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Washington, D.C.-- The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today denounced as "cowardly, dangerous and counter?productive" the second case of arson at an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) facility in Colorado Springs in little more than two years. The arson occurred late Friday night and caused extensive damage, but no injuries.

NTEU President Robert M. Tobias called this "an attack not just on federal employees trying to serve the public, but on the public itself." The federal tax?filing deadline is this Thursday; more than 300 people a day used the Colorado Springs office for tax assistance. The agency is trying to reopen in temporary quarters.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing more than 155,000 employees in 21 agencies and departments, including more than 97,000 in the IRS. Twenty?five months ago, to the day, an arsonist caused $1 million in damage to what was then the IRS facility in Colorado Springs. That case remains unsolved.

Tobias said the arson is further evidence not just of the outside pressures that federal employees face every day, but of "the unwillingness of some people" to air their views about public policy issues "in a rational, forthright manner."

At the same time, he said, "even an act as terrible as this won't deter either the agency or its employees from moving ahead" with the restructuring of the IRS. That restructuring is focused on helping the public meets its tax obligations by providing the help and education they need and the high?quality customer service they expect.

"We're on the right track, with a lot of momentum" Tobias, "and no one is going to stop the improvements now underway, not even with acts of violence like this one"