IG Criticizes Work On Wireless Network For Law Enforcement

IG CRITICIZES WORK ON WIRELESS NETWORK FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Spencer S. Hsu and Charles Babington]
The federal government has spent $195 million on a long-promised wireless radio network for the nation's law enforcement agencies that is at "high risk of failure," the Justice Department's inspector general reported yesterday. Inspector General Glenn A. Fine blamed delays, funding shortfalls and infighting among the Justice, Homeland Security and Treasury departments, whose 81,000 agents are expected to use the $5 billion system when it is completed by 2021. The federal partnership is "fractured in its approach and disjointed in its goals," Fine reported. "The system that results from this partnership likely will not be the seamless, interoperable system that was originally envisioned and . . . may not be adequate in the event of another terrorist attack or national disaster." Members of Congress, which is controlled by Democrats, blamed a failure of administration leadership for the problems reported by Fine.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/26/AR2007032602052.html
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* Audit criticizes feds' $5 billion wireless system
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070327/a_wireless27.art.htm