Four US Agencies Lack Funds To Protect Public Lands From Terrorists, Vandals - Report

Four US Agencies Lack Funds to Protect Public Lands From Terrorists, Vandals - Report

Holes in the budgets of four US agencies that manage land owned by the federal government leave the agencies with little or no money to protect employees or territory they control from attacks by terrorists or vandals, the General Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report on Monday

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st October, 2019) Holes in the budgets of four US agencies that manage land owned by the federal government leave the agencies with little or no money to protect employees or territory they control from attacks by terrorists or vandals, the General Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report on Monday.

"Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data for fiscal years 2013 through 2017 also showed that the FBI initiated under 100 domestic terrorism investigations into potential threats against federal land management agencies," the report said. "The majority of these investigations involved BLM [Bureau of Land Management] and individuals motivated by anti-government ideologies."

Three of the four agencies - the Bureau of Land Management, National Forest Service and National Park Service - are so strapped for security funding, they have no overall security plans, while the Fish and Wildlife Service has drafted a plan despite an inability to fund the plan's implementation, the report said.

The report noted several high profile security incidents in recent years, including the 2016 occupation of a wildlife refuge in the state of Oregon by militant ranchers angered over government land-use policies.

Together, the four agencies manage nearly 700 million acres of public land.