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won-a-glock · March 27, 2011, 05:18 PM

Why is this a surprise? I've been dealing with DoJ and other 3 letter agencies as a contractor for decades. Most agencies are mediocre, DoJ is bottom of the barrel from a real performance perspective. While their public and congressional relations offices are truly first class, most of the decisions appear to be politically driven (vs. doing what's overtly right or THE LAW), and consistently poorly planned and managed. (can you say "Virtual Casebook" fiasco?)

The problems that make it to the light of day are "only the tip of the iceberg" according to one former deputy director. The rest are often classified or tightly held specifically to prevent embarrassment, not national security. The root problem is an inherently corrupt culture starting at the top that needs to continue the CYA for face-saving and retirements. This tends to transcend changes in leadership.

In the recent ($10B ceiling) award Integrated Wireless Network program that is supposed to provided integrated and interoperable communications between various agencies, the FBI has taken a very parochial view that it's their way or the highway for the other agencies involved. So much for saving taxpayers $20-50B by working together, which will make the SBInet screwup by DHS look like chump change. This is going to hit the fan bigtime in the next 911 incident. Feel free to legitimately blame those problems on the FBI leadership of today.

In closing, I'll allow that some contractors believe that FBI most appropriately stands for "F*-ups Beyond Imagination". What BATF realistically means is left as an exercise for the reader. Any FBI'ers or BATF'ers out there care to differ?

March 27, 2011, 05:18 PM	#79
won-a-glock Member Join Date: April 30, 2010 Location: 'sub-urban' to rural desert Posts: 64	*BATF / DoJ F-ups no surprise** Why is this a surprise? I've been dealing with DoJ and other 3 letter agencies as a contractor for decades. Most agencies are mediocre, DoJ is bottom of the barrel from a real performance perspective. While their public and congressional relations offices are truly first class, most of the decisions appear to be politically driven (vs. doing what's overtly right or THE LAW), and consistently poorly planned and managed. (can you say "Virtual Casebook" fiasco?) The problems that make it to the light of day are "only the tip of the iceberg" according to one former deputy director. The rest are often classified or tightly held specifically to prevent embarrassment, not national security. The root problem is an inherently corrupt culture starting at the top that needs to continue the CYA for face-saving and retirements. This tends to transcend changes in leadership. In the recent ($10B ceiling) award Integrated Wireless Network program that is supposed to provided integrated and interoperable communications between various agencies, the FBI has taken a very parochial view that it's their way or the highway for the other agencies involved. So much for saving taxpayers $20-50B by working together, which will make the SBInet screwup by DHS look like chump change. This is going to hit the fan bigtime in the next 911 incident. Feel free to legitimately blame those problems on the FBI leadership of today. In closing, I'll allow that some contractors believe that FBI most appropriately stands for "F*-ups Beyond Imagination". What BATF realistically means is left as an exercise for the reader. Any FBI'ers or BATF'ers out there care to differ?