July 31, 2008
United Press International

SALT LAKE CITY — The Army can’t verify that all of the civilian security guards it hires to protect military bases have been screened for criminal records, records show.

Congress mandated two years ago that the Army conduct thorough criminal background checks and give proper training to base security guards but declassified Pentagon records show that two years after the new requirements, the Army couldn’t say if a majority of the guards were in compliance, the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, reported Wednesday.

The newspaper said it obtained a declassified report through the Freedom of Information Act revealing that a recent inspection found many of the same problems, including at Utah’s Tooele Army Depot. Some bases, it said, also failed to conduct required secret tests to see if guards could find fake IDs or simulated car bombs.

“All of these problems put the Army at risk of having unqualified contractor personnel guarding installation access points, and paying security guard contractors for services it hasn’t received,” the News quoted a May 15 Army Audit Agency report as saying.