FBI´s virtual case file living in limbo

When the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) gave the green light to in information technology (IT) overhaul more than four years ago, it was bound to trigger security and privacy concerns. Yet, after recently coming under intense scrutiny from the US National Research Council, not to mention Congress, and having to shelve most, if not all, of its technological initiatives, nary a whimper is coming from the FBI about the current status of the project that came in with such a bang. Why is so little known about the projects next steps? And should the uncertainty surrounding the FBI´s plans with respect to its IT overhaul raise any security and privacy concerns? The US National Academy of Sciences´ in-depth study of the project, A Review of the FBI´s Trilogy Information Technology Modernization Program, outlines the factors that contributed to the failure of the Trilogy program and its accompanying application software, Virtual Case File.