Pentagon probes treatment of 'Able Danger' officer

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051110/us_nm/security_attacks_pentagon_dc;_ylt=AhAWhsxDtRx7geINeP3AQwis0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MjBwMWtkBHNlYwM3MTg

Pentagon probes treatment of 'Able Danger' officer

By David Morgan 50 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon inspector general is investigating the Defense Intelligence Agency's treatment of an Army colonel who was the first to claim publicly that the government knew about four September 11 hijackers long before the 2001 attacks, officials said on Wednesday.


Among the issues under review is whether the DIA revoked the security clearance of Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer last September in retaliation for repeated comments he made in the media about a military intelligence team code-named Able Danger, sources familiar with the case said.

Revelations about Able Danger, a small data-mining operation that ended in 2000, have reignited debate about whether the United States could have prevented the attacks on New York and Washington that killed 3,000 people and prompted the U.S. war on terrorism.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the inspector general began reviewing Shaffer's case after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld received a written request on October 20 from Rep. Duncan Hunter (news, bio, voting record) of California, Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services.

[rodeodance]

1. Duncan Hunter (the chicken Rep from Gitmo)--asked for the investigation.

.Meanwhile, Shaffer's attorneys say their client is in danger of losing his job because the DIA has accused him of obtaining a medal under false pretenses, improperly showing his military identification while drunk and stealing ink pens.

Shaffer's supporters, including Weldon, say the charges are trumped up.

Weldon and Shaffer attorney Mark Zaid both said the DIA recently returned Shaffer's personal effects from his office but mistakenly included several classified documents and another employee's mail.

"There are several inconsistencies between the DIA and LTC Shaffer concerning the facts," Hunter said in his letter to Rumsfeld. "The committee also has concerns with certain aspects of how the DIA has handled this matter."

[cspanlovr]

5. ABLE DANGER

This is going to be very big. I've been listening to Weldon beat this drum for months, and finally it's all coming out. Weldon is (thankfully) very passionate about it. This is such an important story. Able Danger disbanded in 2000. I've always thought this was one of those projects the Bushies dismissed, along with so much else that had anything to do with Clinton. They swept the real problems aside and made up their own. That's why Rice felt the president's report labeled "BinLaden determined to strike in the US" wasn't important enough to read(to him). It was "historical." SO last year, SO Clinton. :smoke:

[tanyev]

8. Able Danger was shut down by George Bush in Feb 2001.

[pberq]

2. Able Danger exposes 9/11 Coverup Commission

See this post by seemslikeadream for details:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5300390#5301301

[lovuian]

7. 9/11 coverup commision thats exactly what it is this embarasses

them totally!!! and Aschcroft was in charge at that time!!!

[pberq]

3. More on Able Danger

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&before_9/11=ableDanger

<snip>
. . .The 9/11 Commission has been criticized for not mentioning Able Danger in its final report. In response, its former chairman, Thomas Kean, claims there is no evidence that anyone in the government knew about Mohamed Atta before 9/11, and there are no documents that verify the claims made by former members of the unit. However, the Pentagon has recently confirmed that documents associated with Able Danger were destroyed in accordance with regulations about gathering intelligence on people inside the US. Another former commissioner, Slade Gorton, says, “Bluntly, it just didn't happen and that's the conclusion of all 10 of us.” But a spokesman for Rep. Curt Weldon (R), who helped bring to light the existence of the program, says that none of the commissioners met with anyone from Able Danger, “yet they choose to speak with some form of certainty without firsthand knowledge.” The commission's claim that no one in the US knew about Mohamed Atta before 9/11 is further contradicted by reports stating that the CIA had been tracking him while he was still in Germany, early in 2000 (see January-May 2000). And soon after 9/11, Newsweek reported US officials stating that Atta “had been known as of Islamic terrorists” well before 9/11.

[paulthompson]

4. Thanks for linking to my timeline

:)

[Canuckistanian]

6. AND the silence from the WH on this has been deafening

Something's up here. The talking deadheads (Rush, Hannity and their ilk) have been trumpeting this for months.

But the WH has always refused comment and Darth Cheney even gagged some of the witnesses.