Report finds information sharing still a problem for FBI

More than two years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI still doesn't sufficiently share information about terrorism within its ranks and with other agencies, according to a report released Monday by the Justice Department's inspector general.

Despite senior FBI officials' promise to make countering terrorism a top priority, the report depicts the bureau as still grappling with its own bureaucratic shortcomings and unable to fully grasp the nature and threat of international terrorism.

According to the report, the bureau lacks a coherent system for processing and disseminating intelligence received from other agencies. This hinders the FBI's attempts to change from an agency focused solely on law enforcement to one with a modern intelligence apparatus that can predict terrorist attacks.

The report chalked up the FBI's information sharing deficiencies to technological shortcomings and its failure to institutionalize sharing policies.

But the investigation also found that the FBI hasn't fully comprehended the terrorist threat the United States faces, specifically from foreign Islamic fundamentalists. The FBI still lumps those groups under its broad definition of "domestic terrorism," which also includes social activists, environmental extremists and other domestic extremist groups. The FBI's counterterrorism division is responsible for investigating these groups and foreign organizations such as al Qaeda.

Technological deficiencies are the primary cause of the FBI's communication breakdown, the inspector general's report said. "FBI counterterrorism managers universally cited the FBI's [information technology] limitations…as the predominant impediment to the effective dissemination of intelligence and other information," the report said.

The FBI has set up a system of "urgent reports," sent via e-mail, to notify its managers about threats and other events, the report noted. However, only 26 percent of the reports investigators studied dealt with actual or suspected terrorism. The rest concerned other criminal matters or incidents at airline checkpoints.

The report also found bureaucracy has inhibited information sharing. For example, cables and other information from intelligence agencies aren't always distributed to FBI employees. Cables are sometimes misdirected because FBI employees have changed jobs, or because the name of their unit isn't correctly designated on the cable, the report said.

The report also questioned the usefulness of information the FBI gives to state and local law enforcement officials. For example, the FBI has sent out notices on upcoming protests or reports on environmental extremists, rather than information on Islamic fundamentalists that might help state and local officials better understand a threat they may not be accustomed to dealing with.

The reports of FBI managers included in the report appear to contradict much of the progress senior political officials have reported in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. For instance, managers told investigators that the FBI hasn't yet established procedures on sharing and using intelligence and other information, internally or externally.

For example, when investigators asked the FBI for a flow chart illustrating how information received at FBI headquarters is handled, they were told there was no such chart. "The FBI instead prepared a narrative description to meet our request," the investigators said.

The FBI said it would finish "concepts of operations" for use of intelligence early next year, the report noted. This, in part, led the inspector general to conclude that "fundamental reform" has begun. The FBI has built a new computer network in preparation for technological improvements. It's also working on a pilot program to wire its counterterrorism division for access to higher-level intelligence, and is continuing to assign staff to the CIA's counterterrorism center.

The FBI also has revamped its analyst corps and has established a professional career track and training program for intelligence analysts and specialists, the report noted.

In a written response to a draft version of the report, Steven McCraw, the FBI's assistant director in charge of its inspection division, said "field intelligence groups" have been set up at FBI field offices with personnel who spend all their time on the intelligence process, which includes information sharing. McCraw also pointed to a number of other steps the FBI has taken to improve its sharing practices, including posting FBI reports to two classified networks shared by other agencies and the Defense Department.

McCraw defended the practice of using the same division to investigate domestic and foreign terrorist suspects, saying both groups use the same operating tactics and recruitment efforts. When " 'social activists' turn to the use (or threatened use) of force or violence, they become domestic terrorists," McCraw wrote. "The goals of these criminals fall directly in line with the definition of a terrorist group as defined by federal law."