ABSTRACT
The “failure to connect the dots” has been used as an explanation for the shortcomings of the counterintelligence and emergency management
communities over and over again. In the case of 9/11, the inability to connect the dots was related to the intelligence community’s unwillingness to share information. In the months leading to the attacks, abundant data was gathered by the different agencies on an unfolding plot to strike U.S. interests in a “near-term spectacular attack.” 3 The organizational structure of our national intelligence was arranged “around the collection disciplines of home agencies, not the joint mission,” 3 thus impeding information and data sharing.
