Randomly Noted

How many times in the wake of the 9/11 attacks against the U.S. did we hear complaints about outmoded and “siloed” technology employed by various law enforcement agencies of the U.S. federral government? That was followed by vows to make it right. On a much smaller scale, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday described to Congress her agency’s technological and systemic stumbling blocks. SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro in written testimony cited systems problems at the agency, which has been lambasted for being behind the curve in the financial crisis and missing years-long scandals like the alleged Madoff Ponzi scheme. The agency gets 700,000 tips and referrals a year and has “no central depository or system through which this information comes together to ensure it is handled consistently or appropriately.” The Obama administration has asked for a 9% bigger SEC budget for fiscal 2010 and some money would go here, Schapiro said. But don’t look for anything overnight. First there will be a “comprehensive review,” Schapiro said, adding the agency will invest “over the next couple of years in new systems as needed.”