As long as there have been intelligence agencies, there have been turf wars and finger-pointing. Each time some aspect of the system falls short, like the failure to predict Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait or the 1998 Indian nuclear test, there is a flurry of activity and then, as the dust settles, leaders say the problem is solved. It's not. In fact, the problem grows exponentially harder as the number of agencies expands and the amount of data they must sort through and share explodes. The 9/11 attacks were supposed to be a watershed. A new Director of National Intelligence was appointed to preside like a wise father above the fray, and given financial oversight over 17 agencies' budgets, ensuring there was muscle to enforce cooperation. Joint task forces and fusion centers sprung up everywhere. Access to information, long restricted, was greatly eased.
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