The FBI should be singing the praises of Joseph Colon, at least internally, and paying him a princely sum for his knowledge and attitude. Instead, the agency hopes he goes to jail for a fair stretch. How come? It's a clash of cultures, and the FBI bureaucracy won. But the agency really lost. Colon is a young computer whiz who worked for a consulting company hired to help the FBI update its computer systems. That project is overdue, over-budget and a big embarrassment for the agency. Its inability to share information regularly gets cited as a key impediment to better focusing its anti-terrorism work.

Colon was assigned to an FBI field office in Illinois. His efforts, however, were so frequently frustrated by the agency bureaucracy that he decided, with the approval and help of the local FBI staff, to go around it. He hacked. Eventually he was able to move so far into the FBI system that he got access to tens of thousands of passwords and information in the agency's witness protection program. Although he intended no harm, it was a major security breach. Colon was charged and pleaded guilty to four counts of exceeding his access authority and obtaining information from a federal department. He could get 18 months in a federal pen when he is sentenced this week.

When the world of computers and the world of bureaucracy meet, bureaucracy needs to yield enough freedom to gain the cyber-benefits it wants - and needs. If bureaucracy is exceedingly dominant, you can get a red-tape-loving Information technology department that is so bent on maintaining control and making rules that it stifles creativity and efficiency.

After Colon, the young cyber-guy, bumped up against the red-tape dog one more time than was wise, he improvised the way any computer nut worth his salt would do. He went way too far, obviously. But it's a good bet he wouldn't have - if only the FBI bureaucracy had sought to work with him, and with his less daring but still frustrated computer-world pals. Colon wouldn't be facing jail, and the FBI might be better equipped to focus on effectively fighting the terrorist threat.

Star Tribune, Minneapolis

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