Pilot program will implement new security procedures at Mall museums

We will be implementing new security enhancements as part of a pilot project at several of our largest facilities.

Keeping employees safe continues to be one of the Smithsonian’s top priorities.  The Office of Protection Services (OPS) continues to monitor best practices to determine how our security practices and procedures can continuously improve.

OPS has been collaborating with some of our largest public-facing museums to develop additional procedures to increase workplace safety, and we will begin to test the following enhancements in a pilot program at four of our locations:

• Designated staff entry points will operate with a badge reading system to ensure access control as well as real-time information on staff inside our buildings in the event of a major incident or emergency; and   

• Electronic screening of staff and others using staff entry points using the new touchless “Evolv” technology already in use at several of our public entrances to detect weapons and related threats.

These changes will begin this spring at the National Museum of American History (NMAH), the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), and the West Tower of Capital Gallery.  We expect to have all of these locations fully operational with the new approach by the fall of 2023. 

We will begin with these initial locations and engage in discussions with individual directors over the next year to determine how and when to expand these efforts over the next two years. These changes will bring us into alignment with best practices that are currently in place at other federal buildings with the safety and security of our staff in mind.

We recognize that this is a change for the Institution, but we believe that this is a necessary step to take.

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