Testimony of Robert J. Chiaradio, Executive Assistant Director
for Administration, FBI
Before the Senate
Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate
March 21, 2002
"Inspector General's Report"
Good
morning Chairman Leahy. We appreciate the opportunity to be
here to discuss the myriad of things we are doing in response
to the issues properly identified by Inspector General Fine.
We also appreciate this Committee's longstanding interest
in our ongoing efforts to rebuild our antiquated information
infrastructure.
We commend
the Inspector General and his staff for a thorough, objective
and independent examination of these issues. His report is
instructive and his recommendations constructive. Because
his findings go to the very heart of how we conduct one of
our core functions, Director Mueller has had the report made
available to all employees and has made it recommended reading
for all FBI management and supervisory personnel. Its lessons
will be part of our training and its relevance and importance
will live far beyond today.
Last
May, then Director Freeh outlined for Congress the massive
nature of the OKBOMB investigation and the virtual flood of
documents and information created during its course. He also
expressed regret that our shortcomings pertaining to the records
had overshadowed the enormity of the sacrifices and accomplishments
of those Agents who successfully investigated this case. He
candidly admitted that "we simply have too little management
attention focused on what has become over time a monumental
task ....the seemingly mundane tasks of proper records creation,
maintenance, dissemination and retrieval have not received
the appropriate level of senior management attention ... [and
that] this episode demonstrated that the mundane must be done
as well as the spectacular." He then outlined a number
of steps that the Bureau had embarked upon to fix some of
the shortcomings.
On Tuesday,
Director Mueller stated that "Sound records management
and document accountability are at the heart of the FBI's
ability to support investigations and prosecutions with information
integrity. There can be no doubt about the accuracy, completeness
and proper disclosure of the records we compile during our
investigations and used by prosecutors in support of prosecutions.
The ability to maintain, access and retrieve documents is
critical to our mission and equally critical to our ability
to protect the rights of those charged with crimes. It also
is fundamental to robust analytical and information sharing
capacities, both functions that we are rapidly enhancing.
In short, records management and integrity are core functions
that demand the same level of attention and accountability
as any function we undertake. It must be a part of the Bureau's
culture."
As Inspector
General Fine outlined for you, there are a host of contributing
factors. The methods we use to record and retrieve information
are too complex. Our Automated Case System (ACS) was not very
effective in identifying information or supporting the investigation.
Our technology was inadequate. We lacked a true information
management system and what we do have is not user friendly.
Many of our employees lacked the training necessary to be
fully engaged in an automated environment and a host of other
issues as well.
But
what we thought when this issue first surfaced and what we
believe now has been confirmed by Mr. Fine. This is not a
"computer glitch," although a more robust system
would have helped. It is a management and cultural issue which
must be forthrightly confronted. We can add technology, simplify
our procedures and dramatically reduce the opportunities for
human error. Doing those things are relatively simple.
What
we must do and what we are doing is recognizing information
management as the core function that it is. At senior levels,
we must lead the Bureau back to where this function is accepted
as second nature. We must put in place the structures and
automation that fully support this core function and we must
inculcate in every employee, ourselves included, that this
new way of doing business is the only way acceptable. We must
improve our records management practices, not simply automate
what we've been doing for decades.
We are
taking specific actions to address each concern raised by
the Inspector General, and a number of significant steps are
well underway to overhaul our Bureau-wide records management
capabilities, to increase accountability for compliance with
established records procedures, and to put in place the training
and skill sets necessary to bring about full employee acceptance
of a near paperless environment.
Borrowing
a little from what my boss has said, namely that with the
help of Congress, we have restructured to recognize that the
creation, maintenance, use and dissemination of our records
is a core function that must be fully supported by management
as a priority.
We have
created a Records Management Division to ensure executive
direction and full-time oversight over all records policy
and functions, consolidating all records operations to ensure
consistency, thoroughness and accountability.
A professional
records management expert, Mr. William Hooton, here with us
today, has been hired from the private sector to run the division.
He has been charged with modernizing our enterprise-wide records
systems and developing comprehensive, enforceable policies
and procedures to ensure records integrity. He also is charged
with putting in place those quality control mechanisms that
will detect anomalies and problems early on. It is critical
that we manage information, not just the systems that support
our records.
Congress
has funded, and we are implementing, extensive agency-wide
training aimed squarely at reforming our culture to one that
exploits and incorporates technology in our everyday way of
doing business. Director Mueller is personally providing the
leadership for this.
We have
retrained our employees on proper document production, maintenance
and retrieval and the importance of records management as
a core function. There will be continuous training over the
course of an employee's career.
And,
of course, basic to any modern system of records is a modern
information technology system, and modernization of our information
technology, as this Committee knows, is one of our top priorities.
We are making sustained progress in this area. Congress has
approved funding for the FBI to upgrade technologies and infrastructure
for organizing, accessing, analyzing and sharing information
throughout the FBI and beyond.
We are
replacing the now antiquated Automated Case System in favor
of a multimedia and near paperless "virtual case file"
with significant improvements in capabilities that greatly
reduce the possibility that future documents will be misfiled,
lost or otherwise failed to be produced. The new system will
dramatically decrease the potential for human error both by
automatically doing many functions now done by manual intervention
and by substantially reducing the number of opportunities
for problems to occur that are inherent in our current systems.
This
new case file document management system, designed with substantial
input from street Agents, will be of benefit by greatly simplifying
the records creation and maintenance processes, being user
friendly, and by allowing us to manage "leads" far
more effectively.
The
FBI's computer network is being completely revitalized to
provide a "data warehousing" collaborative environment
instead of application "stove pipes." The creation
of "data warehouses" and ample supporting networks
provide easier and more robust access to and sharing of information
and results in integrated databases. The need for ad hoc crisis
software applications will be eliminated.
Private
sector support, which will allow commercial software and professional
scanning, indexing and storage of documents, is being used
to move us rapidly out of the paper environment that was so
vexing in the OKBOMB situation.
All of these systemic changes and many others, including everything
Mr. Fine recommended, are critical components to what must
be a sustained, agency-wide effort. These fundamental things
are as important to protecting rights as how we execute warrants
and testify in court. The challenge is great, especially the
challenge of changing a culture. We believe we are on the
way.
Finally,
although his exhaustive investigation found no evidence of
any intentional effort to withhold information from defense
counsel, the Inspector General's report also criticizes the
actions of certain FBI personnel. We are reviewing these criticisms
and will quickly move to take any appropriate disciplinary
action. In the end, there must be accountability.
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