By Jolie Lee
Web Editor
Federal News Radio

The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association or FLEOA said Congress must consider the consequences of severe cuts to federal employees who protect the country’s security.

The warning comes a week after the failed negotiations by the deficit reduction supercommittee. Without a deal, automatic across-the-board cuts of $1.2 trillion are set to begin in January 2013.

“If they [Congress] do in fact implement these severe cuts, they need to understand that the bad guys — the terrorists, the cartels — do not simultaneously take pause to accommodate that negative impact,” said Jon Adler, executive director of FLEOA, in an interview with Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris.

“Swinging a stick at a piñata is not the right way to go about the deficit,” Adler said.

See FLEOA’s video message to the supercommittee and Congress. Story continues below video.

FLEOA represents 26,000 federal employees from 65 agencies. Law enforcement costs the federal government less than 2 percent, said Adler. Yet these employees “bring in millions through seizures and forfeitures,” he added.

Cuts will also drive experienced employees to retire. “They just don’t want to stick around and see their pay and benefits get slashed,” Adler said.

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