Information on Military, Civilian, and Contract Employees Who Provide Physical Security at Military Installations

GAO was requested to review 10 questions relating to military, civilian, and contract employees who provide physical security at military facilities. The questions were as follows: (1) what criteria are used to determine the personnel requirements for the physical security at military facilities; (2) what criteria are used to determine whether security should be provided by military or nonmilitary personnel; (3) can additional security requirements be assumed by nonmilitary personnel, thus freeing military personnel; (4) how many staff-years of physical security are provided by military personnel in the Department of Defense (DOD); (5) how many staff-years of physical security are provided by civilian Federal employees; (6) how many staff-years of physical security are provided by contract employees; (7) how do the three methods of delivery vary in terms of quality of service, training for employees, and accountability; (8) are cost comparisons consistently performed to justify the choice for the method of delivery; (9) how does the contracting of nonsecurity functions on facilities affect security; and (10) is security coverage a line item in the budget and/or appropriation for DOD or other agencies.

GAO found the answers to the foregoing questions as follows: (1) there was no clear-cut criteria for determining security personnel requirements for military facilities; (2) the policy of DOD requires military people to protect nuclear assets, however, the Government now requires case-by-case determinations of whether guard and protective services will be provided by military, civil service, or contract; (3) many similar security functions are performed by different types of people which include the military, civil service, and contractors; (4) the total authorized position understates the number of military people involved in security because many military people perform security functions on a part-time basis; (5) there are 2,600 civilian staff-years authorized for security duties at Army and Air Force facilities; (6) the information could not be determined because the contractor estimates and provides its own personnel; (7) the quality, training, and accountability varied at the different military facilities; (8) cost comparisons are not required to justify the choice for the method of delivery; (9) there were no problems in contracting for nonsecurity functions that would adversely affect facility security; and (10) under current budget and appropriation processes, security coverage is not a separate line item for DOD or any of the services.