WASHINGTON — Sen. Mike DeWine said Wednesday he will focus on legal barriers in the intelligence system during ongoing congressional hearings into the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

        “What we should do is look at not only what happened leading up to September 11th, but what we should do in the future,” the Ohio Republican said before heading to the Capitol for another top-secret meeting.

        The hearings follow recent news reports that the FBI and CIA failed to respond adequately to warning signs of possible terrorist activity before Sept. 11, including information learned by the CIA in early 2000 about two of the hijackers.

        The House and Senate Intelligence committees are expected to hold closed hearings for the next several weeks. Public hearings begin June 25.

        “It's a digging for information, but it's also an analysis of information,” said Mr. DeWine, one of 17 members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He also sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is holding hearings on other intelligence issues.

        Mr. DeWine said his focus will be on what legal obstacles could be removed to help the intelligence community get and share information.

        “It's not just the FBI and the CIA, but it's how our intelligence community works together,” he said.

        “You can't look at this problem without raising issues about, Are we going about this the right way? We don't have a domestic intelligence agency; should we have one? I'm not suggesting that we should, but that's an issue that certainly will be raised.”

        Mr. DeWine said many changes have already been made to the way the FBI operates.

        “What we have to look at now are the not-so-obvious changes,” he said.

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