Intelligence agencies from the UK and its allies failed to appreciate the threat posed by Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network, an MPs' report says.

According to the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, funding pressures may mean there is danger of future "intelligence gaps".

The West had not foreseen suicide attacks taking place on the USA mainland

Committee report

If that happened that could pose an "unacceptable risk" to national security.

The report revealed that a joint summit took place last June when the threat posed by al-Qaeda was discussed by UK and US intelligence agencies.

They concluded that attacks against the US were "imminent" but their nature and the actual targets were unknown.

A month later the Joint Intelligence Committee prepared a report for ministers which "suggested" al-Qaeda attacks were in the final stages of preparation.

What the agencies failed to appreciate was the scale of the threat.

Lack of intelligence

"While US or Israeli interests were the most likely targets, UK interests were at risk, including from collateral damage in attacks on US targets," the MPs said.

"This lack of intelligence access to a notably hard target meant that the UK and the US did not know who was going to carry out attacks, how the attacks were going to be mounted or where the attacks were going to take place.

"Up to that point, the West had not foreseen suicide attacks taking place on the USA mainland and certainly not that the attacks would result in some 3,000 deaths."

The report acknowledges that the agencies had warned the government of a "pressing need" to gather more intelligence but says that more should have been done.

"The shortage of specific intelligence and Osama Bin Laden's record could have warned all concerned that more urgent action was needed to counter this threat," the report said.

'Total disregard'

Former Labour chief whip Ann Taylor, who chairs the committee, said there were concerns about the agencies' ability to deal with future terrorist threats.

Ms Taylor is chair of the committee

"We concluded, with hindsight, that the scale of the threat and the vulnerability of Western states to terrorists with the degree of sophistication shown and a total disregard for their own lives was not understood.

"We noted that the agencies were resource limited and operating under financial pressure prior to the 11 September attacks," she said.

"The committee remains concerned that reductions in the agencies' coverage to deal with the current terrorist threat are causing intelligence gaps to develop which may mean that over time unacceptable risks will arise."

She said the agencies must now be given sufficient resources so that they could expand to meet the new demands being placed upon them.

Arabic speakers wanted

The committee - which oversees the work of MI5, MI6 and listening centre GCHQ - said that despite an extra �54m in resources in the wake of the 11 September terror attacks it was now essential they receive extra funds.

MI5 needs to recruit 130 staff while MI6 is to take on an unspecified number of extra staff.

"There will be a particular need for operational officers with the skills and experience to undertake unconventional deployments," the report said.

The report also draws attention to the need to recruit multi-lingual staff particularly Arabic speakers if the intelligence agencies are to successfully penetrate al-Qaeda.