Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 11:32:16 -0700 From: rsrchsoc@IONET.NET (John Wilde) Subject: Re: gov't keeps losing guns, computers To: AZRKBA@asu.edu
Perfect example of why we need gun control. That is gun control for government employees not the people.
g'day John Wilde
Number Six wrote:
> Report faults INS for loss of
> weapons, computers
> By Jerry Seper
> THE WASHINGTON TIMES
>
> The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, long the target
> of federal inquiries over suspected operation and management
> problems, was criticized in a new report outlining the agencys
> inability to account for hundreds of weapons and thousands of
> computers.
> The Justice Departments Office of Inspector General, in a
> report released yesterday by the INS, said agency officials could
> not account for more than 61,000 items worth about $70 million
> including 539 weapons and 12,000 laptop, desktop and
> notebook computers that could contain sensitive information.
> The report, which criticized INS for not requiring inventories of
> agency equipment, said INS officials failed to "adequately
> safeguard property" and concluded that "without immediate
> corrective action, property will remain at substantial risk."
> INS spokesman Greg Gagne said the report, which included
> information gathered by investigators over the past three years,
> offered what he described as a "snapshot of a lot of our past
> inadequacies."
> He said the agency was now requiring updated record-keeping
> procedures and that employee training had increased significantly.
> "Were in a whole lot better shape than when this snapshot was
> taken," he said, and record keeping had been a major concern.
> "We have tightened up the entire process."
> Mr. Gagne noted that more than 100 of the weapons reported
> to be missing never existed. INS officials have said that major
> deficiencies noted in the report would be addressed by
> management officials.
> The INS, which enforces U.S. immigration laws and adjudicates
> applications for naturalization, operates with 32,000 employees
> as a part of the Justice Department. It has undergone an
> extensive computer-training program after a March 2000 report
> by the Inspector Generals Office found "serious deficiencies" in
> the agencys programs.
> In the new report, the Inspector Generals Office said the
> agencys lack of physical inventories of its computers could
> result in "unauthorized persons gaining access to sensitive
> information."
> Among the missing 539 weapons was a gasgrenade launcher
> from the U.S. Border Patrol office in San Diego and 39
> automatic rifles or machine guns, most of them missing from INS
> headquarters in Washington and its training academy at Glynco,
> Ga.
> Of the missing weapons, the report said six had later been linked
> to crimes: Two were used in armed robberies, one was found
> during a raid on a drug lab, two were confiscated during other
> arrests and one was linked to a murder probe.
> "The fact that INS weapons ended up in the hands of criminals is
> cause for serious concern," the report concluded.