No intent at starting a political firestorm by posting anything on this
topic, and I know it was covered in this weekend's RAIN postings as well,
but the comment from the AP article cited in this link really frosts me.   I
know many may see this as political issue, but I'm not talking about the
powers granted by the Act, which I have a personal opinion about hat I need
not share, I'm talking about the lack of process and controls established
when the Act was passed.

http://snipurl.com/1crck

"One government official familiar with the report said shoddy bookkeeping
and records management led to the problems. The FBI agents appeared to be
overwhelmed by the volume of demands for information over a two-year period,
the official said."

So, what caused the problem was the inability of the FBI to perform routine
records management tasks???  I mean, what a SHOCK this was, after the
bungled attempts they made in the past to deal with the capture and
gathering of evidence related to the McVeigh trial,.something that resulted
in a 500+ page GAO report detailing their failed computer systems and lack
of uniform practices for managing information.   Then how much was spent
trying to build them a new case management system from the ground up so that
wouldn't happen again, and then it had to be trashed because the entire
schema/structure was wrong?

To blame this failure on SHODDY BOOKKEEPING AND RECORDS MANAGEMENT is
appalling!   It should fall squarely on the shoulders of the assignment of
power without process to support it.  You don't give someone a gun or a car
without providing instructions on how to use them, why would you give them
the power to do something of this level without first establishing a set of
rules to operate within?

I think the concept of blaming this on RECORDS MANAGEMENT is completely
wrong... it as a failing of MANAGEMENT, period.

Larry

-- 
Larry Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972

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