"False flag terrorism" occurs when elements within a
government stage a secret operation whereby government forces pretend to be a
targeted enemy while attacking their own forces or people.The attack is then falsely blamed on the enemy in order to
justify going to war against that enemy.
False
Flag operations are covert operations conducted by governments,
corporations, or other organizations, which are designed to deceive the public
in such a way that the operations appear as if they are being carried out by
other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false
colors; that is, flying the flag of a country other than one's own. False flag
operations are not limited to war and counter-insurgency operations, and have
been used in peace-time; for example, during Italy's strategy of tension.
The
term comes from the old days of wooden ships, when one ship would hang the flag
of its enemy before attacking another ship in its own navy. Because the enemy's
flag was hung instead of the flag of the real country of the attacking ship, it
was called a "false flag" attack.
Historical False Flag Attacks
There
are many examples of false flag attacks throughout history. For example, it is
widely known that the Nazis, in Operation Himmler, faked attacks on their
own people and resources which they blamed on the Poles, to justify the
invasion of Poland. And
it has now been persuasively argued — as shown, for example, in this History Channel video — that Nazis set fire to
their own parliament, the Reichstag, and blamed that fire on others. The Reichstag fire was the
watershed event which justified Hitler's seizure of power and suspension of
liberties.
And
in the early 1950s, agents of an Israeli terrorist cell operating in Egypt planted bombs in several buildings, including
U.S. diplomatic facilities, then left behind "evidence" implicating
the Arabs as the culprits (one of the bombs detonated prematurely, allowing the
Egyptians to identify the bombers). Israel's Defense Minister was brought down
by the scandal, along with the entire Israeli government.Click here for verification.
Is
it logical to assume that, even if other countries have carried out false flag
operations (especially horrible regimes such as, say, the Nazis or Stalin), the
U.S. has never done so? Well, as documented by the New York Times, Iranians working for the C.I.A. in the 1950's posed as Communists and
staged bombings in Iran in order to turn the country against its
democratically-elected president (see also this essay).
And,
as confirmed by a former Italian Prime Minister, an Italian judge, and the former head of Italian
counterintelligence, NATO carried out terror bombings in Italy with the help of the Pentagon
and CIA and blamed communists in order to rally people's support for their
governments in Europe in their fight against communism. As one participant in this formerly-secret program
stated: "You had to attack civilians, people, women, children, innocent
people, unknown people far removed from any political game. The reason was quite simple.
They were supposed to force these people, the Italian public, to turn to the
state to ask for greater security."
Moreover, declassified U.S. Government documents show that in the 1960s,
the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff signed off on a plan code-named Operation
Northwoods to blow up American airplanes (using an elaborate plan involving the
switching of airplanes), and also to commit terrorist acts on American soil,
and then to blame it on the Cubans in order to justify an invasion of Cuba. The
operation was not carried out only because the Kennedy administration refused
to implement these Pentagon plans.
For
lots more on the astonishing Operation Northwoods, see the ABC news report; the official declassified documents; and watch this interview with James Bamford, the former
Washington Investigative Producer for ABC's World News Tonight with Peter
Jennings. One
quote from the the declassified Northwoods documents states: "A 'Remember
the Maine' incident could be arranged: We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo
Bay and blame Cuba. Casualty lists in US newspapers would cause a helpful wave
of national indignation."
What about Al-Qaeda?
You
might think Al-Qaeda is different. It is very powerful, organized, and out to
get us, right? Consider this Los Angeles Times article,
reviewing a BBC documentary entitled The Power of Nightmares, which shows that the
threat from Al Qaeda has been vastly overblown (and see this article on
who is behind the hype). And former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski testified to the
Senate that the war on terror is "a mythical historical narrative."
And
did you know that the FBI had penetrated the cell which carried out the 1993 World Trade
Center bombing, but had – at the last minute – cancelled the plan to have its
FBI infiltrator substitute fake powder for real explosives, against the
infiltrator's strong wishes? See also this TV news report.
