The report boasted,"NCTC has developed innovative solutions, including NCTC Online and Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, to increase information sharing and collaboration in support of the counterterrorism mission."
Internal Railhead documents reveal a very different image of the programs. An analysis has shown that the planned upgrades to the programs would diminish the ability to share terrorist intelligence data among federal agencies and profoundly limit the ability of counterterrorism analysts to conduct searches of databases.
Perhaps the most chilling information to come to light is that tens of thousands of potentially vital CIA messages going in the NCTC have not been properly reviewed or included in the existing TIDE database. Because of this it is impossible to tell if critical terrorist intelligence sits in a U.S. government file somewhere that has not been properly investigated.
Similar government failures occurred before the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the September 11,2001 terrorist attacks.
"The collapse of the Railhead program appears to be the result of poor technical planning and design, potential contractor mismanagement and inadequate government oversight," said Miller.
"These same problems have emerged again and again on government programs as millions of dollars in taxpayer funding is squandered. At some point the government needs to learn how to manage its technology programs so that they actually perform as advertised. This episode is particularly disturbing since we are talking about the safety and security of 300 million American citizens," Miller added.
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