In FY 2007, the fed. government¿s real property portfolio comprised 446,000 buildings with an area of 3.3 billion square feet and a replacement value of $772.8 billion. Contents of this report: (1) Fed. Facility Security Levels; (2) Interagency Security Committee; (3) Exec. Branch Facility Security: Fed. Protective Service (FPS): Historical Overview and Current FPS Authority; FPS¿s Use of Contract Security Guards; (4) Fed. Court Facility Security; (5) Supreme Court; (6) Coordination of Fed. Building Security; (7) Fed. Building Security Issues: FPS¿s Operations, Use and concerns of Contract Security Guards: FPS¿s Oper.; Coord. and Sharing of Fed. Building Security Info.; Facility Security Committees; Appropriations and Resources.

The security of federal government buildings and facilities affects not only the daily operations of the federal government but also the health, well-being, and safety of federal employees and the public. For the purposes of this report, federal facilities include any building leased or owned by the General Services Administration. Security of federal facilities includes physical security assets such as closed-circuit television cameras, barrier material, and security guards (both federally employed and contracted). Federal facility security practices have been subject to criticism by government auditors and security experts. Elements that have received criticism include the use of private security guards, the management and security practices of the Federal Protective Service, and the coordination of federal facility security.

In November 1999, GSA and the U.S. Department of State convened a symposium to discuss the apparently conflicting objectives of security from terrorist attack and the design of public buildings in an open society. The symposium sponsors rejected the notion of rigid, prescriptive design approaches. The symposium concluded with a challenge to the design and security professions to craft aesthetically appealing architectural solutions that achieve balanced, performance-based approaches to both openness and security. In response to a request from the Office of the Chief Architect of the Public Buildings Service, the National Research Council (NRC) assembled a panel of independent experts, the Committee to Review the Security Design Criteria of the Interagency Security Committee. This committee was tasked to evaluate the ISC Security Design Criteria to determine whether particular provisions might be too prescriptive to allow a design professional "reasonable flexibility" in achieving desired security and physical protection objectives.

The security of federal government buildings and facilities affects not only the daily operations of the federal government but also the health, well-being, and safety of federal employees and the public. Federal building and facility security is decentralized and disparate in approach, as numerous federal entities are involved and some buildings or facilities are occupied by multiple federal agencies. The federal government is tasked with securing over 446,000 buildings or facilities daily. The September 2001 terrorist attacks, the September 2013 Washington Navy Yard shootings, and the April 2014 Fort Hood shootings have refocused the federal government's attention on building security activities. There has been an increase in the security operations at federal facilities and more intense scrutiny of how the federal government secures and protects federal facilities, employees, and the visiting public. This renewed attention has generated a number of frequently asked questions. This report answers several common questions regarding federal building and facility security, including: What is federal facility security?; Who is responsible for federal facility security?; Is there a national standard for federal facility security?; What are the types of threats to federal facilities, employees, and the visiting public?; How is threat information communicated among federal facility security stakeholders?; and, What are the potential congressional issues associated with federal facility security?

One of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) priorities is the protection of Federal employees and private citizens who work within and visit U.S. Government-owned or leased facilities. The Interagency Security Committee (ISC), chaired by DHS, consists of 53 Federal departments and agencies, has as its mission the development of security standards and best practices for nonmilitary Federal facilities in the United States. As Chair of the ISC, I am pleased to introduce the new ISC document titled The Risk Management Process: An Interagency Security Committee Standard (Standard). This ISC Standard defines the criteria and processes that those responsible for the security of a facility should use to determine its facility security level and provides an integrated, single source of physical security countermeasures for all nonmilitary Federal facilities. The Standard also provides guidance for customization of the countermeasures for Federal facilities.

The design, construction, operation, and retrofit of buildings is evolving in response to ever-increasing knowledge about the impact of indoor environments on people and the impact of buildings on the environment. Research has shown that the quality of indoor environments can affect the health, safety, and productivity of the people who occupy them. Buildings are also resource intensive, accounting for 40 percent of primary energy use in the United States, 12 percent of water consumption, and 60 percent of all non-industrial waste. The processes for producing electricity at power plants and delivering it for use in buildings account for 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. federal government manages approximately 429,000 buildings of many types with a total square footage of 3.34 billion worldwide, of which about 80 percent is owned space. More than 30 individual departments and agencies are responsible for managing these buildings. The characteristics of each agency's portfolio of facilities are determined by its mission and its programs. In 2010, GSA's Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings asked the National Academies to appoint an ad hoc committee of experts to conduct a public workshop and prepare a report that identified strategies and approaches for achieving a range of objectives associated with high-performance green federal buildings. Achieving High-Performance Federal Facilities identifies examples of important initiatives taking place and available resources. The report explores how these examples could be used to help make sustainability the preferred choice at all levels of decision making. Achieving High-Performance Federal Facilities can serve as a valuable guide federal agencies with differing missions, types of facilities, and operating procedures.