Source: A Just Cause

 

July 28, 2015 06:48 ET

IRP Solutions Executives Fit Well Into Obama's Tech Insurgency, Says Advocacy Group, A Just Cause

The Case Investigative Life Cycle (CILC) Software Developed by IRP6 Followed President Obama's Approach to Solving Washington's Technology Woes

DENVER, CO--(Marketwired - July 28, 2015) - The advocacy organization, A Just Cause, believes that the IRP6 could assist the Department of Homeland Security, FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies with the overhaul of their case management technology and increase their overall effectiveness in conducting international and domestic terrorism investigations in the same way Silicon Valley technology professionals were used by President Obama to help fix the Obamacare website (healthcare.gov) and are currently being deployed at other federal agencies. "Unfortunately, these six technology innovators remain in prison after suffering an indisputable wrongful conviction, the facts of which have been exposed by AJC on the Internet and disseminated to President Obama, Attorney General Lynch and members of Congress," says Cliff Stewart, A Just Cause.

The IRP6 case concerns an African-American company (IRP Solutions Corporation) in Colorado that developed the Case Investigative Life Cycle investigative case management software for federal, state and local law enforcement. The "IRP6" (David A. Banks, Kendrick Barnes, Clinton A. Stewart, Demetrius K. Harper, Gary L. Walker and David A. Zirpolo) were convicted in 2011 after being accused of mail and wire fraud. (D. Ct. No. 1:09-CR-00266-CMA). The IRP6 have been incarcerated for 36 months in a federal prison in Florence, Colorado while A Just Cause continues to fight for their exoneration.
In a recent interview with Fast Company magazine's editor-in-chief Robert Safian, President Barack Obama discussed his recruiting of top tech talent from Silicon Valley to help modernize Washington's information technology. "If we can leverage the best technology teams in the world and pair them with some really effective government managers, then we can get a really big payoff," Obama said. "You know, the federal government is full of really smart people, with a lot of integrity who work really hard and do some incredible stuff. And it is on par with the private sector on all those measures. But technology [has been] terrible," Obama added. "Government has done technology and IT terribly over the last 30 years and fallen very much behind the private sector. And when I came into government, what surprised me most was the gap... so in our policy making, we're trying to make sure that insights and knowledge coming out of tech are informing how we are thinking about regulations, how we think about opportunities to solve big challenges," Obama elaborated.

Jack Israel, former Chief Technology Officer of the FBI, in a 2012 interview with Fierce Government IT discussed the challenges and failures of the FBI's recent case management modernization initiatives. In 2005 the FBI launched the Sentinel project to modernize their case management system after failure of the $400 million Virtual Case File project by SAIC in 2004. Lockheed Martin was awarded the Sentinel contract which ended up costing taxpayers another $825 million dollars. The Sentinel project "started unraveling" when the bureau tried to "build... an independent electronic case management system," says Israel.

"In developing CILC Case Management, we teamed with some very smart and dedicated law enforcement professionals from the FBI, DHS and NYPD," says David Banks (IRP6), Chief Operating Officer of IRP Solutions Corporation, "and we got a really big payoff with a case management solution that enables our law enforcement to work smarter and help them stay ahead of threats like ISIS. Being a part of the IRP team has been one of the most gratifying accomplishments of my life," adds Banks.
On July 15, 2015, the Wall Street Journal reported that DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz found that the DEA's confidential-source program "lacks sufficient oversight and lacks consistency with the rules" and diverges from the regulations for other parts of the Justice Department.

Discovery documents in the IRP6 case show that DHS officials were working towards acquiring CILC Confidential Informant Module and on December 7, 2004, requested formal quotes for the CILC Confidential Informant module as well as the Case Management module for inclusion into their 2005 budget exercise. "Bill Witherspoon and Stephen Cooper of DHS's Consolidated Enforcement Environment initiative told me that their team was highly interested in Confidential Informant module," says Banks. The Confidential Informant module was designed based on input from senior law enforcement officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI. CILC incorporates U.S. policy and guidelines as part of the functionality. It certainly could provide the DEA with a modern system to manage all of their confidential sources consistent with attorney-general guidelines," adds Banks.

"There has also been much debate regarding the elimination of the NSA's bulk phone-records collection program and the resulting impediment of law enforcement to acquire timely phone records via a slower search warrant process," says Banks. "The CILC Search Warrant module computerizes the entire search warrant process and expedites judicial approval. Upon the entry of the affidavit by an agent, it is immediately routed to the judicial authorities via secure means for authorization and expedited return to agent for immediate investigation," add Banks. "In adhering to the USA Freedom Act legislation, I see other ways CILC can accelerate the return of information from the phone company to law enforcement," Banks elaborates.

Court records show that in February 2009, the Philadelphia Police Department was in the process of purchasing the CILC Search Warrant module as a part of their modernization initiative. Philadelphia Director of Information Technology, Gerry Cardenas, said that "CILC was exactly what Philadelphia Police Department was looking to purchase" and "PPD was very close to having the (CILC) product installed." "CILC is adaptable to any agency's processes, procedures and policy, which makes it suitable for federal, state and local law enforcement operations," concludes Banks.

"A Just Cause will continue to publicize the terrible facts that led to the IRP6's wrongful conviction to try and shock the conscience of President Obama, AG Lynch and members of Congress. The case is so bizarre that retired federal appellate judge, the Honorable H. Lee Sarokin, who was appointed to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals by President Bill Clinton, has spoken out against the wrongful conviction," says Stewart. "It is un-American and grossly unfair for these bright and talented technology entrepreneurs to continue to endure this gross injustice and languish in prison for crime they didn't commit when their invention could be making a difference for this country," concludes Stewart.

For more information about the story of the IRP6 or for copies of legal filings got the http://www.freetheirp6.org

Related press releases: http://www.a-justcause.com/#!2015-press-releases/cl69

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