Fed Buildings Vulnerable to Terrorist Attacks, Probe Finds

Federal buildings are virtually unprotected from terrorist attacks, an undercover government investigation has found.

Undercover agents from the Government Accountability Office encountered a guard asleep at his post,...

Undercover agents from the Government Accountability Office encountered a guard asleep at his post, after taking the powerful painkiller Percocet. At another facility, they found a guard using FPS computers to operate "a private for-profit adult website."

(ABC News Photo Illustration)

Undercover agents from the Government Accountability Office were able to smuggle liquid bombmaking materials into all ten federal buildings around the United States they tested, according to testimony before a Senate panel Wednesday morning.

Once inside the buildings, the agents assembled the components and walked around several floors of each building -- past field offices for U.S. lawmakers, the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and others.

GAO did not disclose the specific buildings it penetrated. All facilities penetrated by GAO investigators were considered "Level 4" high-security buildings – that house more than 450 employees, house major agencies that have national security or law enforcement responsibilities, and might be a likely target for an attack.

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Investigators encountered a guard asleep at his post, after taking the powerful painkiller Percocet. At another facility, they found a guard using FPS computers to operate "a private for-profit adult website."

GAO investigators also reviewed guard certifications, and found that most lacked at least one certification that should have been required to work as a federal guard. Federal buildings are protected by the Federal Protective Service, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security. The service relies heavily on contact guard services, which provide 13,000 personnel to the service.

"It is outrageously unacceptable that federal employees working in federal buildings. . . are still apparently so utterly exposed to potential attack by terrorists or other violent people," said Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, I-CT, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which held a hearing on the investigation Wednesday morning. "I cannot fathom how security breaches of this magnitude were allowed to occur," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the panel's ranking Republican.