Tenet acknowledges the intelligence agencies made mistakes

The head of the CIA, George Tenet, and the head of the FBI, Robert Mueller, have been giving evidence to the commission investigating the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US.

Earlier witnesses have included White House National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, former administration security chief Richard Clarke and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

CIA chief George Tenet on 14 April:

"We all understood Bin Laden's attempt to strike the homeland. We never translated this knowledge into an effective defence of the country...

"By the mid 1990s, the intelligence community was operating with a significant erosion in resources and people and was unable to keep pace with technological change...

"We were not hiring new analysts, emphasising the importance of expertise, or giving the analysts the tools they needed...

"The threats to the nation had not declined or even stabilised, but had grown more complex and dangerous...

"No matter how hard we worked, or how desperately we tried, it was not enough. The victims and the families of 9/11 deserved better...

"I didn't see the president in [August 2001]. I was not in briefings with him during this time. He was on vacation, I was here..."

FBI chief Robert Mueller on 14 April:

"The legal walls between intelligence and law enforcement operations thankfully have been broken down. Those walls handicapped us before September 11, but they have now been eliminated.

"We are now able to fully co-ordinate operations within the bureau and within the intelligence community.

"We are eliminating the wall that historically stood between us and the CIA.

"The bureau is moving steadily in the right direction.