Legal Research

FBI Name Check Backlog, Outdated Technology Cited in Report

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source: Crime and Justice News, June 10, 2008.

"The FBI's name check program relies on outdated technology and employs workers with limited training, raising concerns about the U.S. ability to assess national security threats, says a Justice Department inspector general's report quoted by the Houston Chronicle. The number of requests filed with the FBI National Name Check Program has ballooned since Sept. 11, 2001, growing from 2.7 million to 4 million in fiscal 2007."

"The report said the name check backlog 'causes delays in the (Department of Homeland Security's) efforts to assess potential national security threats residing in the United States and adjudicate applicants' requests for immigration benefits.' As of March, the FBI had more than 327,000 immigration name check requests pending, with 90 percent more than 30 days old, and more than 110,000 pending for more than a year."

Houston Chronicle

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on June 10, 2008 (boomark / email).