Legal Issues of Homeland Security - Essay Example

1 HOMELAND SECURITY INTRODUCTION In the East Room of the White House on November 25, 2002, President Bush signed the Homeland Security Act. "Today, we are taking historic action to defend the US and protect our citizens against the dangers of a new era. With my signature, this act of Congress will create a new Department of Homeland Security, ensuring that our efforts to defend this country are comprehensive and united," said President Bush. "The new department will analyze threats, will guard our borders and airports, protect our critical infrastructure, and coordinate the response of our nation for future emergencies." " the new department will analyze intelligence information on terror threats collected by the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Agency, and others. The department will match this intelligence against the nation's vulnerabilities and work with other agencies, and the private sector, and state and local governments to harden America's defense against terror." "This department will be charged with encouraging research on new technologies that can detect these threats in time to prevent an attack." " state and local governments will be able to turn for help and information to one federal domestic security agency, instead of more than twenty agencies that currently divide these responsibilities." To comprehend why this one central system is needed, one must understand the makeup of the FBI. There are thousands of agents The FBI had twenty-three divisions, including counterintelligence, criminal investigations, and cybercrime. The divisions were controlled by five executive assistant directors responsible for intelligence, counterterrorism and counterintelligence, criminal investigations, law enforcement services, and administration. At one time, each division had its own IT budget and systems. So, the FBI had acquired forty to fifty different investigative databases and applications, with many duplicating material found in others. To implement this project was a major task. PHENOMENON The FBI's Virtual Case File (VCF) was supposed to automate the FBI's paper-based work environment, allow agents and intelligence analysts to share vital investigative information, and replace the obsolete Automated Case Support (ACS) system. Instead, the FBI's VCF would become the most highly publicized software failure in history. Seven hundred thousand lines of bug-ridden code that was functionally off target was delivered by VCF's contractor, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC.) The bureau had to scrap the $170 million project. Various government and independent reports show that, the FBI, lacking IT management and technical expertise, shares the blame for the project's failure. The 'investigative data warehouse' was added to combine several of the FBI's crime and evidence databases into one. Detailed interviews with people directly involved with the VCF depicted the picture of of an IT project that fell into the most basic trap of software development, from poor planning to bad communication. Some of the evolving problems also included: the failure of the VCF technology to meet the bureau's requirements the intense pressure to get the product to FBI agents following the terrorist attacks of 9/11 the change in the FBI's prime mission from criminal investigation to preventing terrorism poor management decisions early in the project inadequate oversight for continuing the costly problems The investigative data warehouse, perhaps a useful tool, doesn't manage case overflow. and doesn't substitute for an effective case management system. It is critical to keep in mind that intelligence failures of 9/11 happened because the right people didn't have the right information at the right time. There was also various changes in management, and perhaps too may players in the mix. In September 2000, the FBI IT Upgrade Project, later called Trilogy, was funded for US $379.8 million. In September 2001, Robert Mueller III replaced Louis J. Freeh as FBI director a week before the terrorist attack of 9/11. In October 2001, Robert J. Chiardio advised Mueller on VCF software and brings Larry Depew aboard. In May2002, Bob Dies, the CIO who had launched Trilogy, left the bureau. Enter Mark Tanner, stepping aside after only three months. Then came Darwin John, former CIO for the Mormon Church. Within a year, he was replaced by W. Wilson Lowery, Jr. During this time, Chiardo also left to enter the private sector. In January 2002, the FBI received an additional $78 million to accelerate Trilogy. In February 2002, Joint Application Deveopment planning sessions begin. Sherry Higgins is hired. August 2002 brings Matthew Patton along as SAIC's security engineer. Lost amid all the players moving about is the fact that early in the project, Matthew Patton had alerted his supervisor regarding the issues of the FBI's technical expertise, SAIC's management practices, and the competence of both organizations. He then posted his concerns to a web-based discussion board. The FBI and SAIC agreed on a deeply flawed 800-page set of system requirements that doomed the project before a line of code was written. Interestingly, Patton was visited by two FBI agents concerned that he had disclosed national security secrets on the internet. Trilogy's Information Presentation