Senator, GAO question security at USDA research facilities

Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said Monday that a General Accounting Office report finding "serious shortcomings" in the Agriculture Department's security at Plum Island, the federal research laboratory off the coast of New York's Long Island, "raises concerns" about security at other animal disease research facilities such as the National Animal Disease Center at Ames, Iowa.

In a statement, Harkin said GAO had found insufficient security checks to prevent unauthorized individuals access to secure areas of the Plum Island facility containing dangerous pathogens; unclear guidelines and operating procedures for security personnel; and alleged acts of sabotage at the facility.

USDA uses the Plum Island facility to research animal diseases that do not exist on the U.S. mainland. The facility was transferred to the Homeland Security Department in 2002, but USDA scientists still do their work there.

Harkin said "early indications are that [Homeland Security] is taking the problems outlined by GAO seriously," but that he is "alarmed" that facilities under USDA control may not be secure. Harkin said he is also "convinced" USDA officials did not realize that a labor dispute was endangering security at Plum Island.

An Agriculture Department spokeswoman said GAO's contention that USDA had not made adequate improvements before transferring the facility to Homeland Security was "not true." The spokeswoman said USDA had limited access to pathogens at Plum Island and at other facilities, increased physical security in general and is completing background checks at employees at its research facilities.

"We feel we have a good system in place," she said.

At the laboratory facility in Ames, the spokeswoman said, USDA has moved pathogens to "more secure" facilities and hired additional guards.