FBI chief extols benefits of post-9/11 tech upgrades

The government has made great strides in technology improvements since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, FBI Director Robert Mueller said Friday.

"New combined databases and analytical tools are helping us draw patterns and connections from a sea of data in ways we could not prior to September 11," Mueller said at the annual meeting of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).

Mueller said the FBI is working with the Homeland Security Department to implement the next phase of the alert notification system, which soon will provide Joint Terrorism Task Force members with secure pop-up messages on computers, cell phones and pagers. Data sharing also has been a top priority.

"We have begun to analyze not only what we are collecting, but what we should be collecting," Mueller said. "This will allow us to identify existing gaps and determine how they can be closed."