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August 17, 2005

Intel Officer Stands By Story: Able Danger Info Blocked

Thrice, as a matter of fact. I love saying that. Thrice. It just feels so satisfying.

military intelligence team repeatedly contacted the F.B.I. in 2000 to warn about the existence of an American-based terrorist cell that included the ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a veteran Army intelligence officer who said he had now decided to risk his career by discussing the information publicly.
The officer, Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, said military lawyers later blocked the team from sharing any of its information with the bureau.

Colonel Shaffer said in an interview on Monday night that the small, highly classified intelligence program, known as Able Danger, had identified the terrorist ringleader, Mohamed Atta, and three other future hijackers by name by mid-2000, and tried to arrange a meeting that summer with agents of the Washington field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to share its information.

But he said military lawyers forced members of the intelligence program to cancel three scheduled meetings with the F.B.I. at the last minute, which left the bureau without information that Colonel Shaffer said might have led to Mr. Atta and the other terrorists while the Sept. 11 attacks were still being planned.

"I was at the point of near insubordination over the fact that this was something important, that this was something that should have been pursued," Colonel Shaffer said of his efforts to get the evidence from the intelligence program to the F.B.I. in 2000 and early 2001.

He said he learned later that lawyers associated with the Special Operations Command of the Defense Department had canceled the F.B.I. meetings because they feared controversy if Able Danger was portrayed as a military operation that had violated the privacy of civilians who were legally in the United States.

"It was because of the chain of command saying we're not going to pass on information - if something goes wrong, we'll get blamed," he said.

The Defense Department did not dispute the account from Colonel Shaffer, a 42-year-old native of Kansas City, Mo., who is the first military officer associated with the program to acknowledge his role publicly.

Jim Geraghty of TKS is invaluable, of course, but honestly, in the words of Margaret Thatcher, this is no time to go all wobbly.

The intelligence officer and Able Danger team-member who's come forward -- a Lt. Col. Schaeffer -- gave CNN an interview and suggested the 9/11 Commission didn't seem very interested in getting the documents from the DOD; or at least they weren't interested enough to submit their request to the agency actually running Able Danger:

S. O'BRIEN: But I was essentially asking you if they were lying, which is sort of a yes or no answer there.
SHAFFER: I can't — I'm just letting you know what I — what I said. I said, specifically, that we, as through the Able Danger process, discovered two of the three cells which conducted 9/11, to include Atta. Now — and I — that was, to me, significant, in that they actually pulled me aside after the meeting and said, "Please come talk to us and give us more details."

Now, back to the information that DOD passed to them. DOD passed two containers, approximately briefcase-sized containers over to them in the February-March time frame of '04. That is not one-twentieth of the information which was available out there on Able Danger and the project.

And plus, they asked DIA for it. It was not a DIA project. And I think they asked the wrong questions of DOD in some cases. And I know for a fact right not DOD is trying to get to the bottom of this.

State Department Warned Clinton Too: When even the milquetoast ninnies at State are warning you, it's probably a good idea to listen:

State Department analysts warned the Clinton administration in July 1996 that Osama bin Laden's move to Afghanistan would give him an even more dangerous haven as he sought to expand radical Islam "well beyond the Middle East," but the government chose not to deter the move, newly declassified documents show.
In what would prove a prescient warning, the State Department intelligence analysts said in a top-secret assessment on Mr. bin Laden that summer that "his prolonged stay in Afghanistan - where hundreds of 'Arab mujahedeen' receive terrorist training and key extremist leaders often congregate - could prove more dangerous to U.S. interests in the long run than his three-year liaison with Khartoum," in Sudan.

BONUS! Judicial Watch got a hold of this document through a FOIA request.

As per the NY Times stylebook, when Judicial Watch nettles the Bush Administration, they're just a public-policy watchdog.

But, as usual, when they go after the Clintons or Democrats, they're a

conservative legal advocacy group

Dang, they're clever. They've made themselves impossible to parodize.

posted by Ace at 11:42 AM

Comments

Ah, we've officially crossed the line from scandal to cluster$@^k. Everyone is going to be busy CYA as opposed to getting to the bottom of the issue. Podhoretz and Geraghty are rightfully concerned about vetting the story for accuracy, and the Colonel's statements definitely support Weldon's original assertions, but I still have one question - is Shaffer Weldon's source, and if so, has the story changed other than pointing to the origination of the story?

