e-mail. E-MAIL!?!?! What kind of bannana republic are.....

[HardDrive]

Unf*cking believable. What? Does each e-mail account come with a f*cking golden egg?!?!?! I can setup an e-mail server that can host mail for 5K clients for about $6K, and thats with expensive Microsoft/Dell gear (yeah, CALs are more $$). The FBI ain't got $6k? Do I need to float them a loan? I thought I already did.....(so did my childrens childrens future.)

GGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR


NEW YORK (AP) -- Budget constraints are forcing some FBI agents to operate without e-mail accounts, according to the agency's top official in New York.

"As ridiculous as this might sound, we have real money issues right now, and the government is reluctant to give all agents and analysts dot-gov accounts," Mark Mershon said when asked about the gap at a New York Daily News editorial board meeting.

"We just don't have the money, and that is an endless stream of complaints that come from the field," he said.

FBI officials in Washington denied that cost-cutting was putting agents at a disadvantage.

Spokeswoman Cathy Milhoan said e-mail addresses are still being assigned, adding that the city bureau's 2,000 employees would all have accounts by the end of the year.

Mershon, the assistant director in charge of the agency's New York City office, also said that 100 city agents have been given Internet-ready phones such as BlackBerry devices.

Christine Monaco, a spokeswoman for the FBI in New York, said Monday that all FBI agents can communicate with each other via a secure internal e-mail system, and about 75 percent of the New York office's employees have outside e-mail accounts.

"The outside e-mail accounts have to be separately funded," she said.

Senator Charles Schumer called for better access to technology for agents.

"The FBI should have the tools it needs to fight terrorism and crime in the 21st century, most of all in New York City, and one of the most effective means of communications is e-mail and the Internet," he said.

"FBI agents not having e-mail or Internet access is much too much a pre-9/11 mentality."

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[slodave]

Old story now, but I did some work for the F.B.I. in the mid 90's. My company gave them logs that they required - we gave so much info, that their computers could not handle it. They were very outdated. My contact came back to me and asked if we could crunch the data for them. Turned out well, as they pay in cash...

Dave

[Joeaksa]

Agree with HD, and this is crazy. Its just not that expensive to do things like this these days and no reason not to have everyone talking on the same sheet of music.

Joe