Barbara Ferguson, Arab News Correspondent

WASHINGTON, 13 January 2004 — Last month, journalists were electrified by the news the FBI was delaying its “Trilogy” computer upgrades system.

“Trilogy” was designed to enable agents to improve their ability to share intelligence information and enhance their investigations.

One important component of the FBI system, know as the Virtual Case File, VCF, was originally expected to be operating by the end of the year. Then officials announced it would not be operational for several months, and the price tag for the overall system, called ‘Trilogy,’ had soared to $626 million, far above the original projected cost of $380 million.

Journalists had a field day. Headlines read: “FBI Hits Glitches,” “FBI’s Tardy Upgrade,” “FBI Faces Delays, Cost Overruns in Major Upgrade of Computer System”.

A typical newswire story said: “The FBI is facing serious delays and cost overruns as it struggles to upgrade its computer system.”

But the former FBI Deputy Assistant Director for the Trilogy Program, Frank Sauer, says journalists who wrote such stories did not do their homework.

“The press reacted to the announcement of the delay and price tag without bothering to do their research. If they had, they would have realized the program is actually ahead of schedule because we moved a lot faster after 9/11,” he told Arab News.

Sauer says the Trilogy program was planned a year before 9/11, and developed in three parts, thus its name. “From Day One our idea was to develop the hardware first, then the network and then the improved software. They come in that order because we wanted a lot of people to have access to the new software. For that you needed the network first, then you needed computers to use the software to use the network.”

All of the FBI’s new hardware, and the improved computers, have been released to the field, Sauer said. “All the networks are up and running.”

“The software, called Virtual Case File, is what we’ve been using for years, but the current version does not take advantage of the higher speed, as will the new VCF version.”

Sauer suggested the skyrocketing price tag is what caused the media hullabaloo.

“The cost probably caused the biggest uproar, and the higher cost associated with Trilogy is the direct result of accelerating the program after 9/11,” said Sauer, who stressed his perspective comes from “a person now outside the government.”

“This entire Trilogy program was supposed to end in September 2004, the first two parts of it were actually installed more than a year ahead of schedule,” said the former deputy director of the program. “In addition, they’re talking about VCF being ready by mid-year 2004, which is still ahead of the original schedule.”

These two major parts of the system included delivery of some 22,000 desktop computers to FBI field offices and the creation of a secure network to connect them. The FBI also now has greater bandwidth in its internal systems to move more data, including pictures, something that was problematic in the past.