# Intelligence Failure **Entity class:** Intelligence-analysis concept ## Definition **Intelligence failure** is a breakdown in collection, sharing, interpretation, warning, organization, or decision that leaves a state unable to recognize or act on consequential threat information in time. The 9/11 Commission treated the September 11 failure as systemic: imagination, policy, capabilities, and management all mattered. ## Relevance to this collection It is central to this collection because hidden-network threats exploit seams among institutions. [[wiki/Intelligence Integration|Intelligence Integration]], [[wiki/Information Overload|Information Overload]], and [[wiki/Predictive Intelligence|Predictive Intelligence]] are responses to that systems problem. ## Relationships - **master collection:** [[collections/Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and the Intelligence Environment|Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and the Intelligence Environment]]. - **intellectual neighborhood:** [[wiki/Intellectual Neighborhood of the Counterterrorism Collection|Intellectual Neighborhood of the Counterterrorism Collection]]. ## Sources / Provenance - [National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, *The 9/11 Commission Report*, July 22, 2004](https://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf). **As of:** 2026-09-23