FBI unable to hire number of computer scientists authorized, according to Inspector General program audit

The Federal Bureau of Investigation had only hired 52 of the 134 computer scientists it was authorized to employ under the Justice Department’s Next Generation Cyber Initiative launched in 2012, according to a report released today, July 30, 2015, by the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General.  Although the “audit found that the FBI has made considerable progress towards achieving the goals it established for the Next Gen Cyber Initiative,” it also concluded:

• the NCIJTF [National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force] did not have a process to measure the timeliness of information sharing among members;

• recruitment and retention of qualified candidates remain a challenge for the FBI, as private sector entities are often able to offer higher salaries and typically have a less extensive background investigation process;

• the FBI has encountered challenges in attracting external participants to its established Cyber Task Forces; the FBI did not hire 52 of the 134 computer scientists for which it was authorized; and

• 5 of the 56 field offices did not have a computer scientist assigned to that office’s Cyber Task Force.

Finally, although the FBI is working to develop strategies to enhance outreach to private sector entities, it continues to face challenges partnering and sharing information with these entities.

The editorial position of this blog is that it is critical for policy, law and investigations — both criminal and national security intelligence investigations — to be “tech informed.”  The Cyber Task Forces all need a computer scientist.  Additionally, it is no surprise that low pay and lengthy and intrusive background checks inhibit the Bureau’s hiring process, but we are confident that sufficient adequately trained personnel not motivated exclusively by pay and not deterred by the drug policy (p.8) can be found out of a nation of 320 million persons.

You can read the entire report by clicking here or on the image, below.

A response by the FBI to the Inspector General is on page 28 of the report.

Additional coverage of this story can be found, here.

[The opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and the blog editor and not necessarily those of Syracuse University, its College of Law, or of the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism.]