Security at Navy Yard weak, surveillance expert says

[jakeXT]

WASHINGTON — The Washington Navy Yard, a former shipyard where Monday’s fatal shootings occurred, has a history of weak security with past reports citing poor entrance controls, video dead spots, inadequate lighting, malfunctioning alarms and other problems.

...

James Atkinson, a former military intelligence officer who now heads Granite Island Group in Gloucester, Mass., said the Navy hired his surveillance security firm in 2009 to test newly installed electronic security gates and other access controls inside Building 197.

The “controlled penetration” test revealed that a tamper sensor wasn’t working because of a design defect and that hardware store-variety screws had been used to secure the main access-control panel instead of more expensive screws that could only be loosened with a specific screwdriver, Atkinson said.

“We found not only had people opened it up, but there were traces that somebody had placed a device inside that was recording data, so somebody could hoax the unit and claim to be a person they were not,” Atkinson said.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/16/202320/security-at-navy-yard-weak-surveillance.html

[darkangel218]

1. Yah, no shit!!

[Eddie Haskell]

2. Walk in shootings would not occur with proper security controls.

[krispos42]

5. Such a crazy person could simply shoot up the security line instead

After all, the same people he would target in the building would also be in the security line. All crowded together.

And he'd have a better chance of getting away.


I'm honestly surprised it hasn't happened yet.

[russspeakeasy]

3. ...but they'll get right on it.

[Bennyboy]

4. That particular building had "multiple layers of security"

The base itself had more security than say a mall, a football stadium, or most everywhere else not a military base. The guy took a weapon from a security and sued that weapon to kill many people.

So now we have to ask the question (already knowing the answer) is how far do we take it? How secure can we make things and how much money are we gonna be spending on that?

And do you think that will help?