Both of Missouri’s U.S. Senators want to see improved background checks for government contractors. This comes after a mentally ill contractor entered the Washington Navy Yard on Monday and opened fire. Thirteen died, including the gunman.
Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill said a Department of Defense Inspector General report finds significant systemic problem with contractor background checks for access to Navy facilities. “We cannot prevent every incident of violence. We cannot stop people who are mentally ill who believe killing a lot of people is somehow their calling. But we can make sure the system works, and clearly this system is broken,” McCaskill said.
The audit found 52 contractors with felony backgrounds gained access to Navy facilities, and blamed Navy attempts to reduce access control costs.
“In an effort to make contractor access easier, shortcuts were taken that are dangerous. So we will focus on this as we have contracting on security at our embassies and other critical points in our government that need an extra layer of protection,” McCaskill said.
Republican Senator Roy Blunt wants to reexamine security and move forward with mental health legislation.
“I hope we can convince people at the White House that would be a good thing for the federal government to take seriously at a moment when people are talking about mental health and mental health challenges and what that means, not only in individual lives, but in tragedies,” Blunt said. Blunt also cites the Edward Snowden situation as another reason to improve contractor background checks.
“In all of these incidents, the weapon may change, the location may change, lots of things change, but in every case the one thing that is constant is that the perpetrator has extraordinary behavioral and mental health challenges and they lead to something like this,” Blunt said.