US federal security lapses found

（单词翻译）

US federal security lapses¹ found

Undercover investigators² managed to smuggle（偷运，走私） bomb-making materials into key US government buildings on 10 occasions last year, a congressional report（国会报告） says.

The Government Accountability Office said that once inside the buildings, investigators were able to assemble bombs and carry them around freely.

The infiltrated（浸润，渗透） buildings included the offices of a senator and a congressman³.

The report cited instances of guards falling asleep on the job or failing to detect explosives at x-ray scanners.

Embarrassing

Washington spends around $1bn a year protecting thousands of government buildings across the country.

The BBC's Jon Donnison in Washington says the report makes embarrassing reading for the Federal Protection Service, which employs over 13,000 contract security guards.

The report flagged up an incident where one guard accidently fired his gun into a mirror in a public lavatory（公共厕所） while practicing pulling it out of its holster（手枪皮套）.

On another occasion, a security officer did not notice that he had sent a baby through an X-ray machine.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee is due to hold a hearing into failings at the agency.

The committee chairman, Senator Joe Lieberman, said that eight years after the 9/11 attacks, it was "simply unacceptable" that federal employees and visitors remained exposed to potential terrorist attacks. (本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)