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Subject: Federal Protective Service Actions Faulted; Glenn Says Agency Exceeded Mandate
Date: Sat, 31 Oct 92 08:47:18 EST
Message-ID: <15.1992Oct31.084718@AmeriCast.com>

Federal Protective Service Actions Faulted; Glenn Says Agency Ex-
ceeded Mandate in Accommodating N.Y. Visitors<By Bill
McAllister=Washington Post Staff Writer=

Princess Diana, President Bush, First Lady Barbara Bush, Vice
President Quayle, former White House chief of staff John H.
Sununu, former Labor secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole and Cardi-
nal Agostino Casaroli, the Vatican's former secretary of state,
all benefited from a little-known federal agency while visiting
New York.

According to Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio), all were given security or
motorcade service by the Federal Protective Services, whose off-
icers are supposed to guard federal buildings in the city. In-
stead, Glenn said the federal protective officers went far
afield, helping Dole get to the wedding of Rep. Susan Molinari
(R-N.Y.), providing Energy Secretary James D. Watkins with a car
with emergency lights and sirens, escorting Housing and Urban
Development Secretary Jack Kemp to political fund-raisers and
driving Sununu to Yankee Stadium for a baseball game.

Branding the protective service a "super chauffeur and security
force," Glenn said the agency, part of the General Services Ad-
ministration, had no authority to use its officers off government
property. He said that GSA had stopped the practice and billed a
number of agencies for overtime its officers accumulated on the
details.

GSA spokeswoman Kathryn L. Gaddy disputed Glenn's view, saying
GSA was authorized to provide transportation and communication
services for federal officials. "He needs to look at our enabling
legislation. We have authority to procure supplies and services
for other agencies," she said.  "The whole thing is a perception
problem," she said. The GSA officers were used as drivers, not
guards, she said, They were selected because "they know their way
around New York extremely well." Even so, GSA no longer provides
drivers, she said. It continues, however, to offer cars and com-
munications gear for visiting federal officials in New York.

Thus far, Glenn said, GSA had recouped $50,000 from the agencies
involved. That is "just the tip of the iceberg of what is owed,"
said Glenn, chairman of the Senate Committee on Governmental Af-
fairs.

"Taxpayer money was wasted on these trips and GSA is primarily
responsible for letting it go on as long as it did," he said in
statement. The senator said a number of the individuals covered
in the 129 instances he cited could have qualified for Secret
Service protection, but use of the building police were "case
studies in extravagant, improper and wasteful use of taxpayer
funds."<02:15 10-31C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

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