WASHINGTON — Almost seven years since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the government is still struggling to establish a uniform procedure to put people on its master watch list of known or suspected terrorists, according to two government reports out this month.

The reports’ findings come after criticism from privacy advocates that problems with the watch list hamper the government’s ability to identify terrorists and do not ensure that innocent Americans are not included.

An inspector general’s report for the office of the Director of National Intelligence found that “the nomination processes and procedures vary across the intelligence community, causing inconsistencies and disproportionate responsibilities in making nominations,” spokesman Ross Feinstein said.

A report issued yesterday by the Justice Department’s inspector general, Glenn Fine, came to much the same conclusion regarding the FBI and six partner agencies.

As a result, the director of national intelligence is drafting a policy to ensure that uniform standards and procedures are used across the intelligence community, said a spokesman for the National Counterterrorism Center, Carl Kropf. The center, which falls under the DNI, handles the portion of the watch list that deals with international terrorism cases.

Mr. Fine’s report examined practices between June and October 2007 and described inconsistent methods used by the FBI and other Justice Department agencies to submit names for inclusion on the watch list. The FBI and other agencies share intelligence reports that can, without the agencies’ knowledge, form the basis for a person’s inclusion on the list.