Eight months after Sep. 11, it is becoming increasingly apparent that various arms of the US government had pieces of information that, if put together, might have provided sketchy advance warning of the terrorist strikes to come. The White House now acknowledges, that the CIA told President Bush in August that suspected members of A1 Qaeda had discussed the hijacking of airplanes. At the same time, FBI agents were increasingly suspicious of some Middle Eastern men training at US flight schools. Yet the US government didn"t pay attention to this information. "There are always these little indicators that come in—of one sort or another—that don"t get enough decibels to receive attention," say former CIA Director Stansfield Turner. "The possibility of a traditional hijacking—in the pre-9.11 sense—has long been a concern of the government," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. But "this was a new type of attack that was not foreseen." In deed, he said the warnings did not suggest commercial airliners would be used as missiles and that the general assumption was that any attack would occur abroad, not in the US. Still, the White House says it did quietly alert several government agencies to the threat. Meanwhile, FBI agents were getting hints of the terrible plot. A classified memo drafted by the bureau reportedly warned in blunt language that Osama bin Laden might be linked to Middle Eastern men taking lessons at US flight schools. Mr. Turner sees this as a painful and avoidable mistake. The basic reason for the lack of coordination and communication is "a very large intelligence bureaucracy that is very compartmentalized," says Charles Penia, a senior defense analyst at the Cato Institute. Today, the disclosures raise a crucial question: Have recent reforms boosted Washington"s ability to pull together information from its many agencies—and thus disrupt future attacks Indeed, since Sep. 11, the government has struggled to improve coordination. One change: FBI data is now merged with CIA intelligence in the president"s daily briefing. Another: A new command center near Washington was set up by White House Homeland Security. It"s one place the CIA, the FBI, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and others are able to coordinate and share information. It"s not clear yet whether they actually will. According to the text, the White House
A. has acknowledged its fault.
B. didn"t receive the warning of the hijacking.
C. warned its departments of the new attack.
D. was unable to assess the situation correctly.
All staff members in the research and development team have worked ______ hard throughout the year.
A. exceptionally
B. exception
C. exceptional
D. except
Since you are under 13, you can enroll in our program ______ your parents accompany you or give consent.
A. until
B. not only
C. since
D. only if
The country is now producing large food ______, but there are still numerous local shortages.
A. surpluses
B. rewards
C. prices
D. substitutes