By THEY, I assume you are referring to the FBI. The administration didnt know. The FBI couldnt connect the dots and present the info to the white house.
So what happened to these FBI supervisors who stood in the way? I believe many of them were promoted.
All the administration had to do was say: "the FBI screwed up. We're going to sack those bureaucrats who impeded progress of legitimate investigations. We're going to stop wasting time on victimless crimes. And we're going to ask Congress to repeal many of those laws."
Instead they said: "The gov't is perfect. The reason 9/11 happened is that we "allow" you too many freedoms. Therefore we need more police powers and a bigger gov't. Now shut up and get in line".