Security lapses spurred firing

U.S. Park Police Chief Teresa C. Chambers was removed from office after an Interior Department investigation revealed security lapses at the Statue of Liberty and at the Washington Monument four months ago on the anniversary of September 11.

Top Interior Department officials confirmed the reasons for the firing. One of the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the security lapses “led to her demise.”

“The [inspector general] did several reports that pointed to security lapses, and the Park Service in response was putting demands on her to stop lowering her priorities and to start protecting the monuments,” the official said. “The additional demands caused her to react negatively.”

Chief Chambers has told reporters that she did not have enough funding or officers to provide security for national monuments and patrol parks and roadways that are part of the Park Police’s jurisdiction. But taking her complaints public, according to Interior officials, violated government regulations.

On Dec. 5, the National Park Service placed Chief Chambers on administrative leave. On Dec. 17, officials proposed she be removed from office in a six-point document charging her with, among other things, improper budget communications, improper lobbying, insubordination and violating the chain of command.

Mark Pfeifle, an Interior Department spokesman, would not comment on what role the security lapses played in Chief Chambers’ termination.

But the top reason listed for her dismissal by the Park Service in the Dec. 17 document is her unwillingness to commit to a follow-up study measuring the department’s progress in refining its mission to more tightly focus on National Mall security.

According to a 2001 review conducted by the National Academy of Public Administration, the top priority for the Park Police was to rein in “mission creep” because the department had devoted too many resources to giving out traffic tickets, conducting drug busts and participating in other department programs rather than guarding park icons, such as the Washington Monument.

“That’s certainly not the case as far as mission creep,” said Officer Jim Austin, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police U.S. Park Police Labor Committee. “While the icons are very important for us to protect, I don’t see who would expect us to turn our backs on some of the parkways and the neighborhood patrols out there.”

Interior Department officials said Chief Chambers had not sufficiently implemented the recommendations of the study and that she attempted to delay a progress check because she felt it was “unnecessary.”

The sources said Chief Chambers, who was hired in February 2002, refused to implement the study’s recommendations because she did not want to “infuriate” officers already questioning the qualifications of three executive hires that she made when she joined the force.

Chief Chambers was “unwilling to go to the troops and tell them to do guard duty instead of drug interdiction,” one source said.

In a lengthy written response to the charges made by the National Park Service, Chief Chambers said that she thought the follow-up study was a good idea and that she had implemented the majority of the recommendations.

But a report issued by the Interior Department’s inspector general last March directed Chief Chambers to implement more stringent security requirements around national monuments. The inspector general conducted security reviews at the top nine national parks considered icons, including the Statue of Liberty, Liberty Bell, Mount Rushmore and the mall, and found varying degrees of security lapses at all the parks, the official said.

A second inspection was conducted at the Washington Monument on the September 11 anniversary last year, and officials were “horrified” to learn security had still not been put in place and the icon was unguarded.

Dozens of photographs taken by the inspector general’s investigators showed large suspicious bags went unnoticed by police in secure areas, including one next to the Washington Monument and another just a few feet from a police guard building. There was also a photo of a Park Police supervisor asleep in his vehicle who remained undisturbed by the camera’s flash.

Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, an organization supporting Chief Chambers, said the incident had been investigated and it had been determined the supervisor was off duty at the time.

Mr. Pfeifle said Interior Secretary Gale Norton was made aware of the photos and of the report.

“The secretary quickly and methodically responded to the report by immediately asking for a follow-up review of security on the National Mall,” he said.

The sources said Interior Department Inspector General Earl E. Devany started writing “nasty reports” indicating that Chief Chambers wasn’t doing her job. That prompted a “rift between her and her supervisor, Don Murphy, who was just trying to make sure the monuments didn’t blow up while they’re out chasing drug deals.”

“The real story is that [Chief Chambers] should have been charged with dereliction of duty,” the official said.

Chief Chambers’ supporters disagreed.

“The only thing we would urge the Department of Interior to do is leak more comprehensively, rather than more selectively,” Mr. Ruch said.