Executive
Waste of the Day: Millions Spent on Shoddy Security At Statue of Liberty
Topline: The Statue of Liberty is supposed to be a symbol of democracy and freedom, but a new inspector general report claims that millions of dollars of taxpayer money are being wasted at the base of the monument.
The bad Statue of Liberty security contract
The National Park Service wrote a $43.9 million contract for security at the Statue of Liberty, but poor oversight led to an “increased risk to public safety and to the safety of the site itself,” according to the report.
Key facts: Universal Protection Services provides 110 unarmed guards for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, but auditors say many of them are violating their contract.
On-site auditors separately noticed two security guards watching sports games on their cell phones when they were supposed to be screening visitors to the Statue of Liberty for firearms and explosives.
The security contract prohibits guards from using cell phones, but there was no evidence anyone had ever been disciplined for doing so.
Some employees also failed to return their Department of the Interior ID cards after leaving the security company; 17 of them could not be found. The ID cards are “sensitive assets” and the contract requires them to be returned.
Universal Protection Services’ contract also requires them to use an electronic timekeeping system, but the system was never installed. Instead, employees punched in and out by signing their name with a pen.
The inspector general found that some timesheets were lost or had errors. In a random sample, 42% of the timesheets were not approved correctly — representing almost $938,000 in salary payments that auditors say may have been inaccurate.
Another employee invoiced the government for $32,000 of work but never filled out their timesheet.
No drug test records
The security company also could not show records that its employees had been drug tested or completed required training, even though auditors gave two months’ notice that they would inspect those files.
The contract is paid on a yearly basis, so only $5.6 million had actually been spent as of September 2022.
Summary: Until Universal Protection Services makes substantive changes, all $43.9 million is likely to be spent ineffectively. The company is not guaranteed to stay on for their full four-year contract with the National Park Service, and perhaps they shouldn’t.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.
This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.
Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) was the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.
Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.
The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.
Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.
Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.
Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.
Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.
In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.
Andrzejewski passed away in his sleep at his home in in Hinsdale, Illinois, on August 18, 2024. He is survived by his wife Kerry and three daughters. He also served as a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).
Waste of the Day articles published after August 18, 2024 are considered posthumous publications.
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