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WASHINGTON (EmergencyNet News) - According to a major new study obtained by the Washington Post, the United States' ability to combat extremist attacks is significantly undermined by the failure of various government agencies to share information, especially on potential domestic perpetrators.

The interagency study was commissioned by U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The study cited major concerns with "increased activity by small cells of terrorists or individuals who are inspired by, but not affiliated with, terrorist groups, thus making them harder to identify and stop."

The 73-page study was given to the newspaper by an unnamed government official. It was described as the initial product of a broad assessment of policies, personnel and facilities. Since the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department have made extensive efforts to establish relationships with state and local authorities to share information on potential domestic terrorist threats.

The report, however, concluded: "the single most significant deficiency in the nation's ability to combat terrorism is a lack of information, particularly regarding domestic terrorism."

According to the Post report, the study reflects a conclusion that lone extremists, rather than radical organizations, represent the most difficult to combat and most likely domestic threat.

The study noted that there does not appear to be a formal system for relaying information from the U.s. Customs Service to the FBI when chemical, biological or nuclear weapons material is interdicted coming into the country, even though in the rare cases when that has happened, officials have successfully improvised to get the word out.

The study also listed numerous recent initiatives to coordinate counter- terrorism work by more than 20 agencies as disparate as the Federal Railroad Administration and the CIA, but the report emphasizes that bureaucratic hurdles remain.

On the question of how law enforcement and intelligence agencies share information, the study cites: "reliance on paper distribution and manual routing of information" and "inadequate computer support" as major deficiencies that have "severely hampered" the analysis of intelligence information relating to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.