Able Danger: Breaking News

Keith Phucus at the Norristown Times Herald continues to do great news breaking work on the Able Danger story. Today he's published a story, Legal debate hobbled Able Danger, that uncovers new facts:

According to testimony from data analysts who worked on the program, Pentagon lawyers threw up red flags after learning that the data mining team was downloading information from Internet Web sites run by Islamic groups.Their Internet access was sharply curtailed after attorneys raised concerns about the group's practice of collecting personal information on "U.S. persons," said Erik Kleinsmith, who as the Army's chief of intelligence at the Land Information Warfare Center (LIWA), in Ft. Belvoir, Va., supervised the computer analysis. As a result, the "Able Danger" effort was effectively shut down for six months. For Kleinsmith, those months would be the longest of his professional life.

Though the "Able Danger" team never claimed it located any of the Sept. 11 terrorists in the U.S., the group would learn after the attacks that its cutting-edge techniques had identified key al-Qaida members and their U.S. affiliates - including future hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan al Shehhi, Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid al Mihdhar, who were associated with a "Brooklyn Cell," according to Congressman Curt Weldon...

During the work stoppage, the group lost valuable time in its search for al-Qaida, according testimony from "Able Danger" teammates Kleinsmith and James D. Smith's at a Feb. 15 congressional hearing, while computer analysts argued with military lawyers over legal questions governing intelligence gathering and retention.Shaffer and Smith testified they saw LIWA chart with Atta's picture more than a year before the Sept. 11 attacks...

According to Shaffer's Feb. 15 testimony, LIWA linked Atta to the El Farouq mosque in Brooklyn, New York, by February 2000. The mosque, a hotbed of anti-American sentiment, was frequented by "Blind Sheik" Omar Ahmed Abdul Rahman at that time. He was convicted in 1995 of plotting to bomb New York City landmarks.Kleinsmith does not recall seeing Atta's picture on any chart, but what he does remember is more unsettling...

From April until September 2000, his team tried to restart work, but found it next to impossible. All the analysts could do was watch-troubling hints of terrorist activities online."We were getting restriction after restriction," he said. "We were watching the next threat, but we couldn't take the battlefield."...

Next, federal marshals showed up at LIWA with subpoenas issued from Congressman Dan Burton's office, Kleinsmith said. Government officials wanted copies of the data mining results.According to the Center for Cooperative Research, the data included former Secretary of Defense William Perry and then Stanford University provost, Condoleezza Rice, among others. Other reports identified then Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen and former Democratic National Committee chairman, Steve Grossman...

Some traditional intelligence officials, however, seemed either skeptical or jealous of LIWA's capability. At one conference, "Able Danger" analysts identified four major al-Qaida hubs - the Middle East, East Africa, Balkans and the Far East - in about 90 minutes."Because we weren't an intelligence organization, we got a lot of bad press," he said. "Folks thought we were running fast and loose with the data."By April, the "Able Danger" team was told to end its support of SOCOM. During the month's long work stoppage, SOCOM's patience ran out, and the military command transferred the work to a Raytheon facility in Garland, Texas, and continued the effort.One of the million-dollar questions in Washington is who ordered the shut down."Nobody will admit sending down the order to do it," he said. "It came from somewhere up in the Pentagon."Many speculated that Richard Shiffrin, the Pentagon's deputy general counsel at the time, was to blame for the decision. Shaffer's testimony claims Army lawyer Tom Taylor cut off Army support for the project.

Read the whole thing.

Cross posted at QT Monster's Place.

Able Danger: Why Wasn't the FBI Told About Mohammad Atta Before the 9-11 Attacks?

I have posted sound bites from the Able Danger hearing in the US House of Representatives here. Here's the preface to my post:

Preface: I am on a mission of liberation. Yes, I am determined to free all of the eye popping information that is now locked up in 1 1/2 hours of audio (give or take a minute or five) that I captured of the Able Danger hearing so more folks realize that we, the people of America, still do not know the truth of 9-11 no matter what the 9-11 Commission is currently claiming (they do change their story you know).

Voice of the Taciturn returns

In case you missed it, the previous post was not from me, but from our friend Vox O. T. T. who resurfaced to express his dismay at how well Able Danger has been swept under the rug. Apparently, he is not alone in these concerns. The Editorial Board at Investor's Business Daily weighs in today, and voices a similar concern:

Not many Americans know who Rep. Curt Weldon is, but Zacarias Moussaoui does. Moussaoui pleaded guilty 10 months ago to conspiring with al-Qaida to turn passenger jets into manned cruise missiles and fly them into buildings.

He has denied involvement in the 9-11 attack, admitting only to being trained and involved in plans for future similar attacks. A week ago, Moussaoui's defense team said it planned to subpoena Weldon as a defense witness in Moussaoui's sentencing hearing.

It believes Weldon has evidence that the U.S. government had more knowledge of al-Qaida's plans and personnel than did Moussaoui himself.

Weldon wants no part in the matter and will try to quash any subpoena. But he's probably mystified, as are we, that his work in exposing the pre-9-11 military intelligence program known as Able Danger has attracted the attention of a convicted al-Qaida operative but not that of news organizations supposedly interested in exposing American secrets and a government supposedly working on preventing another 9-11.

Dancing on 3,000 Graves

That is essentially what the IC, Congress and any number of other functionaries of the status quo have done now that they have almost completely swept Able Danger under the carpet of history.

