FBI unveils plan for better computers and information access for agents

By the end of the year, the FBI plans to field the first phase of a new information management system, install a centralized Internet network at field offices nationwide and give agents the ability to access an integrated terrorist watch list, the bureau's new chief information officer said this week.

Zalmai Azmi, who became CIO this month, refuted claims that the FBI has not solved some of its simplest problems due to obsolete systems and spotty network access. Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., criticized FBI Director Robert Mueller during a May 20 hearing for not doing enough to address issues that existed in the bureau before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Leahy specifically criticized the bureau's Trilogy modernization program as behind schedule and over budget.

"Your information technology systems are hopelessly out of date," Leahy said. "The FBI is not much better off today than it was before 9/11, when [the FBI] was unable to do a computer search of its own investigative files to make critical links and connections. By all accounts, the Trilogy solution has been a disaster."

Azmi said the first two phases of Trilogy, completed on April 30, have provided "a 100 percent improvement over what we had prior to 9/11."

"We are capable of searching and retrieving our own case information," he asserted. "We may not be able to do it through our case management system, but we can do it through [other] tools that we are using for our intelligence analysis. We can extract information we are looking for."

The Trilogy project includes installation of about 500 network servers, 1,600 scanners and thousands of desktop computers to FBI field offices. The final piece of Trilogy is installation of Virtual Case File software.

Azmi said VCF would be deployed in phases, with the first capability becoming available by the end of the year. He said the contract for VCF with Science Applications International Corp. expires next month and will be renegotiated "only if we are happy with what they are providing."

"We are letting this contract run out, and then we want to renegotiate for the first delivery of the VCF," he said. "I have made it clear to SAIC that I will not make any decisions right now, and I will not add any funding to the program until we know what are your capabilities and your commitment."

Azmi acknowledged, however, that more cost overruns are possible. "I don't know how much the cost will be. There's a good possibility we may be able to do the first phase under the existing budget. And there's a good possibility that there will be a cost overrun."

The federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks released a report last month critiquing FBI reforms. The report cited progress the bureau has made, but noted problems still remain in the areas of intelligence collection and processing, strategic analysis, knowledge management, and information sharing with other intelligence agencies and state and local law enforcement organizations.

The report found that the bureau has no national strategy for sharing information on counterterrorism matters and that its information systems are out of date. For some field offices, basic connectivity to the Internet remains a problem. The report said one of the most common reasons agents gave for failing to share information was the bureau's outdated information technology in general, and the Automated Case Support system in particular. The system employs 1980s-era technology and cannot store or transmit top secret or sensitive compartmented information. VCF replaces the Automated Case System.

Azmi said all FBI field offices would be connected to a centralized Internet network managed by the bureau's headquarters by the end of this year. Six field offices currently have access to the network, while 20 others are in the process of getting access. The bureau's remaining 30 field offices contract with other service providers for Internet access.

"What I'm proposing is a nationwide program that will enable FBI headquarters to deploy and manage centralized access to the Internet," Azmi said.

The CIO added that many field agents keep hard copy files rather than digital files because the Automated Case System is difficult to use. He said VCF would give field offices the ability to easily file and retrieve digital information.

Azmi said the Automated Case System now has a function that allows analysts to search multiple databases with a single query.

"Previous to 9/11, every time we had to do a search we had to search against specific databases," he said. "For example, if I was looking for a specific person, I had to take that name, or date of birth, or whatever information I had, and search specific databases to find out if that individual was in there or not."

The new capability also allows agents to search information and documents from Iraq and Afghanistan. Since December, the FBI has initiated close to 1.7 million queries.

"Currently, we have the capability to take specific information and run it against all these databases, then get the information and drill down to the point that will give us what we are looking for. That capability did not exist before 9/11," Azmi said.

He said more than 400 analysts at FBI headquarters in Washington now have this query capability. The FBI decided last week to extend it to 100 additional users each week until a total of 4,600 have access.

Azmi also said that a single, integrated terrorist watch list will be accessible to law enforcement officials by the end of the year. Mueller testified last week that the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center completed integration of multiple terrorist watch lists into on database on March 12.

The CIO cautioned that not all officials will be able to access the new terrorist screening database. Instead, the list will be available to officials with proper security clearances, a need to know and the right access codes.

"If anybody meets those three criteria, they will have access to it," he said. "Just to make a broad statement saying all the field offices will have access to the Terrorist Screening Center may be too broad. I want to make sure that we're providing services to specific users; not the same services to all of the users."