{"id":15052,"date":"2015-04-19T00:09:26","date_gmt":"2015-04-19T00:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2015\/04\/19\/okc-tragedy-led-to-first-federal-building-security-standards\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:40:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:40:43","slug":"okc-tragedy-led-to-first-federal-building-security-standards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2015\/04\/19\/okc-tragedy-led-to-first-federal-building-security-standards\/","title":{"rendered":"OKC tragedy led to first federal building security standards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 was a wake-up call for the government. Individuals looking to make a statement using violence and destruction will target federal employees no matter where they are stationed, with no distinction between rank-and-file and policy makers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to the April 19, 1995 attack \u2014 the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in the nation’s history \u2014 the Interagency Security Committee (ISC) was established to create safety standards for civilian buildings. At the time of the bombing, there were no security standards in place at nonmilitary federal buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We’ve come a long way since then and not just because of the Murrah bombing,” said LeAnne Jenkins, executive director of the Oklahoma region Federal Executive Board<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenkins was in the neighboring Post Office Building, part of the same complex as the Murrah Building, connected by underground tunnels. She felt the ground shake, saw her bookcase rock and assumed there had been an earthquake or an explosion in the basement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was dramatic and frightening, she said, but nothing compared to what happened next door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bomb killed 168 people, including 19 children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was something no one ever thought would happen in the relatively quiet mid-west.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“People were saying we’re in Oklahoma, there’s no reason I have to go through a magnetometer,” Jenkins said. However, after the April 19 attack, “We felt we’d rather be inconvenienced than allow ourselves to ever be attacked again.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More: <\/b>20 years after Oklahoma City bombing, scars remain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six months later, then-President Bill Clinton established the ISC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The mission of the ISC is to safeguard U.S. civilian facilities from all hazards by developing state-of-the-art security standards in collaboration with public and private homeland security partners,” ISC Chair Caitlin Durkovich told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs after the shooting at the Navy Yard in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ISC is made up of 53 agencies \u2014 21 primary and 32 associate members \u2014 working together to ensure the safety of every federal employee, particularly those working in government-owned or leased facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its work secures some 1.2 million federal buildings, structures and parcels of land for more than 2.5 million employees and millions of visitors daily, Durkovich pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ISC primarily produces guidance to federal facilities on best practices for securing against attacks, including outside threats and potential violence within the workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bulk of the committee’s work is distilled into seven policy documents:<\/p>\n\n\n\n