FC: FBI pledges to ditch 1980s computer technology, enter 1990s...

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress02/higgins071602.htm
                                      
                               July 16, 2002
     
                          Statement For The Record
                Sherry Higgins, Project Management Executive
                       for the Office of the Director
                      Federal Bureau Of Investigation
                                      
                                     on
                             FBI Infrastructure
                                      
                                 Before the
                       Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
                 on Administrative Oversight and the Courts
                              Washington, D.C.
                                      
   
     Good morning. I'm Sherry Higgins, the FBI's Project Management
     Executive for the Office of the Director. I have been asked to talk
     to you about how the FBI is fixing old problems and building a
     collaborative information infrastructure to better support our
     mission. I have also been asked to share with you some personal
     perspectives on how the FBI differs from the private sector in
     developing our computing infrastructure.
     
     Today, we live in a dangerous world, where criminals and terrorists
     exploit advances in technology to perpetrate crimes against United
     States citizens and our national interests. High-speed digital and
     wireless communications, including the Internet, are the "tools of
     choice." Instant global communication has expanded traditional
     organized crime and allowed terrorists to operate from the remotest
     of areas.
     
     These kinds of abilities helped facilitate the 9/11 attacks. In
     response, Director Mueller is restructuring and reshaping the FBI
     to better fit a new mission with different priorities and to put in
     place the analytical and information sharing capabilities needed in
     the post-9/11 environment.
     A component is the information infrastructure necessary to enhance
     our ability to collect, store, search, retrieve, analyze and share
     information. Prior testimony before Congress has described the
     problems the FBI is experiencing because of outdated technology.
     Thanks to support from Congress, the FBI has embarked on the
     information infrastructure revitalization that I will describe
     today and that is well under way. A word of caution, however. The
     FBI's problems with information technology didn't occur over night
     and they won't be fixed over night either. That is because it is
     more important to get it right and know that we have the systems
     and capabilities that precisely fit our mission as well as cure
     past problems.
     
     The first major step in this direction is our Trilogy Program. The
     Trilogy Program was designed as a 36-month effort to enhance our
     effectiveness through technologies that facilitate better
     organization, access and analysis of information.
     The overall direction of the Trilogy Program is to provide all FBI
     offices with improved network communications, a common and current
     set of office automation tools, and easy-to-use, re-engineered,
     web-based applications. Our Trilogy system consists of 3
     components:
     
     · Information Presentation Component (IPC). Hardware and software
     within each office to provide each employee with a current "desk
     top" environment and equipment.
     · Transportation Network Component (TNC). High-speed connections
     linking the offices of the FBI.
     · User Applications Component (UAC). Five user-specific software
     applications to enhance each employee's ability to access, organize
     and analyze information.
     
     The Information Presentation Component relies primarily on
     commercial-off-the shelf (COTS) hardware and software products that
     provide a modern desktop environment and connectivity, thus
     facilitating employees' ability to input, retrieve, manipulate and
     present information in text, image, audio and video formats. The
     Information Presentation Component is replacing our antiquated
     computer workstations, providing an updated e-mail capability, and
     includes simple things like additional printers and scanners that
     increase productivity. This component is nearing completion.
     
     The Transportation Network Component is simply the
     telecommunications network consisting of high-speed connections
     linking the offices of the FBI, and the hardware, software and new
     workstations within each office to link at high speeds the entire
     FBI. It will provide connectivity between FBI facilities (via a
     WAN) and within FBI facilities (via a LAN), so that investigative
     information and analysis may be shared among agents and analysts
     easily, accurately, rapidly and securely, and at the high data
     volumes our new applications support. This is nearing completion as
     well.
     
     The User Application Component is replacement of user applications
     that will enhance our ability to access, organize and analyze
     information. Specifically, the Trilogy Program will migrate five
     investigative applications into a "Virtual Case File" (VCF), to
     provide user-friendly, web browser access to mission critical
     information. A web-based interface will enable our users to have a
     graphical interface with investigative information. It will
     eliminate the cumbersome aspects of our current system, greatly
     enhance our collaborative environment and go a long way towards
     eliminating the problems obvious from Hanssen and McVeigh.
     
