Congressmen Chris Smith (R-Hamilton) and Jim Saxton (R-Mount Holly) have asked the chief of the Army Corps of Engineers and the heads of the military’s other contracting and engineering entities to take immediate actions to prevent undocumented employees from working as contract employees at our nation’s military installations.

    Smith and Saxton’s swift action follows the arrest of 14 undocumented employees who were working for contracting firms at Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base.  Since the letters were sent last week, eight additional employees were arrested on similar charges.  Chris Christie, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey is conducting an ongoing investigation of the state’s five other military bases to determine if undocumented employees have been working at other facilities.

    Smith’s district includes the Naval Air Engineering Station at Lakehurst while Saxton’s includes Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base.

    “I am deeply troubled by the recent arrests of these employees who, through their jobs, were given widespread access to the bases and their critical infrastructure.  With the threat of terrorism a constant concern, it is absolutely essential that all precautions be taken to prohibit undocumented workers from gaining employment at our bases,” Smith said. “We need tighter security requirements at our bases and the military needs to target their contracts to those contractors who commit to closely monitoring whom they hire as employees.”

    “Particularly since 9-11, I've been concerned about closing this loophole,” said Saxton, who introduced a bill in November 2001 to step up screening of base workers. The bill, which was recently reintroduced and which is cosponsored by Smith, requires contractors to confirm the identity of their employees through background checks.

    “Not even Chris and I can get on the bases without providing valid ID. I understand that contractors often must use day laborers. But we're at a point where we must take extra steps to make our bases secure. It's just good sense to have an idea of who is coming and going onto our bases,” he added.

    To help rectify the problem, the Congressmen have requested a meeting with the head of the Army Corps of Engineers, the contracting agency responsible for overseeing the project at Fort Dix and McGuire, and other Department of Defense officials to urge that they aggressively promote the usage of “Best Value Contracting” over lowest bid.

    Since 1997, the federal government has worked to promote best value contracting; and Smith and Saxton have both worked hard to convince local bases to use BVC and hire contractors who employ skilled, certified, and documented workers. The recent arrests, however, show that the contracting methods must be promoted more aggressively.

    “As we work to move Congressman Saxton’s base security bill into law, promoting best value contracting is a helpful step we can and should take to provide additional protections against possible infiltration of our bases by terrorist elements,” Smith said.