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Washington, D.C.?Even though there has been a concerted effort to improve security in and around government facilities in the five years since the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, the leader of the nation's largest independent union of federal employees said today that "no one in our nation can afford a relaxation of this effort."

Speaking on the fifth anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people, President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) urged Congress and the administration to redouble efforts to make federal buildings safe both for the employees who work in them and the members of the public who use them.

"We owe everyone a duty to ensure not just their physical safety, but their peace of mind in and around federal buildings," Kelley said, "and that is a duty all of us need to accept in the most serious manner."

Kelley noted that thousands of improvements totaling more than $400 million in both capital and operating costs have been made affecting federal facility security since the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Many of those improvements were generated by building security committees established after that act of terrorism.

The General Services Administration (GSA) has identified some of these improvements as additional security guards, development of uninterrupted power supplies, installation of closed?circuit television, lobby X?ray machines, electronic and hydraulic vehicle barriers and more. In addition, physical barriers, including fencing, large planters and the like, now surround many federal office buildings.

Kelley said the passage of time "has not diminished in the least" the great sense of loss for those killed in the Oklahoma City bombing.

On the contrary, she said, "the past five years have strengthened our resolve to remember and honor the sacrifice" of the 168 men, women and children murdered in the bomb blast, "and to do all we can to ensure nothing like it happens again."

In addition to continuing to improve security at and around government facilities, Kelley said, one of the most important ways to prevent this kind of tragedy "is to foster and develop respect for government service and federal employees."

The NTEU president noted that "there is still much work to do" in that regard, pointing out that smaller?scale attacks still occur occasionally at federal work sites, including a suspected arson at an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) facility in Colorado Springs, CO, and the delivery of a suspicious package to the IRS Service Center in Ogden, UT, containing a powder which made some employees temporarily ill.

"Our democracy provides a time?tested system of political discourse for dealing with disagreements and for reaching consensus," Kelley said. "There is no room for attacks on those whose focus in their work lives is to provide vital governmental services to others."

As part of its observance of the anniversary, NTEU is hanging a large banner on the 9' Street side of its headquarters building, at 9' and E Streets NW in downtown Washington. The banner shows a black ribbon, and contains the words "We Mourn, We Care, We'll Remember."

NTEU represents some 155,000 employees is 24 agencies and departments.