     Under the FBI's old legacy investigative information system, the
     Automated Case Support (ACS), users navigate with the function keys
     instead of the point and click method common to web based
     applications. Simple tasks, such as storing an electronic version
     of a document today, require a user to perform twelve separate
     functions, in a "green screen" environment. That will soon change
     with Trilogy. Automated workflow will allow for a streamlined
     process to complete tasking. Storing a document for the record will
     occur with a click of the mouse button. This will make
     investigative and intelligence information immediately available to
     all personnel with appropriate security.
     
     Enhanced ad hoc reporting, online information sharing and
     state-of-the-art analytical tools will permit those conducting
     investigations and analyzing data to easily organize and filter
     events and trends. Representatives from our field offices who are
     defining the VCF user needs are also challenging current FBI
     business practices to improving workflow and to ensure that archaic
     business rules are not automated.
     
     Multimedia functionality will allow for the storage of information
     in its original form. Under the old system, agents cannot store
     non-compatible forms of digital evidence in an electronic format,
     instead having to describe the evidence and indicate where the
     evidence is stored in a control room. Multimedia functionality will
     facilitate electronic storage of digital evidence and media to the
     investigative case file, allowing access to the information from
     the desktop.
     
     Trilogy also includes an Enterprise Management System (EMS), that
     supports all three of the components of the Trilogy Program. The
     EMS will allow the FBI to configure, monitor and administer
     information systems and components through a central Enterprise
     Operations Center (EOC), with local Field Office visibility into
     the status of equipment at their location. The EMS will gather and
     provide appropriate IT system metrics for Trilogy from the
     operations center. EMS functions include mandatory and optional
     capabilities for fault, configuration, accounting, performance, and
     security management.
     
     The original plan for Trilogy was development and deployment over
     36 months from the date of the contract awards for the
     infrastructure and applications development, May and June 2001,
     respectively. The events of September 11, 2001 impacted many
     aspects of the FBI, including the Trilogy Program. The urgent need
     for improved information technologies prompted the Director to
     request that Trilogy implementation be accelerated, with emphasis
     on those capabilities most urgently needed to support the FBI's
     priority cases.
     
     In response, Congress provided additional funding and Trilogy's
     network and desktop infrastructure improvements were accelerated.
     The resulting improvements are significant.
     
     Infrastructure enhancements are being deployed in two phases. The
     first phase, called "Fast Track", is installation of Trilogy
     architecture at our 56 Field Office locations and as many of our
     Resident Agencies as can be completed before the second phase
     begins. This consists of new network printers, color scanners,
     local area network upgrades, desktop workstations, and Microsoft
     Office applications. By the end of April 2002, deployment at all 56
     FBI Field Offices and two Information Technology Centers (ITCs) was
     completed. Fast Track is continuing to deploy this infrastructure
     to our Resident Agencies.
     
     The second phase of infrastructure deployment is called "Full Site
     Capability," representing the complete infrastructure upgrade. The
     full upgrade will provide the wide area network connectivity
     together with new encryption devices to protect our data, new
     operating systems and servers, and new and improved e-mail
     capability. The WAN design also has been enhanced to eliminate
     possible single points of failure. Completion of this phase was
     moved from the accelerated date of July 2002 to March 2003 to allow
     additional time to test and deploy a secure, operational system.
     
     The Enterprise Operations Center (EOC) facilities, circuit and bulk
     fiber installations, electronic key management system, and
     installation of encryptors are all on schedule.
     
     User training on the new desktop office automation software has
     begun and a new training management system deployed.
     
     The UAC component is scheduled to be delivered by January 2004, or
     four months ahead of the original schedule. And although the
     Trilogy Program is accelerating the network and desktop
     infrastructure ahead of applications development, there are
     significant benefits to modernizing the infrastructure before the
     upgraded applications are available. Infrastructure enhancement
     will immediately provide FBI field offices the high-speed
     connections to link with one another (and within each office) and
     share investigative and administrative information currently
     available in their legacy systems. It will provide nearly every FBI
     employee a modern desktop, and applications and database
     productivity tools, which will significantly enhance work
     productivity.
     
