Family Life

04.02.09 | FL News Team

More than seven years after 9/11, U.S. spy agencies are still fighting turf battles. A report released Wednesday says the 16 spy agencies now under the command of director of national intelligence, Dennis Blair, have been sent conflicting messages and that the staff is wandering around with no clear mandate.

The result, according to an internal critique, is a persistent data integrity problem with the terrorist watchlist and with key national security tools. The assortment of agencies are still hobbled after all these years with incompatible computer systems that will not even talk to each other. 

The report, finalized in November by the inspector general for the office of the director of national intelligence, pulls no punches. It actually backs up many of the criticisms levied by members of Congress. It states the director of national intelligence still has not established a plan or structure to be certain the heads of various agencies work together to battle threats to national security.

Blair, who wasn't in the job when the report was completed, has reportedly reviewed the findings and is working to solve problems mentioned in the brief. The 16 intelligence agencies range from the well known CIA to intelligence agencies run by the various armed forces, the FBI, NSA and the lesser known National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.