After President Barack Obama ordered a review of military-grade weapons in the hands of local police departments in August, following criticism of the handling of the police-involved shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, further investigation revealed a lack of communication between two federal agencies.

The loophole that has come to light involves the Justice Department, according to The Associated Press.

The Pentagon program charged with distributing surplus gear is doing so to law enforcement departments that have been censured for civil rights violations by the Justice Department, and the actions of the Justice Department aren't taken into consideration.

In the past five years, at least 20 police departments have been flagged by the Justice Department for investigation, the latest of which is Ferguson, Missouri.

"Given the fact that they're under a consent decree it would make sense that the Department of Defense and Department of Justice coordinate on any such requests, (but) that is currently not the state," Jim Bueermann, who heads the nonprofit Police Foundation, told The Associated Press.

Alan Estevez, a Defense Department official who oversees the program, said the communication between the two departments was lacking and needed to be scrutinized.

Two such examples of police departments under review receiving the surplus firearms include Los Angeles and Warren, Ohio.

L.A.P.D. received a total of 1,680 M16 assault rifle while under the watch of a federal monitor because of a 2001 accusation of a pattern of excessive force, false arrests and unreasonable searches, the AP reported.

In Warren, Ohio, a pattern of excessive force and illegal searches was investigated and settled, in 2012. The department, which expects to have about 70 officers, has recently ordered 30 M16 rifles.

Police Chief Eric Merkel told the AP, "We don't have an issue here with brandishing firearms and shooting people. That's not the reason the Department of Justice came in here to begin with. I think the public reasonably expects their police department to be armed with a level that at least matches what they might be coming up against."

The program was created in 1990 to fight drug crimes, but more recently the objective has been to aid local officers in fighting terrorism.