If you’ve been in this business longer than a day you knew in the back of your mind that Able Danger was never going to make it, but in your heart you were rooting for the bastards.(1) Able Danger pointed out that not only was the 9/11 Commission not-all-that but that with a little loose change, a lot of ingenuity, and some technical horsepower an unencumbered dozen can do what tens of thousands should have. It was everything the IC is not: creative, nimble, open-minded, and un-bound by stovepipes, mindless tradition and parochialism. This ensured that no matter what they found they would never be taken seriously. Unclassified intelligence efforts get short shrift even though the financial centers of the world make and lose billions of dollars based on the collection and analysis of data that doesn’t have “Top Secret” stamped on it. Good enough for Wall Street but not for the IC.

The IC has advocates and lobbyists. They don’t work on K Street, but the function is the same. One need only look at the current make-up of the one big “reform” the IC has seen since 9/11 – the Office of the Directorof National Intelligence – to prove my point: A deputy-director who ran the nation’s SIGINT capability, scores of assistant-deputy directors drawn from the senior ranks of SIGINT and HUMINT agencies, etc. Capable? Sure. The right people to fix a broken system? Hardly.

Congress isn’t any better. Of the 22 members of the subcommittee that could have heard potentially the most damning testimony about AbleDanger, three could bother to show up. Three who thought deeper insight into what we knew prior to 9/11 (or 10/00) was more important than meetings on how to bring home more bacon.

The press? Too busy trying to poo-poo other intelligence-related stories or pretending they know that “over-under” means something other than a position in the Kama Sutra.

In fact, the only lobby for doing the right thing is a raving Congressman, a few curious Bloggers, and the families of the dead.

The end result from the fall-out from Able Danger is that fewer people in the IC will be willing to go out on a limb for a theory or a unique solution to a problem because the message is clear: success means unemployment. They might work it on the side; they just won’t tell anyone about it. A self-imposed SAP. Inevitably this will lead to the loss of more lives, but with any luck they won’t be constituents of most of the members of the HASC terrorism subcommittee or work for the MSM.

(1) I drafted 80% of this over four months ago. This is either a testament to my predictive abilities or my cynicism or maybe both.

First clip from Weldon conference call

Here is the first segment of our conference call with Curt Weldon. It lasts about twenty minutes and contains most of the Congressman's opening remarks. If you turn the volume up too high you will hear some interference during the first ten minutes, but it clears up afterward.

Sorry that we don't have more to post yet. Most of what Curt talked with us about on Thursday was for the record, but some was on background. We are making sure we confirm with John on his staff which parts are on the record and which are not before we post all the audio. We hope to get final confirmation on more of this by Monday afternoon if possible. However, as you can hear on this first clip, Curt went into detail on several subjects that have only been mentioned briefly elsewhere.

One new item is the fact that he met with both Tim Roemer and John Lehman of the 9/11 Commission in June 2005 when he first came forward with the Able Danger story. Both told him they had never been briefed by the 9/11 Commission staff on the topic of Able Danger. The decision not to include anything about it in the report was a staff decision, not one made by the commissioners themselves. We already knew most of that but we did not know it was John Lehman who told Weldon to go public with this and pursue the story. Lehman said that if he didn't, it would never come out.

We got some more details about what happened in the closed session, although obviously not anything on classified details. Weldon said that Zelikow never said anything remotely classified or related to intelligence or national security, and that based on his answers he assumed he had only wanted to testify in closed session to avoid having to answer questions publicly about his work for the 9/11 Commission. Weldon said that Steve Cambone had shown up for the closed session, but Weldon told him he had heard enough spin and didn't have anymore questions for him.

As you can hear in the clip, Weldon also discussed his work on the Cox Commission back in the 1990s and how his own efforts at the time had uncovered direct links between campaign contributions made to the Clinton-Gore reelection campaign, and what he saw as the illegal sharing of military technology with China in return. Mr. Schwartz of the Loral Corporation contributed a million dollars, and his company got almost free reign to transfer technology to China. Curt also discussed some front companies used by the Chinese specifically to acquire American military technology.

One key theme in his opening remarks that came up several times during the call, was how senior administration officials in both the Clinton and now apparently the Bush administration were prepared to put their own personal interests about the interests of the nation. In some cases that took the form of killing critical projects for bureaucratic reasons, not sharing information with other agencies. It also meant covering up their mistakes - not following up and investigating them to prevent us from missing the next lead in the hunt for Al Qaeda or the War on Terror in general.

Both AJ and Pierre picked up on this as well. Here's what AJ had to say:

If people wanted this story to go away they would fix all the problems - none of which involve classified material or details. All the problems surrounding Able Danger are related to people misusing their positions to hide personally embarrassing information. In the Clinton years it was apparently studies regarding technology leaks to China. In the Bush administration it appears to be bad decisions, turf wars and protecting empires. But in all cases, national security is second to the DC CYA.

Pierre Legrand makes a similar point:

As if spitting on the graves of those who died that horrible day bureaucrats spend their time finding ways of making retirement instead of critically analyzing why we failed. Worse, they threaten those who do try to improve our reactions and methods with defamation, libelous slander, even physical threat to prevent the sort of reforms that might actually make a difference. Why you might ask would they spend such effort on trying to prevent improvement? Because in a Bureaucrats eyes change is threat and threat is bad. Blame is worse and worse is to be avoided at all costs. Ruining people’s lives and causing our nations security to suffer are all immediately and gladly laid at the altar of any particular bureaucrats continued successful career.

The Dread Pundit Bluto makes a similar point, contrasting his own view with that of Bill Arkin:

I have a different perspective from Arkin. When I was a Federal employee, I had occasion to blow the whistle myself. Shaffer's testimony rings true. Every word. This is how bureaucrats cover their asses.

