The Fbi?Essay Preview: The Fbi?Report this essayIntroduction and background of the caseAs a part of the FBIs $581 million “Trilogy” program, the Virtual Case File (VCF) was a software application that intended to facilitate the case file management for FBI agents. VCF faced a vast array of trouble, finally convincing the Bureau to abandon the VCF project after years of development imposing $170 on US taxpayers.
VCF would have been a huge step in the improvement of the paper-intensive and outdated IT infrastructure for the FBI. VCF was designed to integrate modern desktop computers for in FBI offices: VCFs goal was to develop a secure high-performance network and to provide a modern database for storing case information, allowing agents to manage and share data electronically. The Bureau announced its development of a new, more ambitious software project, code-named “Sentinel”, to replace the outdated case file management VCF. A timeline of the project is attached in the appendix.
This case report discusses reasons why VCF failed. The second chapter analyzes connections between the Information System Strategy and the FBI organization, while the third chapter discusses the CIOs final comment about how to change the attitude of FBI agents towards more recent types of technology. The last chapter is concerned with the FBIs options of integrating modern technology. This case report ends with a summary and a final conclusion.
Discussion of the FBI caseReasons why the VCF System failedAccording to Holmes, reasons for the failure of the VCF are most importantly related to issues of control, culture and incompatible organizational systems.
We know from the Information Systems Strategy Triangle that business-, IS- and organizational strategy must be related to each other. With the VCF system, the FBI introduced a new IS strategy. Did the FBI adapt their business and organizational strategy to this change in IS strategy?
Although FBI agents are located in the US and around the globe, sharing information has not been part of the FBIs organizational culture. When developing the “Trilogy” program, the FBI did not initiate any organizational change. Keeping secrets was a part of the FBIs organizational culture. Consistent to that, a former IT manager at the FBI said: “There always has been a culture of intimidation at the FBI. It doesnt surprise me one bit that people dont want to talk.” The FBI also forgot to adjust their business strategy. It still operated its business strongly hierarchical from decentralized offices. As we see, the FBI failed to make necessary adjustments in its information, business and organizational strategy. In addition to that, the VCF project demonstrated the FBIs poor skills in managing investment in Information Technology. Some managers and engineers on the project simply lacked in training and implementation of new Information Technology. In my opinion the strategy of the VCF should have been revised immediately after the general report of the justice inspector in Dec. 2002.
Points of alignment between the Information System Strategy and the FBI organizationTraditionally the FBI was based on a matrix organization structure. Agents within the FBI were divided in groups that exchanged only little information with other agents. Each job an agent was assigned to focused on his specific group. Key technologies that support this type of organizational design are networking systems with shared data processing. The VCF system was designed as a Web-based application and was meant to be implemented in one big step. This type of technology has a strong level of decentralization and did not fit with the tradition of Information System the FBI had until then. It had to fail and, therefore, points of alignment were few. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11 the US found itself in an unstable environment. According to these crucial external changes, the FBI had to adopt its organizational structure. It still needs to transform from a traditional hierarchical organization to a modern networked organization, in order to face the changes of its environment. However, to become a fully networked organization, the FBI has to align its Information System with the unstable environment. The new case management system Sentinel is meant to bring this change. Learning from its failures with the VCF, the FBI now implements Sentinel in four phases. The FBI also has a more mature Enterprise Architecture that allows the FBI to change their organizational strategy in accordance to the Information System Strategy of Sentinel.
Ways to change the attitude of FBI agentsThe new case management system Sentinel is supposed to assist FBI agents during their work. According to the CIOs basic concept, Sentinel uses modern technology in order to facilitate an agents work effectively. Sentinel includes a set of tools that does cumbersome work for each agent. Therefore, the CIO hopes that agents will understand the efficiency of this technology and have a positive attitude towards it.
From theory we know that IS can add value to an organization. IS can enhance work at the FBI by collecting information that could not be collected any other way, by increasing the level and speed of communication and by offering a higher level of analysis of information. Unfortunately, integration of modern technology such as Sentinel includes major communication challenges. FBI agents are meant to work in virtual teams now. This contrasts with the FBIs traditional hierarchical structure. From now on, agents have to be able to communicate via e-mail, do telephone and video conferences, and use messenger programs, instead of talking face-to-face to one another. The agents need proficiency across a wide range of technology in order to meet Sentinels requirements. These requirements may impose a tremendous problem to agents. Agents might only see the disadvantages of Sentinel. What the CEO has to bear in mind, in order to prevent Sentinels
From theory we know that is not enough in terms of productivity or ability to make important decisions. However, an intelligence analyst may just look to technology. That could explain why a person’s job has been automated so far.
With the right people at the right time, the agency can move fast toward their goals. It’s only fitting as we’re heading into the middle of our new era which is moving quickly and our future is being bright.
We’ve been hearing that it’s been two years since your memo was read to Deputy Director McCabe, and I wanted to start with a quote about your memo. I have to agree.
I have to agree that it’s amazing that this memo came out. There was still a lot out there in the press that you should have gotten out of there by now. The best part is I wasn’t able to read it or read the transcript of it. So a great part of having been through that was having the courage to put forward a case, that’s what motivated me to put that forward. We may never have gotten your memo now. Our whole understanding today is that it was the wrong memo. We’re always looking to do these kinds of things, there’s a problem in that. There’s a great amount of trust going on here and we’re always looking for innovative ways to fix how we make this work better and more efficently and in a really productive way.
As president I would spend as much time with Mr. McCabe as I did with Mr. Comey. I would have been able to focus my activities on making sure that I was getting an accurate picture of how things were going, what were changing, what wasn’t changing, what the future held. I would have been able to do that all together, for sure. I always wanted to be part of this. It was clear I needed to.
Sincerely,
Fbi Agents And Information System Strategy. (August 21, 2021). Retrieved from https://www.freeessays.education/fbi-agents-and-information-system-strategy-essay/