[AccessD] Anatomy of an IT Disaster: How the FBI Blew It

Here's an interesting article on the continuing effort to try and
modernize antiquated information systems at the FBI.

 

 

     http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/03/21/12FEfbi_1.html

 

 

Part of the "problem" at the FBI is that computers, software, and
information technology have always been looked down on by the agents.
The special agents are more into grilling suspects, chasing leads,
listening to mobsters on wire tapped phone lines, and catching bank
robbers than they are in sitting at a computer terminal typing an email.
Probably the most glaring example of this mindset occurred when [former]
FBI Director Louis Freeh was shown his office on his first day as FBI
Director.  (Freeh was FBI Director under President Bill Clinton.)
According to people present, Louis Freeh noticed a monitor mounted on a
desk directly behind his swivel chair.  He asked, "What's this?" and was
told, "It's a computer."  Louis Freeh then turned to one of his aides
and said, "Get it out of here."  Word of this exchange quickly filtered
down to all levels of the organization ...

 

Of course, September 11th changed everything at the FBI.  When it was
discovered that agents in the various field offices couldn't even
communicate with each other via email, there was a sudden epiphany that
they needed to get their IT operation into the 21st century.  This
sudden "sense of urgency" at the upper levels of the agency [to get
modernized] was probably heightened by a fear that if the FBI didn't get
its act together, other agencies, (like for instance the CIA or the
Department of Homeland Security), might start trying to persuade members
of Congress that terrorism and anti-terrorism efforts should be handled
by them instead of the FBI.

 

Constant turf battles are an everyday fact of life in the Government ...

 

Alan C. Lawhon