Hearing of the House Judiciary Committee - Oversight Hearing on the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Interview
Hearing of the House Judiciary Committee - Oversight Hearing on the Federal Bureau of Investigation
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REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to talk a little bit about the interface between the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security as it relates to the FBI's role in name checks. When you appeared before this committee last fall, I asked you where we were on that and you indicated, according to the transcript, that we were bringing the Sentinel system online.
However, subsequent to that, we've had a hearing in the Immigration Subcommittee with the Department of Homeland Security on this issue, and they are reporting that although in a 90-day period for permanent residents applications, if they don't hear from the FBI they simply proceed. They are not doing that when it comes to naturalizations. I don't quarrel with that judgment. But there are still many cases where apparently the name check function takes many, many months, I mean, even years.
And I'm wondering where we are on that. I mean, we actually had one of the members -- he is not here today -- but Howard Berman explained that one of his constituents popped up on a name check because he'd gotten a security clearance and somehow they could never get -- I mean, he was good enough to get a security clearance but they could never clear it through the FBI. Where are you on that whole venture?
MR. MUELLER: The problem in the backlog that we had is attributable to -- it goes back to 2002, when, in the wake of September 11th, USCIS resubmitted 2.7 million names, which got us behind the eight ball. Nonetheless, in the past they have completed 70 percent of them within 30 days. But that left the other 40 percent that was taking substantially longer.
We have recognized this. We have taken a number of steps. We have raised the fees; we have revised the criteria to eliminate certain categories of records that have to be researched; we have prioritized the workload; we have built a central records complex, and most importantly we've hired over 200 contractors to work along with 40 FBI employees.
As a result of that, our expectation is by July of this year we will have eliminated the backlog behind two years, beyond two years.
And by November of this year we will have eliminated the backlog beyond one year, and by June of next year, 98 percent of the record checks will be done within 30 days.
REP. LOFGREN: If I may, most of the name checks are done instantaneously because --
MR. MUELLER: Yes.
REP. LOFGREN: -- of the computer, so that's nothing new. It's prospectively -- I mean, right now we've got -- according to the information I've received from DHS, 46,000 cases have been pending for more than two years.
MR. MUELLER: It may be; I'm not certain. I'm not certain of those statistics, but it may be.
REP. LOFGREN: So you think by June the two years will be cleared out --
MR. MUELLER: Yes.
REP. LOFGREN: -- and we had 130,000 that had been pending for more than six months. Will those be cleared out by June as well?
MR. MUELLER: Those who have been pending more than one year will have been cleared out by November of this year.
REP. LOFGREN: Let me ask you, in terms of your computer efforts -- I know Mr. Sensenbrenner also explored this -- but it seems to me that until we move into this century, we're really never going to get ahead of this whole game, not only the computer system, but digitizing your existing records. Can you tell us where you are in implementation on that --
MR. MUELLER: Yes.
REP. LOFGREN: -- on Sentinel?
MR. MUELLER: Let me just explain for -- records check in most cases you can come back and you get a records request from Customs or State and what have you, and a computer check will show you if it shows up in one file or no files at all and you can get it back.
What happened back in 2002 is determined that whenever a name shows up in a file, you have to go find that file. Our files, paper files, for years and years and years were resident in the various 56 field offices around the country. And if your name pops up as a witness or somebody who's called to a grand jury or somebody --
REP. LOFGREN: No, I understand that. When are we going to digitize those records? We're not --
MR. MUELLER: We cannot. It is inefficient to go ahead and digitize all of those. Whenever we have a record check that requires us to pull out a file we are digitizing it and putting it into the computer database.
REP. LOFGREN: So you're just doing it as you go along?
MR. MUELLER: We do -- well, we've got, I think, records from 10 years forward. We're doing in particular offices. We're doing the backlog. I'd have to get you the exact records retention digitization --
REP. LOFGREN: I would like a report on that, Mr. Director, because obviously digitizing a 30-year-old record doesn't have the same priority or urgency.
MR. MUELLER: Right.
REP. LOFGREN: But it seems to me if Google can digitize, you know, Stanford University's library in a few months, the FBI should be able to digitize its current records in an equivalent time if it were a priority.
MR. MUELLER: We have prioritized it; it's really a function of personnel and capability. And for the last five years we have prioritized and gone throughout our country and digitized as many records as we could, given the personnel. And what will be tremendously important is the record retention facility that we are currently completing.
REP. LOFGREN: If I -- it seems to me -- and I know my time is expired, Mr. Chairman -- this is force multiplier. I mean, you digitize these records, you're actually going to enhance the ability of your agents to perform.
MR. MUELLER: Absolutely.
REP. LOFGREN: And therefore, it's worth an investment to enhance the capability of your entire work force to be more effective. And so I'd like -- I don't know if you don't a cost-benefit analysis, but it seems to me clear that if you move into the modern age your agents are going to be optimized in terms of their performance.
MR. MUELLER: I think that's right, and to give you an example of prioritization, we have digitized every counterterrorism -- every terrorism file, every terrorism record. We do a lot of civil work, though, and there are civil files that -- you know, very big issue with -- understand that go back for any number of years that are on the sort of the back end of when it will get digitized. So we have prioritized; we have put emphasis on it, particularly in those areas where we need to have access to those records digitally immediately.
REP. LOFGREN: Mr. Chairman, I know my time has expired, but I would hope that we could get a full report on where we are on the computer system and on digitizing these records, what remains to be done. And if it's not a priority, why? I'd just like to know more than I currently do.
MR. MUELLER: Happy to do that.
REP. LOFGREN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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