FBI's terror war computer system faces axe
The FBI is on the verge of scrapping a €128.4m computer overhaul considered critical to Washington’s war against terrorism, it was revealed today.
The “virtual case file” system was to give the bureau’s 12,000 agents instant access to FBI databases, allowing for speedier investigations and better integration with other intelligence agencies, such as the CIA.
FBI officials acknowledged that the project was over budget and behind schedule, and doubted it would ever be finished.
Technical and financial missteps, rapid turnover among the FBI’s information-technology personnel, and a resistance among some veterans who prefer the old pen and paper system, were cited as the main reasons for the setback.
Members of Congress have joked that their grandchildren could surf the net and send emails better than FBI investigators.
Senator Patrick Leahy described the computer system as a “train wreck in slow motion” and attributed the scrapping of the plans to the FBI’s continual “hiding” of problems encountered along the way.
“Bringing the FBI’s information technology into the 21st century should not be rocket science,” said Leahy.
The virtual case file system is the last in a three-part FBI computer upgrade totalling more than €378bn.
