NationStates Jolt Archive

COMMENTARY: Some time ago I posted about this same topic, after every member of the 9/11 Commission ( now defunct ) disputed the claims of two military officers who said that Ata and others had been identified by a classified Defense Department team code named "Able Danger." Now those officers have been blocked from testifying before a congressional panel. At the time I posted, I stated that something about this entire thing stank. Now it stinks even more! :(


Intelligence team members ordered silent in 9/11 probe (http://www.military.com/earlybrief/0,,,00.html)

By Shaun Waterman
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
September 21, 2005

Defense Department lawyers have blocked members of a data-mining intelligence team from testifying today before a congressional panel probing their claims that they identified the September 11 ringleaders as terrorists more than a year before the attacks.
The Senate Judiciary Committee sought testimony from several members of the team -- code-named Able Danger -- as part of an investigation into claims that the project identified Mohamed Atta and three of the other 18 hijackers as tied to al Qaeda in early 2000.
Mark Zaid, an attorney for Army Reserve Col. Tony Shaffer, said his client, a Defense Intelligence Agency liaison to the Able Danger team, was told in a letter not to testify.
The letter, which gave no reason for the order, was signed by the principal deputy general counsel for the Defense Intelligence Agency, Robert Berry.
Mr. Zaid said the team members "were told verbally that they would not be allowed to testify" and that the order was put in writing only with regard to his client at his request.
He said that the team leader, Navy Capt. Scott Philpott, civilian analyst James Smith and other members of the team had been denied permission to testify. A Judiciary Committee aide said panel staff members already have interviewed Capt. Philpott and Col. Shaffer.
No one at the Department of Defense or the Defense Intelligence Agency returned calls for comment yesterday.
Rep. Curt Weldon, the Pennsylvania Republican who first put the Able Danger team in contact with journalists, was concerned about the order, his staff said.
"It is unfortunate that we're trying to get answers ... and the people who could help us get them are not going to testify," said Russ Caso, the congressman's chief of staff.
At the center of the Senate committee's investigation is a computer-generated chart listing the names and connections of about 60 people thought to be linked to al Qaeda.
Capt. Philpott said that chart, produced in January or February 2000, bore the name and likeness of Atta and linked him to a Brooklyn mosque that has been a center of Islamic extremism for more than 20 years.
Capt. Philpott was the special operations officer who ran the effort, an intelligence-led initiative to use data mining on massive amounts of "open source" information culled from the Internet, purchased from credit rating bureaus or other data brokers, or by other means that remain classified.

Isnt it "There is something rotten in the state of Denmark"?

Isnt it "There is something rotten in the state of Denmark"?
DC is not a state....is it? :D

Isnt it "There is something rotten in the state of Denmark"?
Picky, picky! :p

DC is not a state....is it? :D
No, that's why it's called a "District." Kinda like "Duh" here, yes? :D

No, that's why it's called a "District." Kinda like "Duh" here, yes? :D
Yes!...hehe. :D

Yes!...hehe. :D
;)

Another slant on this same topic, from the NYTimes:

Pentagon Bars Military Officers and Analysts From Testifying

By PHILIP SHENON
Published: September 21, 2005

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 - The Pentagon said Tuesday that it had blocked several military officers and intelligence analysts from testifying at an open Congressional hearing about a highly classified intelligence program that, the officers have said, identified a ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks as a potential terrorist a year before the attacks.

The officers and intelligence analysts had been scheduled to testify on Wednesday about the program, known as Able Danger, at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Bryan Whitman, a Defense Department spokesman, said in a statement that open testimony "would not be appropriate."

"We have expressed our security concerns and believe it is simply not possible to discuss Able Danger in any great detail in an open public forum," Mr. Whitman said.

He offered no other explanation of the Pentagon's reasoning.

Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania and chairman of the committee, said he was surprised by the Pentagon's decision because "so much of this has already been in the public domain, and I think that the American people need to know what happened here."

Mr. Specter said in a telephone interview that he intended to go ahead with the hearing on Wednesday and hoped that it "may produce a change of heart by the Department of Defense in answering some very basic questions."

Two military officers - an active-duty captain in the Navy and a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve - have recently said publicly that they were involved with Able Danger and that the program's analysts identified Mohamed Atta, the Egyptian-born ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks, by name as a potential terrorist by early 2000.

They said they tried to share the information with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the summer of 2000, more than a year before the attacks, but were blocked by Defense Department lawyers. F.B.I. officials, who answer to the jurisdiction of Mr. Specter's committee, have confirmed that the Defense Department abruptly canceled meetings in 2000 between the bureau's Washington field office and representatives of the Able Danger team.

