Norton To Move Open Society Bill After Wed Hearing on Arbitrary Practices at Fed Buildings (9/22/09)

Norton to Move Open Society Bill After Wed. Hearing on Arbitrary Practices that Screen Out the Public While Increasing Security at Federal Buildings

September 22, 2009

WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), chair, the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management, will examine public access and security at federal buildings at a hearing, Wednesday, September 23, 2 p.m. The hearing,"Risk-based Security in Federal Buildings: Targeting Real Risks and Eliminating Unnecessary Security Obstacles," will be held in room 2167, Rayburn House Office Building. The Congresswoman said security in federal buildings is neither rational nor sufficiently uniform, and that non-security personnel are setting the agenda for security for federal buildings. After the hearing, Norton will move her bill, entitled "United States Commission on an Open Society with Security Act," to establish a commission to investigate best practices to achieve the necessary balance between openness and security. "Surely, we are smart enough to keep terrorists out without making it virtually impossible for U.S. taxpaying citizens to get into federal buildings," Norton said. "But both are occurring. We can't afford to have taxpaying citizens visiting this tourist city, but getting turned away from the federal buildings that have restrooms and cafeterias closed to the taxpayers and other visitors. Since the Oklahoma City bombing, and particularly after 9/11, Federal authorities have done a poor job of assessing the increased risks while assessing the access the public has a right to expect in a free and open democratic society."

Norton said, "the results are amateurish at best and dangerous at worst." Norton said that she personally knows of federal buildings that are unlikely to be targeted by terrorists, where there is no public access and not even for Congressional staff unless escorted by an agency employee with a badge. At the same time, the hearing will include testimony from the General Accountability Office, which recently got bomb-making equipment past security at several federal buildings. "The apparently arbitrary contrasts between over securing some federal sites and leaving others at risk hardly invites federal employees and visitors to feel we're looking out for them," Norton said. The Congresswoman, who also serves on the Homeland Security Committee, said that the risks to federal sites and employees are increased when there is neither accountability nor professional risk assessments.

Witnesses for the hearing will be (in order of appearance): John Porcari, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation; Mark Goldstein, Director, Physical Infrastructure, Government Accountability Office; Robert Peck, Commissioner, Public Buildings Service, General Services Administration; William G. Dowd, Director, Physical Planning Division, National Capital Planning Commission; Gary Schenkel, Director, Federal Protective Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Patrick Moses, Regional Director, National Capital Region Federal Protective Service; John E. Drew, President, Drew Company, Inc.; Erin McCann, D.C. resident.

The hearing will be webcast live at http//transportation.house.gov.