THIS REMIMDER:

U.S. Attorney John McKay and the Justice Department - Defense Department partnership in civilian law enforcement - The LInX program:

As the Seattle P-I previously reported, the Naval Criminal Investigation Service had taken the lead on funding LInX from the FBI, which is part of the Justice Department.

Local participants were disgruntled for years because the program did not have access to the local FBI's investigative files. McKay complained at high levels of the Bush administration.

In a Nov. 29, 2003, story, McKay told the P-I that he was encouraged that the naval service had stepped up to fund the program but depressed that the FBI pulled its support. Almost a year later, the FBI committed to share a portion of its digitized records with local law enforcement agencies.