Bloggers talk with Congressman Weldon

Although he had only planned on staying for an hour, Congressman Weldon stayed well past that to talk with our group of bloggers tonight. We have all been following the Able Danger story, and owe what media coverage Able Danger has gotten to Weldon, so we had plenty to ask him about. On the phone were myself, Curt of Flopping Aces, Vi Adkins, AJ Strata, Rory O'Connor, Dreadpundit Bluto, Pierre Legrand, and Dana of Common Sense Political Thought. We hope to have some audio clips available for you by tomorrow, but in the mean time I can tell you we got a lot of new details about the China study, and several new scoops on the Able Danger story in general. AJ covers a lot of it here, but there was a lot more, too. Check all the other sites for more details, as well. I've got some other work to do, so I won't be posting in more detail until tomorrow. I have to say though, the call went even better than I had hoped.

Stay tuned

Several of us Able Danger Bloggers will be reconvening on Dirk Thompson's radio show, 610 AM WTVN in Columbus, Ohio on Wednesday night. The station has free streaming audio, too. The show runs from 6pm to 9pm and our segment is planned for the 8pm to 9pm hour. Interestingly, 610 AM can probably be heard in Dayton, where Tony finished high school, attended college and first joined the National Guard in the 80s. Here are the details, in Dirk's own words:

The show is from 6pm - 9pm. Tonight during the entire 8 o'clock hour I'll be hosting a "Radio Roundtable" with a select group of bloggers on the topic of Able Danger. Invited to participate and share their insight and knowledge on the Able Danger coverup are:

Mike from AbleDangerBlog
Rory from Media is a Plural
Capt Ed from CaptainsQuartersBlog
AJ from AJSTRATA

Should be a great discussion!

Thanks again Dirk, for putting this together.

UPDATE: Dirk provided the audio from the show, broken into five MP3 files to match the five segments of the program. Here they are: First Segment | Second Segment | Third Segment | Fourth Segment | Fifth Segment

The show went great. Dirk definitely knew his stuff about Able Danger. I wasn't as nervous on live radio as I thought. Still not sure I want to hear what I sounded like. Yet the audio clips are there now, so you can let me know what you think.

One thing I need to correct. On the program, I referred to JD Smith as a "retired Indian police officer" which I read on Page 15 of Tony Shaffer's written testimony, but it turns out that was a typo Tony made. It should read "Indiana" not "Indian".

Blogger conference call with Weldon Thursday

Congressman Weldon will be joining a conference call with bloggers Thursday night. The group from our Monday call is invited, but if you have been following the Able Danger story and would like to participate in the call, please email CONTACT at ABLEDANGERBLOG.COM with a link to your blog. Understand I have to keep this to a small group, but will try to consider all who ask.

Hearing? Which hearing?

This is depressing. Fifty newspapers picked up the wire story about Weldon being asked to testify about Able Danger at the sentencing hearing for Zacarias Moussaoui, but only ten or twenty carried the wire story on the three hour public Congressional hearing on Able Danger itself. I guess if there were a judge and jury involved, it might have gotten some more attention. If you've read Shaffer's written testimony, you might start asking if there should be charges filed, too, for criminal negligence and worse on the part of top DIA bureaucrats.

Young Republican's perspective

Brad Turner of Smyrna, Tennessee sees a direct connection between the Clintons and 9/11:

On February 15th, Representative Curt Weldon from Pennsylvania was successfully able to hold congressional hearings into an undercover operation that was known as Able Danger. The tragedy of the hearings is that they were only able to last one day, and was not given the proper coverage it was due by any of the major news media outlets. Apparently it is bigger news to the media that a shooting accident has occurred involving the Vice-President then a plan to prevent 9/11 being cut short and closed down. The biggest colossal failure of national intelligence, and it didn't even get a glimpse by the media. Rather, an extremely large pass was given in order to protect the 42nd President, and to a lesser extent congressional Republicans with their hand in the cookie jar.

As it has been well documented, the Clinton administration had a fond relationship with the Chinese government through the better part of his administration, reaching its high point right before the 1996 election. Rep. Weldon had asked the Land Information Warfare Activity (LIWA)/Information Dominance Center (IDC) to provide graph information that detailed Chinese front companies operating within the United States. Rep. Weldon wanted to know if any of the information provided by this organization played a role in the shutting down of Able Danger. The answer he received before a congressional committee was a resounding yes....

The Clinton Administration and those connected with the money trail at the DNC clearly had the most to lose if the China connection ever got into the public knowledge. The easiest way to prevent that was to wipe out all data mining operations, and minimize the risk. Thankfully, the 9/11 Commission brought Able Danger to the forefront of public awareness, and concerned citizens, led by Congressman Curt Weldon, began to ask questions of why we were kept in the dark. The campaign to smear Curt Weldon has begun, from allegations of Weldon accepting campaign from defense contractors engaged in the transfer of sensitive technologies, which he has already addressed, to the clearing out of potential Democrat primary challengers to Weldon's opponent, Vice Admiral Joseph Sestak, a Clinton National Security Council member during the time in question. The enemies of truth will stop at nothing to make sure the American public will not know the events that transpired behind the scenes to rob us of Able Danger.

Finally, I urge each and every one of you to contact your representatives in the House (202-224-3121) and demand a more lengthy and in-depth investigation into the Able Danger mission. The individuals responsible for this outrage MUST be held accountable for their actions, and answer to the country they have sworn to protect. Party labels must be shed and personal agendas must be removed, in favor of unity and the search for truth. We should not expect anything less than full disclosure of any cover-ups or improprieties that took place to prevent this information from becoming public knowledge. Government officials have conspired to destroy evidence that would have protected America, and possibly prevented the truth from being told. This is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to stand. We must demand action and, if necessary, punishment to the fullest extent of the law. They played politics with our safety, and this cannot go overlooked.