     Further, during the interim while Trilogy UAC is under development,
     the FBI is enhancing some of our existing legacy systems to enable
     web access to certain applications. So, for example, two new
     capabilities are the Case Control system and Global Index
     Application. The Case Control system was delivered in April 2002;
     the Global Index Application was delivered in April 2001. The Case
     Control System keeps track of the location of each
     Counter-terrorism related hard copy file, as it is routed to our
     field divisions and nine scanning centers; this ensures that all
     files are scanned and accurate file locations maintained. The
     Global Index Application allows the user to search for a name, date
     of birth, address, and/or phone number, against four of our main
     investigative applications systems (ACS, IIIA, CLEA, and TA), with
     one query, returning basic case information.
     
     The User Application development is now planned in two increments.
     The initial VCF release will migrate data from the current
     Automated Case Support (ACS) and IntelPlus to the VCF. VCF Release
     One has a targeted completion date of December 2003. This release
     will allow different types of users, such as agents, analysts, and
     supervisors, to access information from a "dashboard" that is
     specific to their individual needs. This VCF release will also
     enhance our capability to set and track case leads, index case
     information, and move document drafts more quickly through the
     approval process, with digital signatures.
     
     The second release will migrate the Criminal Law Enforcement
     Application (CLEA), Integrated Intelligence Information Application
     (IIIA), and Telephone Application (TA) into the VCF. VCF Release
     Two has a targeted completion date estimated for June 2004. It will
     provide Audio/Video Streaming capability and provide our agents
     with "content management" capability. This will help them access
     information from our data warehouse, regardless of where in the
     system the information was entered. For the first time we will have
     a "one query does it all" capability.
     
     The VCF Team is currently using an industry-standard process called
     Joint Application Development (JAD) planning, to define and
     prioritize the users' operational requirements. By joining the
     application developers with the users (agents, analyst, and support
     personnel), applications will be built that will reflect the items
     needed by these individuals to perform their jobs. This approach
     differs from the old way of doing business: figuring out how to do
     your job with the tools you already have. JAD is not a rebuild of
     the old system. It has brought users, designers, future systems
     operators together to develop applications that are operationally
     sound and maintainable. JAD sessions started at the end of January
     this year and are expected to conclude next week. Additional JAD
     sessions will take place as part of the process for VCF Release
     Two.
     
     As with any automation project, a number of risks must be managed
     to a have a successful Trilogy Program deployment. The top three
     are all related to our aggressive deployment schedule. I believe
     all are manageable. They are: TNC/IPC and UAC test and acceptance;
     the enterprise operations center; and legacy system
     interoperability.
     
     Before we deploy our Full Site Capability infrastructure to the
     field, we need to test the desktops, servers, and networks to
     ensure that there are no problems with our final configuration. Our
     current schedule allows a tight allocation of time for testing,
     which leaves little room for resolving potential problems. To
     mitigate this risk, the test team is prioritizing requirements and
     developing a common understanding of system acceptance test
     coverage, conditions, and criteria. Once identified, the plan is to
     test the most critical aspects of the system first, and, if
     necessary, continue testing the non-critical areas during initial
     deployments.
     
     Our aggressive schedule also leaves little time for EOC
     preparations in support of the deployed infrastructure. To mitigate
     this risk, current available EOC staff will be trained to support
     the Trilogy infrastructure and additional external resources will
     be identified for full operational support at the start of FSC
     deployment. Finally, contractor personnel will be utilized to
     supplement government staff for network services, central systems,
     security and the data center.
     
     Interoperability with legacy applications is another risk area.
     There is currently a lack of documentation in place that captures
     the old legacy system functions and operations. Therefore, the UAC
     team is still identifying new interfaces and modifications to
     existing interfaces. Our schedule allocation for engineering and
     testing may not be adequate for successful integration
     infrastructure deployment with the current applications and
     servers. To mitigate this risk, the test team is also prioritizing
     these test requirements and developing a common understanding of
     system acceptance test coverage, conditions and criteria.
     
     Once we catch up to a standard PC environment, the future looks
     very positive. We are planning for a technology refreshment program
     (TRP) which will replace Trilogy network and workstation hardware,
     network data storage, server hardware, and embedded software on a
     periodic basis to prevent system performance degradation and rising
     O&M costs due to obsolescence. The TRP also envisions the
     incorporation of new technology as it becomes available in the
     private sector and the study of emerging technologies to evaluate
     potential future uses and benefits and to better anticipate future
     resource needs. In essence, a viable infrastructure technology
     refreshment plan is essential to maintain the benefits of the
     Trilogy investment, the efficiency and capabilities of FBI
     investigative support systems and to better plan and budget for out
     year expenditures.
     