The Pentagon had said that it interviewed three other people who were involved with Able Danger and who said that they, too, recalled the identification of Mr. Atta as a terrorist suspect. Mr. Specter said his staff had talked to all five of the potential witnesses and found that "credibility has been established" for all of them.

DC is not a state....is it? :D
DC is Denmark. :eek:

The Bush administration act like terrorists ... :(

Denmark is there?!? Oh, man... *goes back to her geography books*

DC is not a state....is it? :D


No. And it's not even a state.
Yet they get taxed.
"No taxation without representation"

Statehood for DC.

The people who live there are subjects, not citizens.

http://dcstatehoodgreen.org/

So then whats happening here do you think? The Pentagon and Intelligence community is trying to cover their asses? THey don't want to be shown incompetent again? The article before was about the 9/11 commission refusing to hear testimony and this one is about the pentagon refusing to submit testimony?

When it comes to government, everything stinks... always. I am not one to say that we should get rid of the US govt just because it is full of corruption at all levels and highly ineffectual but I do think there needs to be major reforms (much like the UN eh?). I just don't know what reforms are needed. Obviously our leadership and leadership structure needs a hell of a lot of work.

So then whats happening here do you think? The Pentagon and Intelligence community is trying to cover their asses? THey don't want to be shown incompetent again? The article before was about the 9/11 commission refusing to hear testimony and this one is about the pentagon refusing to submit testimony?

When it comes to government, everything stinks... always. I am not one to say that we should get rid of the US govt just because it is full of corruption at all levels and highly ineffectual but I do think there needs to be major reforms (much like the UN eh?). I just don't know what reforms are needed. Obviously our leadership and leadership structure needs a hell of a lot of work.
There's nothing wrong with the structure of our government. It's the crookedness of the politicians (I refuse to call them "leaders"; they don't lead anything) and the laziness of the citizens who are happy to be bribed off with pork projects.

Some unsung heroes in the US government are the IGs (Inspectors General) and the GOA (General Accountability Office). Every major department of the federal government has an IG whose job is to police the department and make sure it does its job properly. They issue regular reports to their department heads and to Congress. Over the last several administrations, they have been routinely ignored, pressured to change reports, and put under gag orders to stop them speaking to the press.

The GOA (my personal favorite government agency) basically are professional critics and whistleblowers on all branches of the federal government. Any time some bullshit is going on, you can be sure there will be a GOA report detailing exactly where the bullshit is, who started it, what effect it's having and how much it's costing the taxpayers. The GOA is completely non-partisan and is composed of accountants, lawyers, and other professionals, not political appointees. Once upon a time, the GOA had enforcement powers -- they could launch investigations and bring charges. I believe Bush Sr. stripped them of that power. Hm, wonder why?

No, there's nothing rotten. Denmark just smells like that.

Isnt it "There is something rotten in the state of Denmark"?

With an exclamation point at the end.

No, there's nothing rotten. Denmark just smells like that.
Sweden prbably left the rubbish there.

No, there's nothing rotten. Denmark just smells like that.
:D Yes, it's the endtrail coming out of the Scandinavian peninsular. Sorry Danish friends, I'm just bitter that your alcohol is cheaper.

:D Yes, it's the endtrail coming out of the Scandinavian peninsular. Sorry Danish friends, I'm just bitter that your alcohol is cheaper.

Hey, they're Danish, they need the alcohol to cope. :D

Hey, they're Danish, they need the alcohol to cope. :D
Whut da hell u talkin' 'bout, boy! A'fore it's all over, AH moght need alke-whole to cope! :D

Whut da hell u talkin' 'bout, boy! A'fore it's all over, AH moght need alke-whole to cope! :D

It seems to me you've already indulged.

It seems to me you've already indulged.
ROFLMAO!! I WISH! :D

This time next week, after I get paid, I intend to get toally knee-walkin'! I figure I earned it, I owe it to myself, and nobody's gonna deny it to me! :D

Whut da hell u talkin' 'bout, boy! A'fore it's all over, AH moght need alke-whole to cope! :D
Hey Lil Abner, back to Dogpatch with ya!

Why would they be protecting the Clinton Administration ? Everything that happened was under his watch. There must be secret or a procedure that they used to get the info that needs to be hidden . If the truth is told it will expose the method used or the " rat " that told the story . It would be a simple proccess of elimination to find out how the info was gathered .

Go ahead blame Bush and his administration for things that happened during Clintons term in office .

Sometimes the most simple explanation is the right one . Not everything is a conspiracy. I will wait for the first post saying they should confirm there is a secret involved in some way. The next one will want to see the secret before they believe it . At any rate its interesting to note that the loony left is not all over this like a plague . The media has ignored it except for FOX and some right wing nuts . Weldon has it in his teeth and wont let go and the guys doing the whistle blowing are in dangder of losing their carrers. Where the f@#k is the press on this ??????