Component would provide secure local area and wide area networks, allowing agents to share information with their supervisors and each other. Keeping in mind that the ACS system was also being implemented, the FBI still hadn't resolved any of their problems, Depew stated that only the most dedicated, computer-savvy agents had the skills and patience to learn the arcane system, let alone exploit it to its fullest potential. Depew also stated, "Nobody really understood why we would even use ACS other than as an index." A notable exception was that Robert Hanssen, the notorious FBI traitor, used the system to find documents his Russian handlers might find useful, as well as to check to see if anyone in the FBI was onto him METHODOLOGY I would tend to agree with organizations having a blueprint to rely on------known in IT language as an enterprise architecture. This blueprint would guide hardware and software investment decisions. It describes at a high level an organization's mission and uses technology to accomplish its tasks, and how the IT system is structured and designed to achieve those objectives. Besides describing how an organization operates correctly, the enterprise architecture also states how it wants to operate in the future, and includes a road map, a transition plan, for getting there. Research should focus on these areas. A project manager with project management experience would have to be hired to head this complex task. Such was not the case with Depew. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS In September 4, 2001, our tenth director was appointed in US history. A week later, terrorists pulverized New York City's World Trade Center and a piece of the Pentagon. The inability of FBI agents to share the most basic information about Al Qaeda's US activities blew up into a front page scandal. The failure of the extremely expensive VCF system added more front page fodder later. According to FBI Director Robert Mueller, the FBI intends to introduce the replacement for its failed VCF program by 2009. The new case and information management system, called Sentinel, will be introduced in four phases. Sentinel is part of the FBI's modernization of its information technology infrastructure. It will help the FBI close communication gaps internally and improve information-sharing with other law enforcement and intelligence organizations. Mueller said, "Our overriding goal is to get the right information to the right people at the right time." Sentinel's first phase will begin by the end of 2005. Each phase will introduce new capabilities, transfer existing information and retire legacy functions. Mueller has declined to give a price tag for the entire system or its first phase of implementation. He said the cost would be spread over two to four fiscal years and that each phase would be paid for in the fiscal year in which the work starts. Sentinel will replace many existing FBI systems, including the ACS system and the Criminal Informant Management system. To improve information-sharing, Sentinel supports Extensible Markup Language standards. FBI officials said Sentinel would provide the agents with: 1. Automated workflow tools 2. Search capabilities 3. Record and case management tools 4. Reporting protocols The FBI has picked a CIA official to run the Sentinel information technology modernization program. Miodrag Lazarevich, deputy director for the special communications program office at the CIA's Office of the chief information officer, will be Sentinel's project manager. Lazarevich has a two-year contract with an optional third year. In February 2005, FBI Director Robert Mueller was called before the Senate Appropriations Committee to answer questions about the bureau's failed VCF system. A Justice Department inspector general also issued an audit of the system. The report blames the collapse on a number of factors, including: 1. Poorly defined and slowly evolving design requirements 2. Contracting and investment oversight weaknesses 3. Unrealistic scheduling 4. High turnover in FBI management ranks Source: Justice Dept. inspector general report 2005 Update: The Department of Justice's inspector general issued a report on November 18, 2005 stating, "Our preliminary review of Sentinel indicates that, for the most part, the FBI is attempting to address these weaknesses (with VCF) in preparing for the Sentinel project." However, the report also states that the Sentinel management office is not yet fully organized and staffed. Moreover, turnover may result before the project is completed, a factor that also contributed to the failure of the now-defunct VCF system. WORKS CITED President Bush Signs Homeland Security Act November 25, 2002 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002 What is Homeland Security Http://www.eden.lsu/Issues-View Sept 2005 IEEE Spectrum Who Killed the Virtual Case File By Harry Goldstein http://www.spectrum.ieee.org FCWCOM FBI Plans fro 2009 Sentinel by Michael Arnone published May 26, 2005 http://www.fce.com/article FCWCOM CIA Official to Run Sentinel by Michael Arnone published June 8, 2005 Washington Technology New System to Replace FBI Virtual Case File by Wilson P. Dizard III 2005 Http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news Washington Technology IG: Tight Controls on FBI's Sentinel Project Paying Off by Alice Lipowicz 2005 Read More