Reprehensor at DailyKos offers a Democratic perspective:

On Wednesday, February 15th, 2006, LTC Anthony Shaffer submitted an amazing written statement detailing his involvement with ABLE DANGER to Congress. You can download a PDF of the statement here, and I have made an HTML version here. For those people who are new to the ABLE DANGER (AD), story, I can't think of a better starting point....

This goes way beyond partisan politics. This about a defense establishment that will not come clean about what happened on 9/11, from the history of the "Afghan Arabs" to overlapping Intelligence operations that shared different agendas.

It's time to accept the fact that the 9/11 Commission crafted a political document in the "Final Report". It is clearly not a reference volume for serious research regarding the events of 9/11.

The omission of AD from the Final Report is but one in a long list of items that didn't fit the narrative the Commission sought to cobble together....

I replaced the main link to the PDF on our site with a link to his HTML version.

Moussaoui defense protests Weldon's decision

From the AP:

Defense lawyers for al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui said Tuesday they want to compel a reluctant Pennsylvania congressman to testify at Moussaoui's death-penalty trial.

Moussaoui's lawyers had subpoenaed Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., to testify for Moussaoui's defense, but Weldon asked the court to quash the subpoena. Declaring he didn't want to be used by a "thug" like Moussaoui, Weldon claimed congressional immunity from the subpoena....

In court Tuesday, defense lawyer Edward MacMahon said he will oppose Weldon's efforts to quash the subpoena.

Actually, Weldon was advised he did not have to testify by the counsel for the House of Representatives, citing the "speech and debate" clause, which I believe prevents Congressmembers from being held legally liable for everything that they say - in order to encourage more open speech and debate in Congress. Clearly, Moussaoui himself did not see the wisdom of calling someone who thinks he is a "thug" to testify on his behalf:

Three times when leaving for recesses, he muttered his usual comment: "God curse Zerkin and MacMahon, and God curse America." The third time, he added: "And France." He has not cooperated with MacMahon and Gerald Zerkin, his court-appointed lawyers.

Down but not out

Judi McLeod interviewed Congressman Weldon on Thursday. Here are some excerpts:

In his Washington D.C. office last Thursday, a slightly tired Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa) was lamenting to Canada Free Press the ongoing suppression of Able Danger....

"Neither my own party nor the Democrats want to hear the truth about Able Danger," Weldon ruefully told CFP....

Meanwhile the feisty one-man force behind Able Danger and its red flag on 9/11, may be down but he’s not out.

"I’ll never give up. I just can’t," were the last words he said to CFP.

Bloggers talk with Mark Zaid

If you have not already heard, from AJ Strata, Mark Coffey, Bluto, Captain Ed, or Vi, we had a conference call with Tony Shaffer's attorney Mark Zaid tonight. I did not post a general notice inviting anyone interested to participate because I wanted everyone to get a chance to ask a question - which we all got. Actually, Mark stayed on the line a full hour and sounded like he would have stayed longer. If you can afford to do so, please consider sending him a check for his and Roy Krieger's pro bono work on behalf of the Able Danger witnesses using the mailing address on the right.

If you are interested in participating in the next blogger conference call, please email me at CONTACT at ABLEDANGERBLOG.COM with your name and a link to your blog. Congressman Weldon is also interested in holding a conference call with bloggers, and I would like to hear from bloggers who are interested in participating.

Now, as for tonight's call. I think we all learned some new things and got some new ideas. Mark Zaid pointed out two things in particular bloggers can help do. One was the financial support to help he and Roy Krieger keep up their pro bono work. The other is to help keep the pressure on and demand answers to unanswered questions. Who was the federal contractor that supplied the photo of Atta? Why can't they be located? Who sent the "armed federal agents" who seized all of the LIWA materials in Spring 2000? How could there not be a record of that? Why won't Philip Zelikow or Dieter Snell talk about their decision not to mention Able Danger?

Instead of going through the call question by question, I'll just do the "meta" blogging thing, and blog about other people blogging about the call.

I'm not sure who posted first, but I'll start with AJ. He points out that Mark said the DIA tried to stop Tony from testifying in uniform. Unbelievable. That might explain why he was referred to as "Mr. Shaffer" instead of "Lt. Col. Shaffer" on the official schedule for the hearing - which Weldon strongly objected to at the hearing. AJ also mentions how Captain Ed brought up the NSA story, but Mark Zaid had not heard of any connections being made with Able Danger. I think we should start making those exact connections, because the same undue deference to people with any link to the US is responsible for both the NSA scandal and the failure of Able Danger. The last major point AJ makes is one that I agree with completely - although I think we had several of these revelations last week, but the media wasn't paying attention.

What this story needs is some revelations that solidify the possibility Able Danger, if left alone, had a very good chance of stopping 9-11. The story that will bring in the press and the Congress is the scandal of a CYA effort by skittish political appointees that ended up deleting national security data that could have stopped 9-11.

Mark Coffey offers the following, which I also agree with:

Zaid found the open session ‘quite disappointing’, particularly the poor turnout. Zaid also stated that the complexity of the case seems to have left most of the attendees behind, and he decried the superficial level of knowledge (only three attendees were in the closed session, as well, according to Zaid’s undisclosed sources).

Interestingly, as with the September hearing, the hearing room itself was packed. It was just the members of Congress who were in poor attendance. Apparently, only Weldon, McKinney, and Saxton even bothered to stay for the closed session Wednesday.

Zaid said the feeling was that the hearing was a farce that appeared to be intended to placate Weldon. Zaid also said he was puzzled by the behavior of the FBI, who were formerly cooperative about acknowledging and following up on meetings that were attempted with several principals and seem to have gone through a sudden chill....

