1. Criminal Justice Information Services Division
FBI Honors Internship
Criminal Justice Information Services Division
Clarksburg, WV
Brandon Douthit-Wood

2. FBI Honors Internship
57 undergraduate and graduate students from across the U.S.
One from each FBI field office
Background check for Top Secret clearance
Internship lasted 10 weeks, from the beginning of June through mid August.
Each intern was assigned to one of three locations: Washington D.C., Quantico, VA, or Clarksburg, WV.

3. Criminal Justice Information Services Division
I was assigned to the Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS) in Clarksburg, WV, along with 6 of the other interns.
Within CJIS, I was assigned to the Technology Integration and Support Unit (TISU).
Software Development
Help-desk Support
Network Security

4. Criminal Justice Information Services Division
Major Systems:
Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS)
Receives 55,000 requests daily, with approximately 2 hour response time
National Crime Information Center (NCIC)
Criminal records database
Handles 2.5 million searches daily
National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS)
Used to check for criminal record of anyone trying to purchase a firearm.
Approximately 2 ½ minute response time

5. Technology Integration and Support Unit
Primary task was a software development project
Worked together with one of the other interns
Assigned two senior software engineers as mentors
Assigned to design, develop, document and distribute a complete database application
Received a single page memo for the initial project specifications
Developed application with Visual Basic and Microsoft Access
Also had to implement a number of security features

6. Technology Integration and Support Unit
TISU’s Software Development Philosophy:
Keep the customer an integral part of the development process
Meet with the customers weekly to review the current state of the software
Keep phone calls to a minimum; meet face-to-face whenever possible
Keep it simple, stupid
Having the software easy to use almost as important as having it meet all specifications

7. Technology Integration and Support Unit
Problems we faced:
A “small” change from the customer sometimes equals a big change in the software
Getting our users to test the software at their own computers

8. Technology Integration and Support Unit
Things we learned:
Don’t count on your initial design to be perfect
Sometimes normalization can go too far
Can make writing queries difficult
Difficult to add new fields later
Use temporary tables
Greatly improved the performance of running queries against linked tables

9. Technology Integration and Support Unit
Other assignments:
Installing & configuring workstations
Upgrading older workstations from token-ring to Ethernet
Assisting with help-desk calls
Changing out routers
Upgrading servers
Running and terminating fiber optic and CAT-5 cable

10. FBI Honors Internship Other activities: Visit to FBI Academy
Tour of laboratories and special agent training facilities
Tour of Pittsburgh field office
Evidence collection
Security briefings
Trip to firing range