The problem with counterterror: Not too little info but too much

How did the big database get so clogged? My sources guess that embassies worldwide send an average of one Visa Viper a day, and there are 180 embassies. You can see the overload: Everyone is covering their backside by sending warnings, but nobody has time to ring the alarm bell.

“The problem is that the system is clogged with information. Most of it isn’t of interest, but people are afraid not to put it in,” explains one agency veteran. The Counterterrorism Center is supposed to review more than 120 databases; senior officials there are supposed to process 10,000 to 12,000 pieces of information a day; large stations can receive several thousand cables a day. No wonder the real threats get lost in the noise.