‘At least two of the suspects were dressed in work clothes and construction hats and claimed they were technicians for a telephone company.’
FWIW... phone men don’t dress that stereotypically. Usually it’s polo or oxford with company logo, tool belt with phone and a few screwdrivers/snips, and khaki pants. Hard hats are only broken out when dealing with aerial equipment.
Yeah, phone men with no ID would draw immediate suspicions. They usually all have an orange handset hanging from their belt, or a laptop for diagnosing broadband connections.
I am willing to bet GSA handles their own internal wiring people also, so that is why they didnt get farther than the GSA employee.