May 25, 2000
Posers use fake IDs to
invade CIA, FBI
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Undercover agents from the General Accounting
Office used counterfeit badges and phony credentials
to penetrate security at two airports and 19
government offices � including the CIA, Justice
Department, FBI, State Department and Pentagon.
Agents from the GAO's Office of Special
Investigations successfully entered the private suites
of Defense Secretary William S. Cohen, Attorney
General Janet Reno, Federal Aviation Administrator
Jane Garvey, Health and Human Services Secretary
Donna E. Shalala and NASA Administrator Dan
Goldin.
According to a GAO draft report, the agents
used credentials made with widely available
computer programs and badges purchased over the
Internet to pose as plainclothes officers in an
investigation sought by the House Judiciary
subcommittee on crime.
Under that guise, the agents also were allowed
close access to the private suites of 15 Cabinet
officers or department heads, and took briefcases
and bags unescorted into the bathrooms nearest
those 15 offices.
The agents entered the buildings after declaring
they were armed. Briefcases they carried were never
searched. At the Justice Department, they drove a
rental van into the department's courtyard, where it
was left while the agents went into the building
unescorted �later entering Miss Reno's office.
At Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
and Orlando International Airport, the agents
obtained boarding passes and firearms permits to
carry weapons on flights for which they had
purchased tickets. The briefcases they carried were
never X-rayed and they were never challenged as
they boarded the planes.
"This is a shocking report revealing a dangerous
vulnerability plaguing thousands of people who work
in our buildings," said Rep. Henry J. Hyde, Illinois
Republican and House Judiciary Committee
chairman. "Complacency of security is a serious
threat to the orderly functioning of our government.
"I hope this startling report will focus new
attention on enhancing our security of the public
buildings housing our governmental agencies," he
said.
Rep. Bill McCollum, Florida Republican and
subcommittee chairman, who ordered the GAO
investigation, said the agents entered the buildings by
flashing fake law-enforcement badges and credentials
and posing as federal agents or local police officers.
He said a team of 19 GAO agents obtained their
bogus credentials by buying badges on various
Internet sites and through other sources, and by using
off-the-shelf computer graphics programs to generate
official-looking identification cards. The cards were
then placed in leather cases, and presented to the
agencies for entry.
"They are not perfect counterfeits by any means,"
said Mr. McCollum. "They were not intended to be
perfect copies of the real thing. That fact is very
disturbing to me. What these agents did a lot of
people could do. Certainly, members of a foreign
intelligence service or a terrorist organization could
do it."
The GAO, in a draft report, said some of the
badges used by the agents were movie props and
identified the undercover officers as members of the
New York Police Department, the FBI and the
Washington Metropolitan Police Department.
The credentials did not always match the badges,
the report said, noting that some of the documents
identified the agents as being from the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration.
The report said the agents worked in
two-member teams and in some instances, only one
of the agents was required to show a badge.
It said the agents were able to enter the buildings
"by being waived/waved around or through" metal
detectors without being searched or having their
briefcase opened.
"In our penetration of the CIA, FBI and State
Department, our undercover agents were permitted
to keep their declared firearms and carry their
unscreened bags, but were required to be
accompanied by an escort," the report said.
"However, in the CIA and the FBI, our agents
were able to enter a restroom carrying a bag,
unescorted. In the State Department, our agents
were able to leave their escort and walked within the
building without ever being challenged before leaving
about 15 minutes later," it said. "In all other sites,
escorts were not required and our agents wandered
throughout without ever being stopped."
The report was presented during a closed-door
meeting of the subcommittee. An open hearing is
scheduled for today.
Yesterday afternoon, the FBI announced it had
boosted security at its Washington headquarters and
at other locations.
The bureau said that beginning immediately, law
enforcement officers from outside the FBI will have
to surrender their weapons before entering unless
they have been given permanent building passes.
Also, the FBI said the guard post on the street
will verify visitors' picture identification and which
FBI employee they are visiting, rather than waiting to
do that when they reach an escort desk inside the
building.
In addition to the CIA, Justice Department, FBI,
State Department, Pentagon, HHS, FAA, NASA,
Reagan Airport and Orlando International Airport,
the agents targeted the Energy Department, U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service, Library of
Congress, National Archives, Agriculture
Department and Education Department.
Other targets were the Labor Department,
Transportation Department, Federal Emergency
Management Agency and the U.S. Courthouse and
Federal Building in Orlando.
The agents avoided being screened at every site.
The only agency that prevented the agents from
gaining access to or getting near the Cabinet officer's
suite was the CIA.
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Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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