Outgoing CIO Discusses New Capabilities

Moving Technology Forward
Outgoing CIO Discusses New Capabilities

09/24/08

Zal Azmi was appointed CIO in 2004 and has led FBI efforts to modernize information technology.

When Zal Azmi became the FBI’s chief information officer in 2004, he had his work cut out for him.

“During 9/11, the Bureau didn’t have the infrastructure to transmit even a single picture over its external networks,” Azmi said. Many processes were grounded in old systems. There were plenty of information technology offices within the FBI, he said—almost one for every division—but they were “stovepipes,” not unlike the broader intelligence community.

Today, as Azmi announces his departure, FBI agents and analysts are sharing information across top-secret networks with partner agencies around the world. More than 20,000 BlackBerrys have been distributed to FBI personnel, unfettering them from desks and providing mobile access to NCIC rap sheets and vehicle records. In full swing is a multi-phased initiative to deploy new computers and improved tools for agents managing digital case files.

The advances have not been without early missteps—a case management system called Virtual Case File (VCF) was scrapped in 2003. But in the nearly five years since Azmi signed on to help the Bureau update its information technology program, he has rebuilt it from the ground up.

Under Azmi’s watch, the FBI’s technology group:

• Delivered and networked new computers and BlackBerry devices to more than 700 FBI locations around the world.
• Re-engineered, streamlined, or automated more than 200 FBI work processes and changed some 100 policies to make them more efficient.
• Created a platform enabling introduction of new technologies and capabilities on a rolling basis; 54 projects are currently in development and new capabilities are released almost every other month.
• Eliminated barriers to searching across scores of previously compartmentalized information sources, including SIPRNet, one of the country’s largest networks of classified information.
• Professionalized the IT program by recruiting and training skilled program managers; the FBI had two certified IT program managers in 2004, today there are more than 80.

Asked by Director Mueller to help the FBI sort through its technology assets and needs in late 2003, Azmi won the Director’s confidence and was appointed CIO in May 2004. Azmi inherited oversight over the Trilogy program, a comprehensive overhaul of FBI technology, which includes building new IT networks, supplying thousands of computers, and developing an information management system, Sentinel, to replace a pokey system built on old (green-screen) mainframe technology.

“My focus was on building an organization that not only can deliver the replacement for VCF, which is the Sentinel application, but also other applications, other capabilities, other things that the Bureau lacked,” Azmi said during a recent interview.

The Sentinel program is on schedule for full roll-out by mid-2010. Azmi said he told the Director in 2003 that putting FBI technology on sound footing could take three to five years. He is confident the team and the plan he crafted during his tenure will fulfill the Director’s vision—and the public’s expectation—that we utilize the best technology available, because our ability to combat terrorists and criminals increasingly depends on that technology.

“We have the programs in place to move forward,” said Azmi, whose last official day is October 17. “So I think I’m at a point that I can easily transition from my current position to something else and the organization can continue on the path it’s on.”

Resources:
- 2007 Zal Azmi Interview
- 2005 Interview
- 2004 Interview
- Technology story archives
- FBI Information Technology Branch