Outsourcing in the Dark

[marmar]

from The American Prospect:


Outsourcing in the Dark

A new Congressional inquiry into outsourcing may shed some light on how well the federal government monitors the performance of its contractors.

Harold Meyerson | July 27, 2007 | web only



You don't trifle with Robin Smith when it comes to keeping America safe. Smith is a former airman first class who won a Sharpshooter badge and was one of 125 women selected by the Air Force for a test combat training program. She comes from a family that was almost a stranger to civilian life; until her brother retired from service in the mid-'90s, she says, "there was a member of my family on active military duty for over 100 consecutive years." Smith is black; her forebears joined up in the days of the Buffalo Soldiers.

Since she left the service, Smith has worked for several private security contractors, which is how she came to be stationed at the Department of Homeland Security headquarters here in Washington, in the employ of Wackenhut Services, the company that provides security at a multitude of nuclear, defense and other highly sensitive federal facilities. For a time she was stationed in the building where Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff worked, and she saw him every day he was at the office. "He trusted us to do everything to protect his site," she says.

That trust was misplaced. In September 2005, Smith was working as an emergency dispatcher, charged with monitoring the cameras throughout the complex and alerting Wackenhut superiors if something went awry. One day, an employee opened an envelope filled with an unidentified white powder, which poured out over her. Two Wackenhut officers rushed to the scene, which they failed to isolate. Appalled, Smith asked if she should notify the Federal Protective Service and was told she shouldn't. She asked if any of the officers had training in hazardous materials and was told they didn't. She recommended they isolate the envelope and the employee and evacuate the building.

Instead, Wackenhut officers took the envelope outside and told the employee to go wash off the powder, which she did, passing directly in front of Chertoff's office on her way to the ladies' room. Finally, after half an hour, they called the Federal Protective Service, which evacuated the building. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=outsourcing_in_the_dark