I want to conclude, however, with my own question, and an explanation of why the answer helped to quiet some of my skepticism. I asked, roughly, what the ideal outcome for Zaid would be, aside from obviously serving the interests of his clients.

Zaid responded that, of course, one desired outcome is to get Shaffer’s security clearance back and clear his name on the personnel matter, but the other outcome is that Able Danger be reconstituted. I find that very illuminating. These are not whistleblowers in the conventional sense, who have discovered wrongdoing and seek to stop it. Rather, these are people who are convinced that they were involved in something very worthwhile, something that may have, conceivably, prevented 9/11 in a perfect world, but more importantly, something that could prevent future attacks of a similar nature, that they feel was wrongly shut down by the higher-ups.

He also mentions "there was an alleged discovery related to China and a high government official (supposedly Rice) that caused the plug to be pulled on data-mining operations of this sort." However, some other names have been mentioned. According to Shane Harris of National Journal:

“I heard they turned up Hillary Clinton,” the official said. The experiment was not continued.

Bluto agreed on several points, and added the following:

Mr. Zaid was quite forthcoming, but unfortunately, more questions were raised than answered, and I got the impression that the hearings are a pro forma exercise that will probably shed little light on the Able Danger program. He described the conduct of the hearings as "very disconcerting" and said that the Representatives involved displayed "very superficial knowledge" of the Able Danger saga....

The biggest question I have is this: why isn't the mainstream media all over this story? It stinks to high heaven of coverup. NBC can provide nightly coverage of the Katrina aftermath for five months, but a story that has profound implications for national security doesn't rate thirty seconds?

Mr. Zaid was very diplomatic when I asked him about the lack of media attention, praising Fox News, the New York Times and Chris Matthews of MSNBC, but the fact is that a story isn't real to most of America until they hear it on the network news.

I'll have more on this later. In the meantime, you could do worse than write your Representatives to demand a real investigation, and maybe stop by the Able Danger Blog to make a donation to Colonel Shaffer's legal fund.

Captain Ed makes several key points here:

As Zaid points out, the lack of press almost certainly results from the committee members themselves; the only thing that Republicans and Democrats have in common these days is a desire to push Able Danger out of sight. The FBI also appears to have gotten the same disease as the two parties. The FBI, which once acknowledged that several attempts occurred to have meetings between its agents and the Able Danger team now denies that any such contacts occurred.

I have not performed much better, to be fair. Other issues have pushed Able Danger off of my radar screen, and even Zaid noted that no explosive developments have arisen from the story in weeks. Nonetheless, the above bloggers have done an excellent job in maintaining some interest in the story. The conference call gave me an opprortunity to pick the thread back up and start pressing Congress for more hearings. Zaid thinks that three or four more committees may conduct hearings on the matter, and the DoD Inspector General is expected to issue a report on AD sometime in May. Zaid believes that an unclassified summary will be part of that, but if it isn't, he will take action to get a declassified summary released.

I agree with Ed about the only thing that Democrats and Republicans seem to have in common these days. Neither Democratic or Republican leadership seems interested in going back into what happened before 9-11, because they don't think it serves their interests. Never mind that the Able Danger team can demonstrate it's in America's insterests. If it's not clear how you can score political points, it's not worth it. That's our job, as bloggers: To make it in their interests to get interested in Able Danger and start looking into how we can prevent the next attack on America.

UPDATE: On that note, Pierre Legrand, offers the best introduction to Shaffer's written testimony that I have seen:

First of all if you have not been following the Able Danger saga please go right now and read Lt Col Tony Shaffer's testimony to the House Armed Services Committee. In that document you will find a clear and concise explanation of just exactly how screwed up our Government is when confronted by its own errors. You will find a story about how we had the 9/11 Hijackers dead to rights, long before 9/11. You will know that this cuts right across partisan lines and truly is a story that both sides can find both comfort and alarm to think about late at night. This is a story of how the Government truly works away from the harsh glare of the Mainstream Media's childish simplification of the battles inside of the Government. Inside the document Lt Col Shaffer names names and lets us know who the hero's are and who are the villains. Not politely but with the passion of a person who feels bewildered by the idiocy raging around him. This is not the work of a disgruntled Government employee that is seeking to embarrass a politician or party but the work of a Patriot trying to protect his country.

Curt from Flopping Aces had to pull a double shift, but wishes he could have been there. I don't think he's the only one looking forward to our next chance to talk.

Able Danger on 610 AM in Ohio

Dirk Thompson is scheduled to have journalists on his radio show in Columbus, OH tonight to discuss Able Danger around 7-8 pm ET. Tune in if you're in the area, or you can listen live on the 610 WTVN website.

UPDATE: Here is an audio clip from the show, recorded by Vi Adkins.

Audio of Able Danger Hearing

I have posted the entire audio of today's Able Danger hearing (for streaming or download) here.

UPDATE by TopDog08: The files are mirrored here and here. You can also listen to it on the House website.

If anyone can send a transcript to CONTACT at ABLEDANGERBLOG.COM we'd be grateful. The transcript is here if you can access it.

Meanwhile, take action. Demand news coverage of Able Danger.

Able Danger Timeline in Shaffer's words

This is not his entire written timeline, but it is the portion starting from the LIWA data destruction through September 11th:

(U) Apr-May 2000. Army LIWA/IDC gets cold feet due to "oversight" and U.S. Person issues. Despite a "personal for" message from GEN Schoomaker, Commander SOCOM to GEN Shinseki, Chief of Staff of the Army, to allow LIWA/IDC to continue to support the ABLE DANGER effort, the message is never answered and Army lawyers (in particular, Tom Taylor from the information I was provided at the time by Army staff officers) effectively shuts down all army support. Gen Schoomaker directs the establishment of a replica of the LIWA/IDC technology - at a classified location.

