The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding an FBI Oversight hearing on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. in Room 226 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building.   FBI Director Robert Mueller is scheduled to appear before the Committee.  Senator Leahy, the ranking Democratic member of the panel and the incoming Chairman, plans to ask Director Mueller about the consistent cost overruns and budget shortfalls relating to the FBI’s long-running project to update its computer system.  Below is Senator Leahy’s comment on the DOJ Inspector General’s Report released today that found the project is short $56.7 million for its second phase.  The full project is four phases.

Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.,
Ranking Member And Incoming Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,
On DOJ OIG Report On FBI Computer System Project
December 4, 2006

“The Bush Administration’s mismanagement of this project seems to know no bounds.  Today’s finding by the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General that the FBI will need an additional $56.7 million over what the President requested in his budget for next year to continue the Sentinel project, and that these additional costs could have an adverse impact on the FBI’s counterterrorism and other programs, are cause for deep concern.  Congress has been told that Sentinel will cost the American taxpayers $425 million to complete and that this system will not be fully operational until 2009. Yet the OIG finding of significant funding problems with Sentinel at this early stage calls the FBI’s cost estimate for this program into serious question.   

“After watching the FBI waste five years and more than $170 million of taxpayer dollars on the Trilogy program, I remain seriously concerned about the handling of this project.  The American people cannot afford another fiasco.”

# # # # #