FBI Shuts Public E-Mail System

(CBS/AP)  The FBI has shut down part of the commercial e-mail system it uses to communicate with the public as a precautionary measure because of a possible security breach, CBS News has learned.

The Bureau says none of the computers potentially affected were part of its overall information technology system and no sensitive information was exposed. It also says that the e-mail systems for people to send tips are not affected.

"We use these accounts to communicate with you folks, view Internet sites, and conduct other non-sensitive Bureau business such as sending out press releases," Special Agent Steve Lazarus, the FBI's media coordinator in Atlanta, said in an e-mail describing the problem. "In other words, the computer from which I am typing this message is wholly separate from any official Bureau computer and contains nothing which is not already in the public domain."

The FBI is now investigating the situation, reports CBS News Producer Stephanie Lambidakis. The agency bought the e-mail accounts through AT&T; they have fbi.gov names.

Although it still wouldn't say anything about the problem, the Bureau did say it has been in the process of moving away from the commercial e-mail systems because of the security problems.

AT&T also would not comment.

The FBI has an intranet for its internal communications, and uses a different domain name for e-mail messages to and from its employees. However, the fbi.gov addresses are the ones given on its Web site.

The breach comes a day after the Justice Department's Inspector General criticized the FBI for its IT management, specifically spending $170 million on a Virtual Case File System that does not work.

The FBI says there has been no breach into its internal security systems, or its Web site, and that no computers containing case files, sensitive or classified information were involved.

The Virtual Case File System was intended to allow the FBI to better manage criminal and terrorism cases. In a report Thursday, Inspector General Glenn Fine said the system will have to be scrapped or require a lot of additional work.

Despite FBI denials that national security investigations could be hampered, says Lambidakis, the inspector general says the 'deficiencies are significant," and concludes the FBI still doesn't know when a system will be deployed or how much more it will cost.

Fine blamed bad planning and management by the FBI for most of the problems encountered in the design of a system to move large amounts of investigative information into new digital databases that could be accessed throughout the FBI.

The Virtual Case File is supposed to give FBI agents and analysts an instantaneous and paperless way to manage criminal and terrorism cases.

"The VCF effort that began in June 2001 has been unable to meet the FBI's case management needs," Fine said in a report issued Thursday.

FBI Director Robert Mueller said his agency already has addressed management issues raised in the report. "I am disappointed that plans to fully deploy an automated investigative case management system for the FBI have been delayed, but I am confident that the bureau is moving in the right direction," said Mueller, who was testifying to Congress later Thursday about the computer project.

Lawmakers have been sharply critical of the computer upgrade.

FBI officials, after a reading a draft of the report, said last month the system designed by Science Applications International Corp. of San Diego needs work, probably at substantial additional cost, and might have to be shelved altogether.

After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Mueller made improvement of the agency's computer systems a priority. Members of Congress and the independent Sept. 11 commission said the overhaul is critical to enabling the FBI and intelligence agencies such as the CIA to "connect the dots" in preventing attacks.

Virtual Case File was to be the final piece of the overhaul of antiquated FBI computers, called the Trilogy project. The first two phases of the project — deployment of a high-speed, secure FBI computer network and 30,000 new desktop computers — have been completed.

But Fine noted that each phase of the Trilogy project "has been plagued by delays." Even when Congress provided an extra $78 million to rush completion of the first two parts of the project, the FBI managed to beat the original target date by just a month, he said.

Trilogy has so far cost taxpayers $581 million, $200 million more than originally budgeted. The FBI has yet to say how much more money will be needed to put an up-to-date case management system in place.

Mark Hughes, president of SAIC's system and network solutions group, defended his company's work and blamed turnover at the FBI and design changes demanded by the agency for most of the problems.

The company delivered a portion of the system in December, and it is being tested in the New Orleans FBI office. "The system does what it was supposed to do, it works," Hughes said. FBI officials said the software they received was about 10 percent of the entire project, while Hughes put the figure at 20 percent.

Hughes urged the FBI not to abandon Virtual Case File. "If they don't deploy the system and build a new one, they're going to have to wait at least three years before agents get any capability," he said.