FBI Director Robert S. Mueller (Photo credit: Stephanie Woodrow)
The New York Times has announced
The Sound Off Column even detailed methods of creating and implementing a computer system for the FBI that was a mere fraction of the cost being tossed around in Congress and would require far less time.
America has some of the biggest computer companies in the world, yet Mueller has the nation's main law enforcement agency looking like they start fires with rocks and sticks, instead of matches.
Four years after the Sound Off Column articles, warning the FBI to change course in how it announced it would go about acquiring a computer system and $1billion dollars later in taxpayer money and the FBI's computer system is delayed once again with more problems cropping up.
The Sound Off Column warned the system would be useless if it was implemented over years rather than weeks or a few short months, as the speed of technology is as such, one year down the road, manufacturers will have released their latest innovations, making older models obsolete.
However, site reader, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, clearly thinks he knows more than me about computers, when he nearly fell for an identity theft scam via an email link he nearly clicked, thus he went about the computer system the long and wrong way. Now they are sitting on scrap metal, er, I mean outdated computers, with old operating systems and slower peripherals, much of which have not even been implemented.
I have a bridge I'd like to sell Mueller, because he is just that gullible that he would buy just about anything. This wouldn't be so sad if the country was not facing an unprecedented rise in terrorism both domestically and internationally.
Having a great, cutting edge computer system, makes a big difference in law enforcement matters. Technology can be used to prevent crime and boost productivity, but some people just don't grasp that. Robert S. Mueller is one of those people. Hence, the FBI being so slow and inefficient with cases, even when people's lives are at stake.
Side Bar: you still haven't accounted for hundreds of millions of dollars from the computer system money that went missing and was labeled "miscellaneous." Do we have to guess which off shore accounts that embezzled taxpayer money is sitting in. You better be glad I'm not President, because your butt would be in prison.
Massive FBI computer overhaul is put on ice (again)
Carrier pigeons still viable
Posted in Government, 19th March 2010 20:35 GMT - The FBI has once again suspended work on parts of a massive computer overhaul that many say is vital to fighting crime and terrorism.
Putting the project known as Sentinel on hold has alarmed some on Capitol Hill because the upgrade was considered vital to shoring-up deficiencies in key areas, The New York Times reports. Several years ago, FBI computer systems were so poor that many agents couldn't send or receive email and had difficulty getting case histories or tapping other databases.
Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, agents in Florida had to send their counterparts in Washington, DC, photographs of the hijackers by overnight mail because they couldn't send email attachments...
F.B.I. Faces New Setback in Computer Overhaul
Published: March 18, 2010 - WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation has suspended work on parts of its huge computer overhaul, dealing the agency the latest costly setback in a decade-long effort to develop a modernized information system to combat crime and terrorism.
The overhaul was supposed to be completed this fall, but now will not be done until next year at the earliest. The delay could mean at least $30 million in cost overruns on a project considered vital to national security, Congressional officials said...
The officials said the decision to suspend work on other parts of the program reflected the lessons learned from previous setbacks. When Lockheed Martin won the contract, the F.B.I. ended the previous computer overhaul and started over because the problems had grown too big to fix.
Robert S. Mueller III, director of the F.B.I., acknowledged problems in the project when he was asked about it at a House appropriations hearing on Wednesday...
While the F.B.I. described the problems as a minor setback, Congressional officials said they were alarmed.
