The police force in charge of protecting most federal buildings is understaffed, demoralized and poorly equipped, exposing facilities in the D.C. area and elsewhere "to a greater risk of crime or terrorist attack," according to a report issued Friday.

The report, by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), blames many of the problems on a 20 percent decline in the workforce of the Federal Protective Service since 2004. The cutbacks have occurred because of budget problems that arose after the agency was absorbed into the Department of Homeland Security in 2003.

The report comes in the same week that the Interior Department released a study describing deteriorating conditions at the U.S. Park Police, an agency also beset by budget woes.

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-District of Columbia) said she was disturbed by the reports and would push for congressional action.

"You see very different police forces coming up way short of what the public knows or expects," she said. Norton released the GAO report, which described preliminary results from an investigation, at a hearing Friday of a public buildings subcommittee that she leads.