Aug. 24
WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Internal U.S. Department of Homeland Security memos show administrators hid information-sharing breakdowns from federal investigators.

The memos and e-mail messages reveal discussions between officials at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services concerning whether to reveal to the Inspector General's Office that Homeland Security agencies failed to share data that could leave the United States vulnerable to terrorist attacks, The Washington Times reported Friday. The documents show the officials eventually decided to keep their concerns hidden.

"We better be ready to provide evidence and name names because this type of statement is the height of the post-9/11 criticisms," former Citizenship and Immigration Services Chief Counsel Dea Carpenter noted via e-mail to officials within her Homeland Security agency in 2006.

The message came before references to information-sharing failures in the department were removed from the final draft of a memorandum Carpenter wrote for Inspector General Richard Skinner, the Times report said.

"We also experience agencies that are unwilling or unable to share all or part of the information they have, notwithstanding ongoing suspicions," Carpenter wrote in the first draft of her memorandum. "Some agencies close out investigations pertaining to suspicious activity but refuse to share the information they have. It is imperative that USCIS receive any and all information so that it can determine whether an individual is eligible for the immigration benefit being sought."