Feds Online [FBI IT system upgrade]

The terrorist attacks exposed troubling shortfalls at US intelligence agencies. Many of the most fundamental problems technology-related such as the inability of the National Security Agency (NSA) to process promptly the immense flood of communications it intercepts every day and the woefully antiquated computer systems of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The inadequacy of the FBI´s computers is linked to another basic weakness: too little cooperation and data sharing among intelligence agencies, such as the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the NSA. One of the biggest initiatives in the proposed 2003 federal budget is almost $1 billion for the NSA to extend and improve its powerful computer-based systems, which analyze transcripts of intercepts, look for certain words or phrases, and automatically route any hits to prespecified intelligence agencies. The FBI is in the midst of a $379 million upgrade of its information technology (IT) systems, now scheduled to be finished by the end of this year. The project, called Trilogy, encompasses not only the bureaus computers and software, but also its networks. Trilogy aims to shift the bureau from a hodgepodge of proprietary, mainframe-based systems to a Web-based one that will provide secure connections to the FBI´s 500 facilities worldwide.