Another factor is the decision, made in 1976, to sharply divide the FBI and the foreign intelligence agencies. The FBI would collect within the United States the foreign intelligence agencies would collect overseas. – Bobby Ray Inman
Someday well learn the whole story of why George W. Bush brushed off that intelligence briefing of Aug. 6, 2001, Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S. But surely a big distraction was the major speech he was readying for delivery on Aug. 9, his first prime-time address to the nation. – Frank Rich