Critics: Management, not IT money, is FBI problem

[Florida_Geek]

http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5191646.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news

Critics: Management, not IT money, is FBI problem

By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-5191646.html

Story last modified April 14, 2004, 2:37 PM PDT

Experts are disputing Attorney General John Ashcroft's claims that a decade of deficient information technology funding hampered the FBI's intelligence gathering prior to the Sept. 11 attacks.

News.context

What's new:
Critics are taking aim at Attorney General John Ashcroft's testimony that a decade of deficient IT funding hampered the FBI's intelligence gathering prior to Sept. 11

...cut....

The analysis drew a skeptical response from government watchdogs, who painted it as a typical bureaucratic reflex: Blame the budget rather than management. Ashcroft's comments come as President Bush is seeking an FBI funding increase of about $500 million, or 11.4 percent, for next year--part of a request for $22.1 billion in total Justice Department funding.

Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, noted that the crucial question is not a matter of how much agencies spend but how well they spend it. "I don't think I've seen a computer system yet in the federal government that has come in under budget and worked as advertised," Schatz said. "It's certainly rare."

..more at article....

[seasat]

1. John Kerry supported less money on IT and more on...

human intel in his book back in the late 90's. It turns out he was prophetic in his advocacy of the need for human intel. The Shrubbites were criticizing him for voting for a cut in the intelligence budget but you'll notice they don't mention it much anymore since he is on the record as supporting the money for human intel and not more gadgets.

[mulethree]

2. culture

FBI career advancement was based on arrests and convictions. Counter terrorism is a lot more work per arrest than the other types of work they did.

If you were in the FBI for a career then you stayed away from it. Under-achievers would tend to gravitate there. Sounds like this underappreciation, and the supra-cautious attitude we see, regarding the "wall" and FISA process, were as much a problem as the computers or budget.

Really, what does a 1995 computer do that a 1985 computer doesn't? Mainly it is cheaper, smaller and prettier.

Its an organizational culture problem and thus a management problem. Same with the turf battles.

[Florida_Geek]

3. So true, lets

go arrest some people for downloading kiddie porn that they brought with their credit cards and stay away from those nasty terrorist with guns and bombs. And if we arrest enough people after shit canning the Phoenix memo, we will get a $10,000 bonus.