     I have been asked to provide my personal perspective on what I have
     changed since reporting to the FBI this March, and how the FBI
     contrasts with my experience in the private sector.
     
     Before my arrival at the FBI, the Trilogy Program was overly
     focused on achieving an accelerated schedule. Although the Trilogy
     Program will still be brought in ahead of its original schedule, we
     have begun allowing for more test time to ensure we deliver a
     quality product to the field. Industry best practices recommend
     "building in quality", instead of "inspecting it in". Using quality
     standards and compliance up front will allow us to identify and
     prevent mistakes that would require expensive fixes later on down
     the line.
     
     Effective communications within and without the Trilogy Program is
     also essential to our success. I am in the process of developing a
     Trilogy Communications Plan that will promote effective
     communications across our business enterprise, so that valuable
     development information is not retained in pockets.
     
     I am also developing an integrated master schedule for the Trilogy
     Program, which will reflect the program's critical path,
     dependencies and integration tasks between our three components. We
     will constantly review this schedule to capitalize on efficiencies
     and schedule improvement opportunities.
     
     One of the striking differences between the private sector and the
     FBI is the Bureau's lack of a dedicated corps of acquisition
     specialists with which to plan, develop and manage large projects.
     The FBI has many talented people with some of these requisite
     skills; we have pockets of expertise in program management
     disciplines, such as financial analysis, budgeting, contract
     management and system engineering, residing in different divisions.
     However, the FBI has operated for too long without an organization
     responsible for proper development business practices, which would
     ensure that FBI systems under development are responsive to our
     users' requirements.
     
     Private industry and most government agencies recognize the
     advantages of instituting a project management executive with a
     project management office to manage complex, expensive, high-risk
     development efforts. According to the Gartner Group, "enterprises
     utilizing a project office to manage the growing complexity
     involved with creating or acquiring--and then implementing and
     managing--these applications have a distinct advantage over those
     that do not.". Perhaps the most frustrating experience I have had
     since coming to the FBI from private industry is trying to work
     information technology issues that cut across the FBI's
     organization. "Stove piped" communications internal to the FBI
     prevents information and communications flow that is required to be
     responsive to our users and oversight. Successful project
     development and implementation at the FBI requires constant and
     accurate communications across our entire business enterprise.
     
     To make this a reality, I have recommended, and Director Mueller
     has approved of the establishment of an Office of Programs
     Management. This office will develop, manage, and deploy
     high-priority, complex and high-risk projects of high dollar value,
     to successfully support the FBI's operational mission. The office
     will have a staff of subject matter experts in key program
     management functions, matrixed to development project managers.
     These project managers will be "loaned" from their sponsoring
     divisions to the Office of Program Management during the
     development of the project, from the concept phase until the
     project is ready to be transitioned to operations.
     
     In addition, the Office of Program Management will be charged with
     using repeatable processes for these efforts; in other words, we
     will implement a business approach to our large acquisition
     efforts, by instituting core program management disciplines from a
     project's concept phase until it is transitioned to operations and
     maintenance. We will train a skilled corps of FBI PM subject matter
     experts, and advise the FBI Director on program management and
     acquisition-planning related organizational issues, proposals, and
     strategies.
     
     Because of its user/management orientation, the Office of Program
     Management will be in a position to make the most informed
     recommendations concerning trade-offs between performance,
     schedule, and costs of projects, to determine the best course for
     return on the FBI's investment in IT. This office will also gauge
     the impacts of delays of delivered functionality for the field
     divisions and headquarters, and develop budget justifications for
     the acquisition of required resources to support approved systems
     projects.
     
     In summary, Trilogy gives the FBI workable standards and a base it
     can build upon. Trilogy is being built to allow for interchanges
     with different systems, internal and external, so that the
     historical problem of "not putting the pieces together" is no
     longer an issue. Trilogy will provide the resources and tools the
     FBI needs to support investigations and the critical building
     blocks for future improvements. The Trilogy Program is focused on
     getting these critical resources to our Special Agents and field
     support personnel as quickly as possible.
     
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