Outdated files hamper FBI effort to fight terrorism

SF Chronicle ^ | 7-9-02 | JOHN R. WILKE, The Wall Street Journal

[Oldeconomybuyer]

WASHINGTON -- On a day last month when her boss, FBI Director Robert Mueller, was telling Congress about the agency's crippling computer problems, office assistant Alice Liberto offered a case study of just how antiquated the system is.

To open a file on a bank robbery here, Ms. Liberto filled out an initial incident report in neat longhand, got out a manila binder and inserted the form using a two-hole punch. From her desktop computer, she roused the Federal Bureau of Investigation's aging mainframe and got a number assigned to the new case. She wrote the number on the folder, got a supervisor's signature, then filed it in a long white cabinet with scores of other recent bank jobs.

[bvw]

They are good at excuses.

[Tacis]

Just check with Craig Livingstone, the DNC, and Willi's White House sewer dwellers. They have all the good FBI files and would probably allow the FBI to see them in exchange for full immunity.

Haven't we been buying the FBI top of the line computers and computer systems for years? What about all these lap tops that FBI agents keep losing? Is there a source to check the DoJ budget by line item over the past 5-10-15 years to see what has been allocated for FBI computers? If the Director's version is accurate and there is significant funding, let's find out what the problem is and jail (not promote/transfer/retire) any guilty person.

[GaltMeister]

"What about all these lap tops that FBI agents keep losing? "

Those are just for playing 'Minesweeper' and 'FreeCell' during the commute or on long airplane rides.