Slashdot Mirror
FBI Boosts Servers For Faster Criminal Searches
coondoggie writes "The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division has awarded Lockheed Martin a $16 million contract to upgrade its central repository for criminal justice information services. 'The CJIS division operates national-level crime data systems that furnish name checks, fingerprints, criminal history data and other information to law enforcement officials. Keeping its systems on the leading edge should help CJIS with its goal of delivering getting timely and relevant criminal justice information to the FBI and all others in the law enforcement community. The new and upgraded servers will be part of the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System.'"
Well, the FBI wasted over $100 million on the Virtual Case File project, so I'm okay to let them play around with a mere $16 million however they want.
In seriousness, speeding the results of criminal checks is a useful goal. Now all we need to do is make sure that the databases are filled with the correct information, and we'll be all set.
Is a lousy $16 million contract news? Give me a break. Most big companies sneeze $16 million in IT expenses every day.
Cut the political and "big-brother-gonna-get-ya" crap, editors. This is a complete non-story. They are upgrading. Gosh. Nobody ever does that. And how many Slashdot stories ridiculed the FBI for spending billions on their failed IT re-alignment?
Stop the Boogey-Man stories and let's talk Nerd.
Moe
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
Not everyone can access FBI records directly, so this won't increase non-governmental background checks (which typically use data collected by private sources). But it WILL cause innocent people being held under suspicion of being a fugitive to be released faster. The data is being accessed anyway -- may as well do it quickly to minimally inconvenience those who shouldn't be inconvenienced.
They got nothin' on the NSA: "NSA's budget for electricity exceeds US$31 million per year, making it the second largest electricity consumer in the entire state of Maryland."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nsa
Does anyone else smell a bullshit cover story or is it just me? This big fuss over what, 470 million fingerprints? I could fit that on my laptop.
You can't fit 470 million fingerprints on an HD platter. There isn't enough clearance and the drive head plows into the fingerprint oil.
Clearly you don't rent DVD's from the same video library as me.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Yes, they've been involved in some Constitutionally sketchy stuff. But a lot of their work *IS* really catching ordinary criminals. Not even terrorists or keeping files on "political" people. People who break into houses, rob and kill; serial killers; escaped prisoners, etc.
-b.
And the solution is very simple: abolish plea bargaining and require a speedy jury trial on anything that anyone is charged with. If the State actually has to try all charges, the practice of charging people guilty of minor offenses with everything on the books that MIGHT stick will stop very rapidly.
Only those with something to hide pay them any attention.
Said like only an Anonymous Coward could!
Leave the gun, take the cannolis.
Source. The FBI is an agency that desperately needs to have a president come in and clean house, firing managers, devolving authority back to field agents and other measures that would help to clean out the bureaucratic nightmare.
Everywhere the police complain about the speed and most likely blame the FBI. Too bad they can't see the slow software running in their own state IT departments. Speed and storage (3 years of transactions need to be on file and searchable) are what are suffering now - even if the FBI did all libXML + C for everything they still have a bunch of Java clients connecting and taking their sweet old time downloading data.