(U) Jun 2000. At the request of SOCOM ([ ], DIA's Rep to SOCOM), with the permission of the DIA/DO leadership, I approach MG Noonan, Commander of Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) to request that Dr. Eileen Preisser be attached to my unit, STRATUS IVY so that she could continue to support ABLE DANGER. This request is denied - I am told later, privately, that MG Noonan felt that by trying to take Dr. Preisser that I was trying to "steal his capability"!!!

(U) Aug 2000. DIA's Directorate of Intelligence (DI) refuses at first to provide SOCOM 100% of all DIA information. Eventually, the DI gives in, but forces the DO to "pick up and sign for" the DIA information. The DIA/DI provides the information in an "unusable" format - but due to an experienced Raytheon programmer being assigned, she is able to create an algorithm that corrects the problem; it is believed that DIA provided the data in an unusable form intentionally.

(U) Late Spring / Early Summer 2000. [ ] Based on my unit's enhanced relationship with the FBI, I set up three separate meetings between SOCOM (COL Worthington, the then ABLE DANGER chief) and FBI Counterterrorism Special Agents in Washington, DC.

(U) SOCOM cancels all three meetings - reason: SOCOM lawyers would not permit the sharing of the U.S. person information regarding terrorists located domestically due to "fear of potential blowback" should the FBI do something with the information and something go wrong. The lawyers were worried about another "Waco" situation. The critical counterterrorism information is never passed form SOCOM to the FBI before 9-11; this information did include the original data regarding Atta and the terrorist cells in New York and the DC area.

(U) Sep-Oct 2000. The ABLE DANGER effort is established and up and running. GEN Schoomaker retires in Oct 2000, to be replaced by Air Force GEN Holland. GEN Holland, in my judgment, did not understand the concept, and orders the effort (Dec 2000) to terminate its activities in Garland, TX and for the personnel to return to Tampa - there he directs the ABLE DANGER effort become a J2/intelligence effort and the Special Operations Joint Intelligence Center (SOJIC) is created in its place.

(U) January-March 2001. DIA is requested to provide udpated info for the effort to be re-established in Tampa. DIA begins to drag its feet across the board with the departure of LTG Hughes, MG Harding and COL York. STRATUS IVY is prohibited by DIA/DO's new leadership, MG Isler, from participating in the NSA and DIA data transfer.

At this point he discusses a larger project, details of which were redacted:

(U) January-March 2001 - [ ]

• (U) DCI George Tenet - During this briefing, the DCI approved our conduct of this special project - I did specifically mention the ABLE DANGER effort to him regarding the use of its methodology to separate out U.S. Person issues.



• (U) Chairman of the JCS, GEN Hugh Shelton - During this briefing, GEN Shelton approved the project [ ] His comment was "The people of this country think we are doing things like this. We should be doing things like this".



• (U) Director of the Joint Staff, LTG Peter Pace - he was briefed, seemed impressed, and supported the project. He did not seem to be aware of ABLE DANGER when I mentioned the name of the project as part of the briefing.



• (U) [ ]



• (U) The National Security Counsel (twice) - Shortly after the briefing to Dr. Cambone, Mark Garlasco and I were directed to brief the National Security Counsel (NSC) on the operation on two separate occasions. I cannot recall the specific dates of, or individuals present at, the briefing.

At this point he returns to discussing the ABLE DANGER project:

(U) 2001 spring. The Special Operations Joint Integration Center (SOJIC) is created - watered down by Mitre contractors - the teeth and operational focus were removed and the capability to do the complex data mining and mission planning support (leadership support) is eliminated.

(U) May 2001. Scott Phillpott calls me in desperation in the May 2001 timeframe on my mobile phone. He asked if he can bring "the ABLE DANGER options" that ABLE DANGER had come up with to DC and to use one of my STRATUS IVY facilities to do the work. I tell him with all candor that I would love nothing better than to loan him my facility and work the options with him (to exploit them for both Intel potential and for actual offensive operations) but tell him that my DIA chain of command has directed my to stop all suppport to him and the project. In good faith, I ask my boss, COL Mary Moffitt if I can help Scott and exploit the options - and that there would be a DIA quid pro quo of obtaining new "lead" information from the project. She takes offensive at me even mentioning ABLE DANGER in this conversation, tells me that I am being insubordinate, and begins the process of removing my from my position as chief of STRATUS IVY. As a direct result of this conversation, she directs that I be "moved" to a desk officer position to oversee Defense HUMINT operations in Latin America.

(U) 11 Sep 2001. We are attacked.

(U) Late September 2001. Eileen Preisser calls me for coffee and tells me she has something she needs to show me. At coffee she shows me a chart she had brought with her - a large desk top size chart. On it she has me look at the 'Brooklyn Cell' - I was confused at first - but she kept telling me to look - and in the "cluster" I eventually found the picture of Atta. She pointed out (and I recognized) that this was one of the charts I LIWA had produced in Jan 2000, and that I had taken down to Tampa. I was shocked - and had a sinking feeling at the pit of my stomach - I felt that we had been on the right track - and that because of the bureaucracy we had been stopped - and that we might well have been able to have done something to stop the 9/11 attack. I ask Eileen what she plans to do with the information/chart - she tells me that she does not know but she plans to do something.

