Reagan Building highlights security vs. public access debate

Fearing a terrorist attack, Agency for International Development workers at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington want to close the parking garage to the public. But the workers are running into sharp opposition from those who say the Reagan Building is a public facility with adequate security for both tenants and visitors. The American Foreign Service Association, the American Federation of Government Employees and the U.S. Personal Services Contractors Association sent letters to Congress, the General Services Administration and Office of Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge last month asking GSA to permanently close public parking at the Reagan Building and International Trade Center complex. GSA temporarily limited parking to building tenants after Sept. 11, but then reopened general public-access parking. "The intransigence of the GSA in continuing public-access parking flies in the face of the mortal concern of our memberships," Joseph Pastic, vice president for the AID chapter of the Foreign Service Association, wrote in his letter to Ridge. "Our members fear that it is only a matter of time before we in the [Reagan Building] are hit." Other tenants, however, say they feel safe and that their operations depend on the public's ability to park in 450 of the garage's 2,000 spaces. These tenants say that every car is inspected before it enters the garage. Security guards check trunks and use mirrors to look underneath cars for explosives. The guards also use scanners that can detect trace amounts of explosive material. GSA spokesman Hap Connors said trucks are sent to a remote location for screening and given scheduled arrival and departure times at the building. Michael Van Dusen, deputy director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a tenant in the building, said public parking is essential for visitors who attend the 400 meetings held each year at the center. Van Dusen said security has improved, particularly after Sept. 11. "We can have access and have security," he said. "If you shut down the building to public access you shut down the Woodrow Wilson Center." Susan Sarfati, CEO of the Center for Association Leadership and the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives, said one of the reasons her group moved into the building was because parking would be available to visitors. The controversy over public parking at the Reagan Building comes amid heightened concerns about security at federal facilities across the country and overseas. Taliban and al Qaeda leaders continue to make general threats against America. The 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon show that government buildings are likely targets of terrorist attacks. The Reagan Building's role as an international trade center has caused further concern for employees. AID management and employee groups have complained about security at the Reagan Building since 1,500 AID employees and contractors moved in four years ago. GSA has taken several measures to tighten security at the facility, including placing a ring of barriers around the building in anticipation of potential attacks around New Year's Day 2000. But the AID employee groups argue that the building won't be safe unless parking is limited to building tenants who have undergone background checks. "I believe very strongly the problem still exists," Pastic said. He added that GSA has not responded to his group's Oct. 11 request for a meeting to discuss security. GSA's Connors said the agency regularly meets with building tenants, including AID Administrator Andrew Natsios. GSA is addressing all of Natsios' security concerns, Connors said. At a Nov. 2 hearing, GSA Public Buildings Service chief Joseph Moravec told Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., that the agency carefully balances security with public access at the Reagan Building. "I can say to you that I am confident, not complacent, but confident that the most stringent security countermeasures and security procedures that we have available to us are in place at the Ronald Reagan Building," Moravec said. "The Ronald Reagan Building has not only its own security director, who's probably one of the top people in our force, but its own police station. So, I want to assure you that every car that enters the Ronald Reagan Building is subjected to a very high level of screening." Former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., a senior scholar at the Wilson Center who has an office in the Reagan Building and played a key role in the building's development, said he understands restrictions on access at the FBI, the Justice Department and other federal facilities, but not at the Reagan Building, which was designed for multiple uses. "The Agency for International Development might want to try and close it down, but I'm sorry, that's not why we built this building," Moynihan said. "And it took us 40 [expletive] years to do it. … If AID has security concerns, OK. Find another building." Earlier this summer, AID explored the idea of finding new office space in the Washington area after Natsios balked at the $50-per-square-foot cost of the agency's Reagan Building lease, AID spokeswoman Michelle King said. Since then, however, the agency has signed a new five-year occupancy agreement with GSA-albeit with a 120-day advance-notice escape clause. With AID staying put for now, the debate over public parking and access is likely to continue. Also under scrutiny are other security measures at the building. The National Capital Planning Commission, for example, would like to see GSA get rid of the barriers placed around the building two years ago and replace them with less fortress-like security measures. In addition, the Woodrow Wilson Center's entrance to the building was locked up after Sept. 11. The center's scholars and employees would like their entrance opened again, at least so that they could get out in an emergency. "They've locked up the university," Moynihan said. The 3.1 million-square-foot Reagan Building is the largest federal building in Washington and the second largest federal facility in the world, after the Pentagon. Federal tenants include AID, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Wilson Center and the Customs Service. Nonfederal tenants include the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives, SAP Public Sector and Education Inc., Volkswagen of America and AT&T Wireless. The building also includes a food court and conference space.