FBI Ends a Faltering Effort to Overhaul Computer Software (3/9/2005): March 9, 2005 F.B.I. Ends a Faltering Effort to Overhaul Computer Software By ERIC LICHTBLAU ASHINGTON, March 8 - The Federal Bureau of Investigation declared an official end Tuesday to its floundering $170 million effort to overhaul its computer software and said it would take at least three and a half years to develop a new system. The F.B.I. had been signaling for months that the Virtual Case File system, a software project considered critical in helping agents investigate terrorism, was on the verge of collapse. Robert S. Mueller III, director of the F.B.I., delivered the official death notice in testimony Tuesday. "I am tremendously disappointed that we did not come through with Virtual Case File," Mr. Mueller said before a panel of the House Appropriations Committee. "But by the same token, I see this as an opportunity," he said, because the F.B.I. now hopes to develop a more modern, flexible system - largely using off-the-shelf software - to allow investigators to search case files and databases more easily. Mr. Mueller took personal responsibility for the collapse of the project, which was riddled with technical, management and scheduling problems that made it outdated even before it was completed. "Our ability to handle a project like that was not what I thought it was," he said. "It's my fault for not having put the appropriate persons in position to review that contract and assure that it was on track." The Virtual Case File project was to have been the third and last phase of a $581 million effort to overhaul the antiquated computer systems. The project's failure has frustrated many members of Congress after years of substantial investments, and Representative Frank R. Wolf of Virginia, the Republican leader of the appropriations panel that oversees F.B.I. financing, announced Monday that his staff was opening a formal investigation into why the project failed. At Tuesday's hearing, Mr. Wolf sought assurances that the F.B.I. would put the best people on the latest incarnation of the project and that the new effort would be "absolutely and completely sound, that it'll be successful" before Congress invests still more money. Mr. Mueller offered no blanket assurances of success, but he said the F.B.I. hoped in the next few months to draw lessons from the Virtual Case File project before deciding on a formal plan for a new software overhaul. He said the new project would come in four phases over about three and a half years, but he said he could not give a price tag. One thing that seems certain, however, is that the new project will not be called Virtual Case File, a name now synonymous with a failed and costly debacle. "We're looking for names," Mr. Mueller said as lawmakers and listeners in the audience laughed. "The latest thing I saw here was Project Z, but I'm not certain that we want to go with Project Z." ( <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/09/politics/09fbi.html?pagewanted=print&posi tion> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/09/politics/09fbi.html?pagewanted=print&posit ion=) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
