Would NSA Surveillance Have Stopped 9/11 Plot? - Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst

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7. Rehashing the back and forth between

the executive branch and the intelligence community does nothing to clarify the pre-9/11 failures. The question is obvious--why were al Qaeda investigations involving known al Qaeda operatives in the US obstructed at time when we are told "the system was blinking red?" This basic question has never been answered. Instead a cloak of secrecy has prevented the public from getting a real explanation. I read Bergen's book Manhunt. In his book he refers to the failure as inexplicable. On another occasion he called it a bureaucratic failure. Now he calls it a policy failure. What does that even mean? A policy failure? Will we ever reach a day when a journalist dares to get a real explanation as to why the CIA sat on crucial intelligence at the same time they were giving the White House dire briefings about a possible major terrorist attack?