst terrorist disaster in our history. Federal facilities are symbols of the government the terrorists want to bring down. Nor can we forget that in addition to federal employees, millions of Americans frequent federal facilities and depend on the FPS to protect against crime as well as terrorism."

Norton has often spoken of the sharp difference between the security afforded the Capitol with its own large Capitol police force and the White House with Secret Service protection, on the one hand, and the deterioration of police forces for other federal sites and employees on the other. This week, large problems with the badly deteriorated Park Police, charged with protecting millions of National Mall visitors and monuments and National Capitol Region parks, were reported by the Inspector General of the Interior Department.