FBI Director Robert Mueller doesn’t know how much it will cost to finish the bureau’s computer overhaul, already over budget and behind schedule, the Associated Press reports. He refused to tell senators the cost of the initial phase of the Sentinel system, the successor to a failed project that was supposed to improve management of terrorism and other criminal cases. “There are certain sensitivities involved,” Mueller told the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Commerce, Justice and Science subcommittee.
His comments did not mollify skeptical senators who have criticized the FBI’s computer problems. “I’d suggest stonewalling the staff up here is not the way to do it,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Mueller had said a cost estimate would be ready in early spring for a system to replace the Virtual Case File, which has cost taxpayers more than $100 million.
Link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-24-fbi-computers_x.htm