(U) Last week of September 2001. I am on my normal afternoon run from the Pentagon to the Lincoln Memorial - and I receive a call from Dr. Preisser. She tells me "you'll never guess where I am" - she tells me about sitting in the outer office of Scooter Libby and the fact that she, Congressman Curt Weldon, Congressman Chris Shays and Congressman Dan Burton are going in to brief Steven Hadley on the Atta chart. I am both amazed and satisfied that the Atta information and our work on ABLE DANGER had been provided to proper government leadership and fully expected that the ABLE DANGER team might even be reconstituted. It was not.

(U) Nov 2001-July 2003 - I accept recall to active duty as a Major in the Army and command a Defense HUMINT unit named Field Operating Base (FOB) Alpha. During this period I attempted to work with ASD/SOLIC to resurrect ABLE DANGER as part of FOB Alpha's mission. When some sensitive information relating SOLIC was leaked to the press the effort to bring back ABLE DANGER was also terminated. Dr. Priesser was involved in this attempt to resurrect the project.

Reporter defends Able Danger blackout

Sylvia Smith was one of the reporters on Washington Journal, who was questioned about the lack of Able Danger coverage - in addition to complaints about the decision by C-SPAN not to cover the hearing at all. Here is her own response:

This anatomy of deciding what’s news is prompted by the dozen or so calls to C-SPAN on Friday when I was one of two journalists whom host Brian Lamb invited on his call-in show to discuss news and the news business.

If the callers are a fair representation of Americans, then a lot of people are convinced that journalists are deliberately ignoring Able Danger/Cisneros/foreign management of U.S. ports. (But how, do you wonder, did they even know about these topics if they were not reported in the media?)

Some of those callers were a wee bit testy about it. I don’t mind that in the least. But I wish I had been able to show them that a newspaper (or TV newscast, for that matter) has finite space. My day doesn’t have 30 hours in it just because I’m a journalist.

I didn’t choose to cover the Souder/Walters hearing so I could not cover something else, such as Able Danger. Covering Souder is my job, as is reporting on the other members of the Indiana congressional delegation. If I were a sportswriter assigned to cover ice skating, would it make sense to suggest there’s a conspiracy afoot because I don’t write about band contests?

Well, that might explain her own decision but what about reporters and newscasts who normally focus on issues of national security?

Able Danger on Power Line

Brief mention by Scott Johnson:

Unable to see danger

Jack Kelly's weekly Pittsburgh Post Gazette column reviews the evidence Able Danger and brings the story up to date. Kelly concludes: "It's unclear why the Bush administration is covering up [Able Danger], since the suppression of Able Danger occurred on President Clinton's watch. But it is clear there is a cover-up. One would think a Washington press corps obsessing about a hunting accident in Texas would be more curious about it."

I think that's an observation that broadly applies to events of the past week....

Able Danger Hearing Summary by AJ Strata

If you read nothing else about Able Danger, be sure to read The Strata-Sphere's top drawer Able Danger Hearing summary:

China Study Rocks The Hill and Unleashes The Purge: While Cambone tried to link the data purge to this 90-day rule, Weldon and the other witnesses (with first hand knowledge) pointed to the LIWA China Study that was being done in parallel to the Able Danger study. I have stated all along this was the lynchpin, the source of all later cover ups and mistakes and lost opportunities.

We all know the story so I will not repeat it here, but what we learned from the hearings is how far up this went. Weldon let slip that the initial China study report made it well outside of LIWA and Orion, up past the Army chain of command, beyond the Pentagon and hopped the Potomac to reach Capitol Hill (Item 54). Trust me when I tell you how stunned I was to hear that the China study report was seen by many in Congress - including Congressman Weldon himself. He briefed others on it. And it was this report containing nationally known names that caused the data purge.

There is no doubt of that now. Kleinsmith testified to the fact the order came from above his chain of command (Item 38). The fact the SOCOM folks were in an uproar means the order was above LIWA and SOCOM, putting it in the Pentagon or higher. Who was involved in this?Well one person does come to mind: Jamie Gorelick. Another Weldon bomb shell was that no only did Gorelick contact him last summer to claim she “did nothing wrong”, apparently she called Sen Specter twice to convey the same message...

Able Danger Transcript: Curt Weldon Interview on the Tony Snow Radio Show, 2/17/2006

My transcription of Tony Snow's interview of Rep. Curt Weldon on his radio show is here.

Is it just me, or does Rep. Weldon sound somewhat defeated:

It's unfortunate that the way we're going right now, we're not going to get the truth because too many people in two administrations will be embarrassed over this. I'm going to continue to push for improvements in data mining to give us the capability to understand these transnational terrorist threats...

Able Danger and the USS Cole

Jane Novak has a new article on the Cole:

A former CIA agent, Robert Baer, was given information by a Saudi military contact that a Saudi merchant family had funded the USS Cole bombing and that the Yemeni government was covering up information related to that bombing. A leading Yemeni editor said in 2001, "It was clear from the start that the accessories to the attack would be tried, convicted and executed, but that the people inside Yemen who financed it, and used their power to facilitate it, would never be brought to book."

The regime has had difficulty keeping the attackers in jail. In 2003, eight of the Cole conspirators escaped from jail and two later went on to commit suicide operations in Iraq. Among the 2003 escapees was Jamal Al-Badawi, mastermind of the bombing. Al-Badawi was recaptured and returned to the prison only to escape again along with 22 other inmates.

After the Cole attack, President Saleh denied publicly that he was notified by the US that the Cole was en route to Aden. According to General Zinni, former CENTCOM commander in his 2000 Congressional Testimony, standard U.S. procedure was to notify Yemeni officials about two weeks prior to a ship's arrival at port. It was just about two weeks before the attack on the Cole that the Pentagon's secret intelligence unit, Able Danger, began to pick up massive terrorist activity in Aden.

