I-Drive Bad

Few organizations can have as much expertise scouring computers for data as the FBI, which makes this story especially ridiculous:

In an oversight that could impact cases nationwide, the FBI (news—web sites) hasn't routinely searched a special computer space where agents store investigative documents to see whether those materials should be sent to defense lawyers, Congress or special investigative bodies like the Sept. 11 inquiry.

The existence of the unsearched "I-drive" computer files, brought to the attention of The Associated Press by concerned FBI agents, could give lawyers an avenue to reopen numerous cases to determine whether documents that could have aided the defense of criminal defendants were withheld.

The FBI is uncertain about the nature or breadth of the documents on the computer space and has asked its internal investigation unit, its inspection division, to determine how many documents on I-drives in FBI offices across the country did not make it into official case files, officials said Monday.