Federal land employees were threatened or assaulted 360 times in recent years, GAO says

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-land-employees-were-threatened-or-assaulted-360-times-in-recent-years-gao-says/2019/10/18/bd7b606c-f1bd-11e9-b2da-606ba1ef30e3_story.html


Cliven Bundy walks out of Las Vegas federal court with his wife, Carol, in January 2018, after a judge dismissed criminal charges against him and his sons, who were accused of leading an armed uprising against federal authorities in 2014. (K.M. Cannon/AP)

By Joe Davidson Columnist

Oct. 21, 2019 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

The federal government is known for having secure employment.

That doesn’t necessarily mean safe employment — especially for federal land management employees.

A report scheduled for release Monday indicates at least 360 threats and assaults against employees of four agencies from fiscal 2013 through 2017. The FBI investigated “under 100” of these as domestic terrorism cases, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said, using a vague, unexplained number that could be anything from zero to 99.

The range of intimidation against federal employees included attempted murder. The count of 360 is probably an underestimate and does not fully convey the severity of the problem. Incidents reported to state and local authorities are not included in the tally.

More troubling, employees told GAO they don’t always report threats, because they are “part of the job,” or a “common occurrence” even while off-duty, shopping or at home. Many cases were motivated by “anti-government ideologies,” according to GAO.

Despite this, none of the four agencies — the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service — have completed all required facility security assessments, and three have no plans to do so. The House Natural Resources oversight and investigations subcommittee will discuss the report at a hearing Tuesday on “Protecting Federal Employees and Ending the Culture of Anti-Government Attacks and Abuse.”

President Trump demonstrated his position last year on those anti-government ideologues who violate federal facilities, and it is not a comforting one for feds.

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More destruction by Trump...

[Thomas Hurt]

1. These freaks think they should be feudal lords over public lands.

[2naSalit]

2. It was getting really bad when I was

in uniform in two of those agencies. Glad my last tour was in 2016.

[Kali]

3. and what is the number of fed land management employees threatening the public?

I get it, there are nut jobs like the Bundies, but trust me there are more than a few agency assholes out there that get off on their little bit of power.