At the time of the bombings, a Yemeni regime official advanced the theory that the U.S. had blown up the boat itself, as pretense for an invasion. This fear mongering has continued. "There was a plan to occupy Aden," Saleh said in a 2005 speech, claiming the existence of eight U.S. warships at the mouth of the port of Aden, ready to invade in the days after the bombing. Only through his leadership abilities, he claimed, was invasion averted.

Able Danger Analysis - Part IV from AJ Strata

AJ Strata has finished his analysis of last Wednesday's entire Able Danger hearing. The newest and final piece of his analysis is here. AJ promises a summary analysis later today or tonight.

Links to all parts of his analysis are: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV.

Take Action: Demand Coverage of Able Danger

From a Media for Democracy newsletter:

Up until this point CNN's Lou Dobbs is one of the few in the mainstream media to cover this issue!

Click below to send a message to the major news networks demanding that they cover "What could be the biggest scandal of our lifetime."

Send the network news companies a message demanding that they cover Able Danger!

Monitoring the Able Danger Hearings Coverage

From MediaChannel.org:

MediaChannel.org used the powerful new MediaVision tool to monitor television news coverage of the Able Danger Congressional hearings. To our astonishment CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" was the only news show to give Able Danger any significant coverage.

We were so shocked by the lack of coverage that we created an online campaign to try to pressure TV news networks to cover, as Lou Dobbs put it, "what could be the biggest scandal of our lifetime." Click here to send networks an email demanding coverage!

So, sadly, here it is. All the TV coverage we could find thus far:

One clip they found is this segment with Colonel David Hunt coming to the defense of Tony Shaffer on Fox and Friends at 6:23 AM Friday morning.

The suppression of Able Danger

From Jack Kelly:

When Colonel Shaffer was interviewing to become an intelligence officer, he admitted that at age 13, he had taken a box of pens from the embassy where his father worked. After he went public, the Defense Intelligence Agency tried to use that, $180 in disputed travel expenses, and $67 in disputed telephone charges, as grounds for firing him.

Mr. Smith testified he'd lost two jobs since coming forward. Because of what's happened to Colonel Shaffer and Mr. Smith, other witnesses insisted on testifying behind closed doors, so they would be protected from retaliation from superiors whose negligence kept Able Danger's findings from the FBI and the captain of the Cole.

It's unclear why the Bush Administration is covering up, since the suppression of Able Danger occurred on President Clinton's watch. But it is clear there is a cover-up. One would think a Washington press corps obsessing about a hunting accident in Texas would be more curious about it.

Weldon on Fox News now

Talking to Tony Snow.

UPDATE: Segment ended at 12:38, but I'm hoping Intelligence Summit will have a copy tomorrow. They have not been capturing recent Lou Dobbs videos though, so maybe not.

Able Danger Hearing Transcript

Curt at Flopping Aces is working on trascribing the Able Danger hearing on 2/15/2006. The post is here.

Absolutely Required Reading Assignment

AJ Strata's (the best Able Danger analyst in the blogosphere, alternative media or natch, MSM) lastest Able Danger hearing analysis (Part III) is up:

Holy Cow! Weldon has a signed affidavit from a witness that talked to one of Cambone’s staff recently and who said Cambone’s group was going to ‘kill this story’ and Shaffer had no credibility. The name is Butch Willard This is right after Cambone claimed no one was not trying to ‘bring the information forward’. If Weldon is right, Cambone just perjured himself and is in hot water now. The witness is an ex intelligence officer (woman). They moved all this to the closed session!

Don't fail to miss it, it's required after all.

Audio of Rep. Weldon on Tony Snow's Radio Program This Morning

The audio is here. (HT: Free Republic)

UPDATE by TopDog08: Via AJ, Tony Snow is guest-hosting the O’Reilly Factor on Fox, and has an interview (tonight, Friday 2/17) with Weldon.

CORRECTION by TopDog08: Just watched a repeat of the Factor. Weldon was not on. Snow only interviewed Weldon once, on his radio show. The commenter at AJ's probably confused the radio interview with the TV show.

Peter Lance on Lou Dobbs tonight

From last night's show:

We'll be continuing our coverage of the Able Danger controversy throughout. Joined us here tomorrow by Pulitzer prize winner investigative journalist Peter Lance.

UPDATE: Here is the transcript from CNN:

DOBBS: Congressman Curt Weldon succeeded in holding congressional hearings on Able Danger this week. But the Able Danger controversy certainly will continue. Emmy Award winning investigative journalist Peter Lance joins me now on the Able Danger situation, controversy, case.

Peter, are you encouraged by the hearings that you watched?

PETER LANCE, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: I'm encouraged by Congressman Weldon's tenacity, but frankly, I...

DOBBS: Absolutely

LANCE: I think he was he was betrayed by his own committee, frankly. The fact so much of the hearing was held in closed session, why should Philip Zelikow, the chairman of the 9/11 Commission have testified in closed session? Why did they diminish Lt. Colonel Anthony Schaffer, a decorated member of the Able Danger, calling him Mister Schafer on the witness list.

DOBBS: That is, after all, the Armed Services Committee reaching out there. And the fact is that the testimony that was opened up, about the Colonel Schaffer, as you say, a distinguished veteran.

LANCE: Right.

DOBBS: What the military has done to try to destroy this man's career trying to come forward with what the Able Danger project was able to learn, including information about the USS Cole, that could have saved the USS Cole and those 17 lives; that could, had it been acted on, that interest and concern as Yemen in the days leading up to that attack is remarkable. This much is on the record

LANCE: It is. And that's important. I think another thing that isn't on the record, though, is the testimony of Dietrich Snell, this is where the committee let