Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The U.S. intelligence community has been hampered by the use of civilian contractors despite having become dependent upon them in the years following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, a report said.

The Government Accountability Office has determined that the intelligence community could not rely on civilian contractors for analysis or data collection.

In a report, GAO, the fiscal watchdog of Congress, stated that inadequate data collection assessment capability undermines contractor oversight and work force management.

“GAO identified a number of limitations in the inventory [of intelligence contractors] that collectively limit the comparability, accuracy, and consistency of the information reported by the civilian IC elements as a whole,” the report, titled “Civilian Intelligence Community: Additional Actions Needed to Improve Reporting on and Planning for the Use of Contract Personnel,” said.

The report, dated January 2014, said the intelligence community uses civilian contractors for intelligence-collection, analysis, processing, information technology and program management.

The agencies that use the civilian contractors included the CIA, Office of the Director of National Intelligence as well as six components within the Departments of Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, State and the Treasury.

“While the use of contractors can provide benefits in support agency
missions, such as flexibility to meet immediate needs and obtain unique
expertise, their use can also introduce risks for the government to consider
and manage,” the report, which cited limited access to the intelligence
community, said.

In 2012, two intelligence community contractors were killed during an Al
Qaida-aligned attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Other
contractors were reported to have been slain in Afghanistan.

  Government Accountability Office, homeland security, Report: U.S. intelligence overly reliant on civilian contractors