The FBI has been slow to update the national terror suspect watchlist, an audit by the Justice Department's Inspector General found.
According to the audit, 12 terror suspects who were either not watchlisted or were slow to be added to the list may have traveled into or out of the United States during the period when they were not placed on the list.
Auditors also found significant delays in taking people off the list once they were no longer considered suspects.
The watchlist, which is used to screen people entering the U.S. and by local law enforcement, contains more than 1.1 million names.
Of those names, nearly 24,000 were based on outdated information or non-terrorism case designations, auditors concluded.
In 15 percent of the cases auditors reviewed, subjects were not nominated to the watchlist, contrary to FBI policy.
"The failure to place appropriate individuals on the watchlist, or the failure to place them on the watchlist in a timely manner, increases the risk that these individuals are able to enter and move freely about the country," the report concluded.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the issues have been addressed and her agency is publicly committed to working with the Justice Department "as a shared mission of protecting this country is paramount," said Sara Kuban, a spokeswoman for Napolitano.
FBI Assistant Director John Miller said the bureau has already taken steps to improve the system.
The terror watchlist was created in 2004 to combine information from many different government agencies. The FBI is charged with managing the list.
The audit follows a 2008 report by the inspector general that found the FBI gave outdated, incomplete and inaccurate information about terror suspects to be added to the watchlist for nearly three years, despite steps taken to prevent errors.
Click here to watch the ABC15 Investigators terror watchlist story from 11/11/07.
