The OMB was silent on whether it disagreed or agreed with the GAO's findings, but said that 'once the program manager and others completed their work to establish government-wide policies, procedures or protocols to guide the sharing of information as it relates to terrorism and homeland security, they would work with the program manager and all agencies to determine what additional steps are necessary, if any.'

The National Intelligence director's office, however, declined to comment on the report, saying a review of intelligence activities is beyond the GAO's purview.

'We are disappointed by the lack of an ODNI response to our report on the critical issue of information-sharing efforts in the federal government,' the GAO said. 'We have placed information sharing for homeland security on GAO's high-risk list, in part because federal agencies have not done an adequate job of sharing critical information in the past and because success in this area will involve the combined efforts of multiple agencies and key stakeholders.'