According to FBI chief information officer Zalmai Azmi, the agency lacks the funds necessary to deploy essential technology, such as e-mail, for its investigators. Azmi said the bureau’s annual budget of $10 billion for unclassified networks barely covers costs and can only provide e-mail for 22,000 of its 30,000 employees. The FBI has set up computer kiosk at field offices that cannot afford a computer for everyone; all 56 field offices should be connected to the Internet by the end of 2006.

I’m sorry but $10 BILLION isn’t enough to provide 30,000 people with email and ‘Net access? Clearly something was lost in the translation between speech and print; that or they are being terribly cavalier with an amount that by any accounting standards is “real money.”

What’s that? They ARE spending like drunken sailors? Says who?

The FBI has been paying consultancy invoices for IT contractors without any attempt to assess the validity of the charges, creating an overpayment of $10.1m

Oh.

About the Author

Michael Tanji

Michael Tanji spent nearly 20 years in the US intelligence community. Trained in both SIGINT and HUMINT disciplines he has worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and the National Reconnaissance Office. At various points in his career he served as an expert in information warfare, computer network operations, computer forensics, and indications and warning. A veteran of the US Army, Michael has served in both strategic and tactical assignments in the Pacific Theater, the Balkans, and the Middle East.