FBI Computers Worried Congress

FBI Has Announced A Contract To Update Its System

(AP)  The FBI's computer system, which didn't contain thousands of pages of evidence that should have been turned over to Timothy McVeigh's lawyers, has been drawing scrutiny from Congress because it is so antiquated.

The House Judiciary Committee just last month wrote FBI director Louis Freeh expressing concern about the age and capabilities of the system.

"The committee is concerned that the FBI has information technology systems that are slow, unreliable and obsolete - systems that are unable to address the bureau's critical needs," the committee wrote to Freeh on April 25.

The committee "is interested in assuring that the bureau is taking appropriate steps to bring its information technology systems into the twenty-first century," committee leaders wrote.

The FBI announced a contract last week to upgrade its information technology systems through a modernization project dubbed "Trilogy."

Many of the records created in the McVeigh bombing probe weren't logged into a searchable computer database, according to a statement Friday by Danny Defenbaugh, the special FBI agent in charge at Oklahoma City.

For several months, the FBI has been comparing all records in the Oklahoma City case with each of 26 databases which serve as a repository for information.

"It was determined that some of the materials from various FBI field offices were not a part of the investigative database," Defenbaugh said.

The bombing probe documents came from 45 FBI offices in the United States and one in Paris.

In testimony to Congress a week ago, deputy FBI director Thomas Pickard said the three-year, $242 million "Trilogy" project will improve FBI case databases.

The project will emphasize the use of "electronic case files" to enhance the ability of agents and support employees to organize, access and analyze information, Pickard said.