WP. The 2003 Patterns of Global Terrorism report was deeply flawed. It was rife with bad data and simple math errors. Today the CIA manager of the team that assembled the report, John Brennan, blamed the errors on antiquated computer equipment and personnel shortages. In the private sector, he and his team would be looking for another job right now. It speaks volumes that they aren't. Where is the accountability? Civil service rules and a culture of bureaucracy prevent this. Where are the high quality people from the private sector that can provide the exptertise, rigor, and creativity necessary to fix this and other failures? Antiquated cold war security requirements and deeply ingrained patterns of organizational nepotism prevent this. Expect more and potentially devastating failures in the future. The fact that we can measure this failure is unusual. It is the tip of the iceberg. [John Robb's Weblog]