Getting past that question, we still need to know more about Gorelick, Reno, and everyone else involved in the decision making process that created the environment that led to the decision to spike the Able Danger intel before it could reach law enforcement.

Then, there's the separate issue of what the heck the 9/11 Commission did with its time and our tax dollars coming up with a ludicious document in light of the Able Danger revelations. All of their (the Commission's) intel conclusions must be reconsidered in light of the omissions by the Commission.

Posted by: lawhawk on August 17, 2005 11:50 AM

"The Defense Department did not dispute the account from Colonel Shaffer, a 42-year-old native of Kansas City, Mo., who is the first military officer associated with the program to acknowledge his role publicly."

Not sure why you bolded this. Without the quote from the DoD official this paragraph is not really meaningful. It could just mean that the DoD spokesman refused to answer questions on the matter (for example because there is an on-going investigation).

I read this paragraph as a classic journalistic trick which is used to make your information appear to be validated when it really isn't. If the spokesperson can't answer the questions about an investigation, you can ask anything you want and then say it wasn't disputed.

Posted by: Patrick on August 17, 2005 11:54 AM

Hey, let's not lose our sense of perspective. According to Michael Wolff at Vanity Fair, the Valerie Plame case is still the biggest story of our age.

Posted by: utron on August 17, 2005 11:56 AM

This tidbit is new (to me):

we ... discovered two of the three cells which conducted 9/11

I understand the need for some media restraint, from a PR perspective. The bigger the story (i.e., the more vigorously it will be opposed by ass-munch partisan Democrats who don't give a shit about national security or the military, all of whom are desperately eager to polish Clinton's knob yet again), the the more important it is to be sure the story is air-tight.

But, on the scale of bombshell stories, this one is fucking atomic.

Posted by: Phinn on August 17, 2005 12:14 PM

Just an aside, but how come her name is pronounced
"Go-Rel-ick" instead of "Gore-lick"?
Just wondering.

Posted by: Iblis on August 17, 2005 12:28 PM

"State Department analysts warned the Clinton administration in July 1996 that Osama bin Laden's move to Afghanistan would give him an even more dangerous haven"

So did the CIA, which is why they were hatching a plan to have him killed, i mean kidnapped, by gun toting tribal henchmen. Not a big news flash here. Ever read Ghost Wars?

Posted by: thomas on August 17, 2005 12:29 PM

At last! The exact data and content used to puff up Sandy Berger's pants is revealed. At first I thought he was tryin' to impress the gals, just like his boss.

Keep your eyes on EBAY. If 'ol Sandy gets to sellin' clothes, go for the pants and socks. If he mistakenly stuffed the documents into his clothes he probably fogot to take them back out too. He's just such an airhead sometimes, I swear......

Posted by: Len on August 17, 2005 12:32 PM

Not that I'm fond of defending the Times here, but Judicial Watch actually calls itself a conservative group.

Posted by: Jimmie on August 17, 2005 12:38 PM

Judicial Watch was pretty heavily funded and promoted by folks on Free Republic during the days of the Clinton impeachment. Then, after a few years, everyone started to notice that JW got lots of press and made lots of noise and consumed lots of dollars, but nothing was really coming of anything they did. At some point, they involved themselves on the wrong side of some dubious cause (the Florida recount, maybe?) and there was some flamage and...

...shoot, I'm forgetting the story. But they really did start out with the solidly righties before they became sort of freelance Agents of Mischief.

Posted by: S. Weasel on August 17, 2005 12:46 PM

Thomas,

No "plot" was "hatched" - if anything existed it was obviously stillborn.

The only "plots" the Clinton administration seems capable of hatching are coverups and whitewashes.

Posted by: tony on August 17, 2005 05:34 PM

Jack Cashill has a good article today on WorldNetDaily about the State Dept. warning's connection to TWA 800.

Check the bottom of the page for more of Cashill's TWA 800 articles.

Posted by: Sue Dohnim on August 18, 2005 11:21 AM

July 1996. Hmmmm... what was happening in July 1996? And where did I put that blue dress from the Gap?

Posted by: ken on August 18, 2005 02:45 PM

Alan Colmes tried to get sassy with the Colonel last night on H&C, and got himself ripped a nice shiny new bunghole. First time I think I've seen that punk speechless.

Good job, Colonel!

Posted by: Bane on August 19, 2005 05:52 PM