Report: Security guards think they can use deadly force to protect oil reserves

By Andrew Restuccia - 11/01/11 11:34 AM ET

Some security guards charged with protecting the country’s emergency oil stockpiles mistakenly believe they can use deadly force if the reserves are threatened, the Energy Department’s internal watchdog said Tuesday.

A quarter of the security police officers (SPOs) interviewed by the Energy Department’s Office of the Inspector General said they would use deadly force to protect the 727-million barrel Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

“Specifically, we determined that contrary to the Federal regulation which limits the use of deadly force to the protection of personnel from imminent death or serious bodily harm, 9 of 36 SPOs we interviewed mistakenly believed that they should use deadly force to protect SPR infrastructure,” the Office of the Inspector General said in a report released Tuesday and dated Oct. 27.

The country’s oil stockpiles are stored in salt caverns along the Gulf Coast. In the event of a disruption in oil supply, the president can authorize a release of the reserves, which were established after the oil embargo of the 1970s.

President Obama authorized the release of 30 million barrels of oil from the SPR in June to make up for supply losses from Libya. International Energy Agency member countries released an additional 30 million barrels in coordination with the United States's release.

Though they are rare, previous presidents have authorized SPR releases — once, in 1991 at the outset of Operation Desert Storm, and again in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the Gulf oil production and refining sector.

The Energy Department is charged with ensuring the security of the SPR, but regulations only allow the use of deadly force if personnel are threatened, the IG report says.

While security officials have been briefed on these regulations, the report said “confusion as to when deadly force may be used continues to exist.”

“The weakness we identified in this report occurred, in part, because Department management at SPR had not concentrated their attention on ensuring that responsible facilities contractors appropriately applied Department's deadly force policy,” the report said. “Contractor officials charged with managing the security program had also not ensured correct knowledge of deadly force Federal regulations.”

If a security officer kills somebody to protect the SPR, “severe and unacceptable consequences for personnel and the Department could occur.”

SPR officials told the IG office that they agree with the concerns outlined in the report and are correcting them. The report also notes that SPR officials have corrected a series of security concerns raised in a 2005 IG report.