Federal Protective Service (FPS)

Federal Protective Service
Name
Institutional Affiliation

Abstract
Under the social contract, the government promises to offer security to its citizens. It has to put in place different agencies that concentrate on security to achieve this. However, the government also becomes the victim of insecurity sometimes, and that is why it needs a dedicated agency to ensure that its facilities are protected. The Federal Protective Service is the agency that is primarily tasked with ensuring that the federal agencies can perform effectively by dealing with any security threats that target them. It is under Department of Homeland Security. Even though the agency has a crucial duty in ensuring the security of the nation, it faces many challenges. This makes people doubt its effectiveness. Budgeting is its major challenge. It does not have the right number of people because it cannot afford to pay them with the money it receives to conduct its duties. It also lacks experts to handle its different duties.
Keywords: agencies, security, federal, challenges, duties, budget

Federal Protective Service
The Federal Protective Service is a security agency under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This federal agency is charged with different duties meant to ensure that the other federal agencies can conduct their duties in a secure environment. The primary duty of the agency is to safeguard the security of the federal agencies nationwide and to protect other premises owned by the government of the United States.

Apart from playing this role, the agency also works closely with the criminal justice system to help in criminal investigations, it trains the federal tenants regarding crime prevention, and it responds to natural disasters. The agency is required to investigate the threats plotted against federal facilities all over the country. One of the things that ensure the agency performs its duties efficaciously, is the fact that it tailors security countermeasures that meet individual federal facility’s needs as opposed to applying uniform countermeasures for all the federal agencies. To do this, the agency interviews the people in a particular federal facility and studies its neighborhood to check the crime rates. This ensures that the security countermeasures implemented for a particular federal facility are effective.
Even though the duties of the agency are clearly defined, it still fails to perform them appropriately (Moore, 2014). One of the things that affect its effectiveness is the budget. The agency should be independent so that it can perform its duties efficaciously. Being under the Department of Homeland Security limits the amount of money it gets to perform its activities. With enough money, this agency will employ enough people who have the expertise to protect the other agencies and the government’s buildings and their occupants appropriately.
References
Moore, J. (2014, May 21). Lawmakers worried DHS losing faith in Federal Protective Service. Federal News Radio. Retrieved from https://federalnewsradio.com/congress/2014/05/lawmakers-worried-dhs-losing-faith-in-federal-protective-service/