Remember that time when we had a wall between the FBI and the CIA, and then 9/11 happened, and then we all concluded that the only thing dumber than fighting a terrorist war via law enforcement was doing it badly? Good times:

However, politics have proved obstructive to all facets of counterterrorism policy. And politics may have been at play in the Muhammad case as well as in other cases involving Black Muslim converts... STRATFOR heard from sources that the FBI and other law enforcement organizations had been ordered to "back off" of counterterrorism investigations into the activities of Black Muslim converts. At this point, it is unclear to us if that guidance was given by the White House or the Department of Justice, or if it was promulgated by the agencies themselves, anticipating the wishes of President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder...

Many FBI supervisors are reluctant to authorize investigations that they believe may have negative blow-back on their career advancement. In light of this institutional culture, and the order to be careful in investigations relating to Black Muslim converts, it would not be at all surprising to us if a supervisor refused to authorize a full-field investigation of Muhammad that would have included surveillance of his activities... Had the FBI opened a full-field investigation on Muhammad, and had it conducted surveillance on him, it would have been able to watch him participate in preoperational activities such as conducting surveillance of potential targets and obtaining weapons.

You'll be heartened to know that America's national security isn't totally compromised. The FBI presumably still has carte blanche to conduct five year witchhunts against leading American Jews. On account of the acute threat that they pose, you see.

And of course it's unfair to blame the FBI's abject failure just on institutional culture. At least some of it probably has to do with how they've embraced Obama's pre-9/11 mindset and mused about shifting agents away from counterterrorism. At least Obama hasn't made the remaining ones our front line of defense.

References:
* Jamie Gorelick: Part of the Solution, or the Problem? [CQ]
* Lone Wolf Lessons [STRATFOR]
* Rosen blasts AIPAC spy case prosecutors [JPost]
* FBI: Arkansas suspect researched locations in U.S. cities [CNN]
* FBI may shift counterterror agents to anti-fraud [AP]
* Obama Rushing To Reinstall Clinton-Era Counterterrorism Approach [MR]

Previously:
* Rumors Of Zionist Neo-Con Infiltration Into The Pentagon A Touch Exaggerated (Plus: FBI Anti-Semitic Witch Hunts Becoming A Trend)
* Video: Obama Outreach Coordinator Meets With CAIR Reps, Terrorist-Endorsing Preachers (Plus: FBI Testimony Links CAIR To Terrorists)
* FBI Sets Up Jews, J. Edgar Hoover Proud