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| FBI’s Trilogy network completed |
| 2004-04-13 |
| EFL The FBI has completed the network for the long-awaited Trilogy modernization project.The $596 million network has been deployed to 591 sites and can expand as needed. The network links 22,000 desktop workstations and includes new scanners and printers and an enterprise operation center that manages it. The virtual case file system, an application in Trilogy that modernizes workflow processes for FBI agents and provides for better information sharing, is expected to be finished by December. "It’s a fairly complicated network," the FBI’s executive assistant director for administration, W. Wilson Lowery Jr., told reporters today at a briefing on Trilogy. He said the network was slated to be implemented by March 31, and even with about 70 sites and satellite and encryption capabilities added to the plan, it was right on schedule. Trilogy’s cost originally was $458 million, but later grew by $138 million. Lawmakers criticized the cost overruns, saying the project was poorly managed and on an unrealistic schedule. But Lowery said the increased costs accounted for items not initially planned in the project but necessary for its success, such as the enterprise operations center and satellite capabilities. "It was not that we had blown the cost, it was that we added that much capability," Lowery said.The virtual case file system accounted for about $40 million of the additional funding, Lowery said. Once completed, the system will replace paper-based case files with one electronic file, allowing agents better access to case information and advanced search capabilities. The system is the first workflow re-engineering the bureau has seen since the 1950s, FBI officials said. "We’re very good collectors of information," an FBI official said. "The problem is we haven’t had an information technology structure to support us." I’m glad that we did this. It’s pretty visionary, but it should have been done much earlier in the Clinton Administration. At 9/11 we were still left with FBI offices that couldn’t attach pictures to e-mails. Based on the fact that the system was probably rushed after 9/11, I am doubtful that the Bush administration would have been able to have this in place prior to 9/11 even if they rushed. I’ll include a link with an edited chunk of testimony that applies. Based on what I saw here I beleive that Freeh was part of the solution, not part of the problem. This system was described in the Testimony of Louis J Free, Director, FBI Before the House Committee on Appropraitiom March 17, 1999. Information Collection and Analysis The Information Collection and Analysis budget initiative focuses upon one of the most critical needs identified by FBI program managers, namely, the ability to collect, process, analyze, and disseminate information obtained during investigations, from other agencies, and from public sources. For fiscal year 2000, the FBI is requesting an increase of 56 positions and $48,917,000 for information collection and analysis activities in three areas: Information Sharing, Collection Management, and Investigative Information Services. Information Sharing. Last year, the Committee supported funding for the Information Sharing program which is a critical cornerstone to all of the operational strategies identified by the FBI in its Strategic Plan, 1998 - 2003. What the FBI needs most is to move away from its current collection of "stove-pipe" databases and stand-alone case management systems that cannot talk to each other and implement an enterprise-wide case management system. The Information Sharing project will break down those information and case management stove-pipes. We are taking a measured approach to implementing the Information Sharing project. This multi-year information technology investment is comprised of three sequential phases, each builds upon the preceding phase. The first phase would upgrade the existing information technology architecture to support electronic case management in all FBI locations. The second phase would introduce analytical tools that will allow FBI agents, analysts, and specialists to perform high-level analysis of the information contained in electronic case files. The third phase envisions the capability of securely sharing FBI electronic case information with other members of the law enforcement and intelligence communities. Each major phase of the project represents a separate set of functionalities and capabilities so that if funding is not available for the subsequent phases, the investment provides benefit to the FBI. While the overall cost of all three phases will require a substantial investment over several years, our future requests will be dependent upon satisfactory progress being realized in the phases funded to date. In response to the Committee’s direction, we have prepared a five-year plan for the Information Sharing project. That plan is being reviewed within the Administration for clearance and will be submitted to the Congress upon approval from the Office of Management and Budget. Until we receive your concurrence to this plan, the FBI is unable to expend any funding in 1999 to implement the Information Sharing project. With funding made available for fiscal year 1999, including $20,000,000 of direct appropriation and $40,000,000 from the Department’s Working Capital Fund, the FBI would begin Phase I of the plan. For fiscal year 2000, the FBI requests a total of $58,800,000 to continue implementation of the Information Sharing project, including a program increase of $38,800,000. This funding would allow us to complete Phase I, which permits electronic case file capabilities with access from all FBI locations. Additionally, work would begin on Phase II of the plan to provide a common set of analytical tools to all FBI locations that would provide the electronic capability to analyze case information on a single-case basis. The availability of these analytical tools would allow FBI agents, analysts, and specialists to perform link analysis, telephone toll analysis, visual investigative analysis, geographic analysis, and the ability to analyze large volumes of data related to a single case at a single location. The Phase II ability to perform analysis on investigative case information represents a significant first step toward achieving the type of analytical capabilities needed to support the operational objectives identified in the Strategic Plan for 1998 - 2003. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |