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WASHINGTON — A high-level government review to learn whether the FBI, CIA, or other federal security agencies might have prevented the Boston Marathon bombings has been further delayed as a result of the government shutdown earlier this month, according to US intelligence officials.The classified assessment, initiated by the inspectors general of four agencies after the deadly April 15 attacks, has bogged down because of “the recent lapse in appropriations” and a series of furloughs, the officials told the Globe last week.

Officials had already told Congress the probe was taking longer than expected and would not meet a September deadline. A a new date to have it done has not been set, said a spokesman for I. Charles McCullough, the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community.The news drew negative reactions from Massachusetts officials who have raised questions about how authorities handled tips from Russia regarding the potential radicalization of one of the bombing suspects, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and whether procedures need to be tightened.

“If that is not a priority I don’t know what is,” said Representative William Keating, a Bourne Democrat and member of the Homeland Security Committee. “The purpose is to see what could have been done differently to prevent [an attack] in the future.”The stymied efforts are the latest example of the ripple effects from the 17-day shuttering of many federal operations, which was the result of Congress’ failure to reach a budget agreement before the new fiscal year began on Oct. 1.

Officials said the shutdown has hampered various agencies’ ability to conduct interviews, undertake research, or pay support personnel who are responsible for reviewing the operations of the government’s terrorism databases before the Marathon attack and determining whether information on the bombing suspects was properly handled.

Edward F. Davis, Boston’s police commissioner, who has been critical of the level of cooperation between federal and local officials before the bombing, is among those eager to see the results of the inquiry.“I think the after-action report is critical, and it should be prioritized,” he said. “I don’t think it is healthy for the nation to have this happen and not vet all the systems.

”The holdup was explained as court filings in Boston revealed that a friend implicated Tamerlan Tsarnaev in an unsolved triple homicide in Waltham on Sept. 11, 2011 — half a year after the FBI, at the urging of the Russian government, first interviewed him for possible terrorist ties.A key question for the inspectors general in the Marathon case is whether the FBI or Homeland Security should have more directly alerted local law enforcement of Tsarnaev’s travels to the restive Russian province of Dagestan before the bombing or if they fully heeded warnings from Russian intelligence that he was being indoctrinated by radical Muslim websites.

The FBI has maintained that all relevant information on its 2011 inquiry of Tsarnaev — in which it said it found no reason to believe he posed a threat — was shared with the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Boston and was therefore available to local law enforcement officials who are members.But Davis has complained repeatedly that inputting such information in a shared database without actively alerting local officials is not sufficient.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout in Watertown on April 19, while his brother and alleged accomplice, Dzhokhar, is being held at Fort Devens federal prison and faces 30 charges. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.The traditional role of inspectors general is to conduct independent investigations of the internal operations of government agencies. The Marathon review was ordered two weeks after the twin bombings in Copley Square killed three people and wounded more than 250 others.Launched by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, it was designed to review “the US government’s handling of intelligence information leading up the Boston Marathon bombings,” according to his directive.

Among the agencies involved are the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Justice Department, which has authority over the FBI.“They want to have an objective assessment and they want it to come from people inside their organizations so that they can fix things,” said Kevin T. Ryan, a retired Army general who is now director of defense and intelligence projects at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. “Did we make mistakes before, during or after and how can we correct those mistakes?”The shutdown, however, has compounded what was already proving to be a difficult exercise.

Last month congressional oversight communities were informed that while officials were “working diligently” to complete the review, the process of interviewing counter-terrorism officials and reviewing computer files had turned out to be more challenging than expected. McCullough, the intelligence community’s inspector general, said at the time that “information relevant to the review is still being provided to the review teams.”A senior Senate staffer, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said briefings recently scheduled for intelligence officials to brief key congressional committees on the progress of the review were canceled.

Comment: ‘But as a journalist, is it also your responsibility to question the “official story”? Where we’ve seen so many aspects of the FBI’s version of events come to light as being untrue, how do you fulfill that responsibility to the public?

**I guess that’s the prosecutions way of not giving the defense any info about the killings.  In truth they’ve done shit to solve the crime but suddenly name Tamerlan as a suspect so they can deny the defense access because its now an “ongoing investigation”.  Lawyers are such sleaze.**

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, shot dead in police gun battle following Boston Marathon bombing, named by prosecutors as participant in 2011 triple murder

The dead Boston Marathon bombing suspect was named as a participant in an earlier triple homicide by a man who was subsequently shot dead while being questioned by authorities, according to a filing in the case made against his surviving brother.

According to the filing made on Monday, Ibragim Todashev, told investigators Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in a triple murder in Waltham on September 11, 2011.

In that case, three men were found in an apartment with their necks slit and their bodies reportedly covered with marijuana. One of the victims was a boxer and friend of Tamerlan.

Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, was shot dead at his Orlando home during a meeting with an FBI agent and two Massachusetts state troopers in May, authorities said. He had turned violent while being questioned, according to authorities.

The filing is prosecutors’ attempt to block Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Tamerlan’s younger brother, from getting certain information from authorities, including investigative documents associated with the Waltham slayings.

"The government has already disclosed to Tsarnaev that, according to Todashev, Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in the Waltham triple homicide," prosecutors wrote.

According to prosecutors, the ongoing investigation into the 2011 slayings is reason not to allow Dzhokhar access to the documents he is seeking.

"Any benefit to Tsarnaev of knowing more about the precise ‘nature and extent’ of his brother’s involvement does not outweigh the potential harm of exposing details of an ongoing investigation into an extremely serious crime, especially at this stage of the proceeding," prosecutors wrote.

Prosecutors also said Dzhokhar is not entitled to the information because his brother’s criminal history will be relevant, if at all, only at a possible future sentencing hearing.

Authorities allege that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, and his 26-year-old brother, ethnic Chechens, planned and carried out the twin bombings near the finish of the marathon on April 15.

Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured.

Dzhokhar faces 30 federal charges, including using a weapon of mass destruction and 16 other charges that carry the possibility of the death penalty.

They’re now asking U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole Jr. to rule on a defense request for an order that would require the prosecution to turn over additional materials it believes are relevant to the case. One of the things Tsarnaev’s team wants is more information about a 2011 Waltham homicide, in which Tsarnaev’s brother, Tamerlan, was allegedly involved.

In today’s PODAST, Boston defense attorney Martin G. Weinberg says he was surprised by the government’s response to the discovery dispute, given what’s at stake in U.S. v Tsarnaev.