Federal Daily - October 15, 2009

Union Praises Proposed FPS Transfer Out of ICE

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 918—a national local that represents Federal Protective Service (FPS) employees—on Oct. 9 applauded legislative language that would move FPS out of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and into the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD). House and Senate conferees who negotiated the Fiscal Year 2010 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill (H.R. 2892/S. 1298) adopted the measure from the Senate version, which supported the realignment of FPS operations. FPS, which is tasked with providing physical security and policing of federal buildings, establishing building security policy and ensuring compliance, was ill served by ICE, said AFGE Local 918 President David Wright. “In our view, NPPD is a far more appropriate home for this beleaguered agency and the nation will see a stronger, more effective FPS under the new leadership,” Wright said. FPS has been criticized for reported weaknesses in federal building security, which AFGE said were caused by underfunding and mismanagement. AFGE said FPS responsibilities are outside the scope of ICE’s immigration and customs enforcement mission and are better aligned to NPPD. Other NPPD components include the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications, the Office of Infrastructure Protection, the Office of Intergovernmental Programs, the Office of Risk Management and Analysis and US-VISIT. To see more, go to: www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=1059 or http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2009_record&docid=cr13oc09-76.pdf (conference report).

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