A new report by Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General shows that the department is systemically failing to revoke tens of thousands of “personal identity verification” cards that allow staff to enter sensitive, secure facilities and access internal data networks, despite being warned about the problem for 15 years. The issue is made worse, the report continues, by the fact that Homeland Security’s internal record-keeping is so shoddy that it was impossible to determine how many ex-staffers have working access cards they aren’t supposed to.
Like many modern office workers, Homeland Security hands out office-unlocking keycards to its employees to make sure strangers can’t wander in off the street. And, like most workplaces, the department is supposed to follow a standard policy: When an employee is no longer an employee, for whatever reason, their card is to be promptly deactivated.
Unlike most employers, though, Homeland Security is a component of the U.S. Intelligence Community, meaning these credit card-sized badges have a “grave potential for misuse if lost, stolen, or compromised,” according to the inspector general report. Unfortunately for the department — and potentially the homeland — the OIG’s latest audit found that’s exactly what’s happening, and on a vast scale.
(via Instapundit)
[This is the fourth report in 15 years pointing out this gaping hole in DHS facility security. Nothing else explains this except total incompetence. In the private sector, it’s SOP to include canceling access cards as part of the termination process. It’s not even necessary to get the cards back; all HR has to do is track their assignments during employment and cancel them at termination. The ease of this process as well as the ability to track entries and exits are exactly why businesses stopped using physical keys a generation ago.
If DHS can’t secure its own facilities, how well are they “securing” the “homeland”? — Ed]
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