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Article: State Department underprotected?(Metropolitan Times)(District News)
- Article from:
- The Washington Times (Washington, DC)
- Article date:
- July 30, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 News World Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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They look like federal police officers. They wear uniforms and badges and even carry guns, but the officers protecting the State Department and some embassies are private armed security guards with few police powers.
Some of the guards, who carry 20-year-old .357 Magnum revolvers, have had eight hours of training with the weapons before being assigned to protect their post. The guards - many make $14 an hour, but get no sick leave - say they could not effectively deter an attack because they lack automatic weapons and have had only 90 minutes of anti-terrorist training.
"If you walked by, you would think it was a security force there," one guard ...