Have
you heard that the CIA is alleged to have met with Bin Laden two months before 9/11? Did you know
that years after 9/11 the FBI first stated that it did not have sufficient evidence to prosecute Bin Laden for 9/11? (See
also this partial confirmation by the Washington Post) And did you
see the statement in Newsweek by the CIA commander in charge of the
capture that the U.S. let Bin
Laden escape from
Afghanistan?
Have
you heard that the anthrax attacks – which were sent along with notes purportedly
written by Islamic terrorists – used a weaponized anthrax strain from the top U.S. bioweapons facility?
Indeed,top bioweapons experts have stated that the anthrax attack
may have been a CIA test "gone wrong." For more on this, see this article by
a former NSA and naval intelligence officer and this statement by a distinguished law professor and
bioterror expert (and this one).
It
is also interesting that the only Congress members mailed anthrax letters were key Democrats, and
that the attacks occurred one week before passage of the freedom-curtailing
PATRIOT Act, which seems to have scared them and the rest of Congress into
passing that act without even reading it. And though it may be a coincidence,
White House staff began taking the anti-anthrax medicine before the Anthrax attacks occurred.
Even
General William Odom, former director of the National Security Agency, said
"By any measure the US has long used terrorism. In ‘78-79 the Senate was
trying to pass a law against international terrorism, yet in every version they
produced, the lawyers said the US would be in violation" (the audio is here).
Below are numerous articles about
Operation Able Danger
Pentagon Destroys Copies of Controversial Memoir Written by Army Officer
2010-09-25, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/25/pentagon-destroys-copies-controver...
Pentagon Destroys Copies of Controversial Memoir Written by Army Officer
2010-09-25, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/25/pentagon-destroys-copies-controver...
The Pentagon has burned 9,500 copies of Army Reserve Lt. Col.
Anthony Shaffer's memoir Operation Dark Heart, his book about going undercover in Afghanistan. A Department
of Defense official tells Fox News that the department purchased copies of the
first printing because they contained information which could cause damage to
national security. The
U.S. Army originally cleared the book for release. The U.S. Defense
Intelligence Agency attempted to block the book about the tipping point in
Afghanistan and a controversial pre-9/11 data mining project called "Able
Danger." In a letter obtained by Fox News, the DIA says national security
could be breached if Operation
Dark Heart is
published in its current form. The agency also attempted to block key portions
of the book that claim "Able Danger" successfully identified hijacker
Mohammed Atta as a threat to the United States before the Sept. 11, 2001,
terror attacks.
Note: Able
Danger was the program which identified Mohamed Atta and three other alleged
9/11 hijackers as a potential terror threat before 9/11. To read major media
reports on the intense controversy around this program (which is likely why the
book is being burned), click here.
Why did the 9/11 Commission ignore
'Able Danger'
2005-11-17, Wall Street Journal Article by Former FBI Director Louis Freeh
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007559
2005-11-17, Wall Street Journal Article by Former FBI Director Louis Freeh
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007559
The
Able Danger intelligence, if confirmed, is undoubtedly the most relevant fact
of the entire post-9/11 inquiry. Even the most junior investigator would immediately
know that the name and photo ID of Atta in 2000 is precisely the kind of
tactical intelligence the FBI has many times employed to prevent attacks. Yet
the 9/11 Commission inexplicably concluded that it "was not historically
significant." This
astounding conclusion -- in combination with the failure to investigate Able
Danger and incorporate it into its findings -- raises serious challenges to the
commission's credibility and, if the facts prove out, might just render the
commission historically insignificant itself. The Able Danger team had identified
Atta and three other 9/11 hijackers by mid-2000 but were prevented by military
lawyers from giving this information to the FBI. The Pentagon...blocked several
military officers from testifying...about the Able Danger program. The chairman
of the 9/11 Commission reacted to Able Danger with the standard Washington PR
approach. [He] demanded that the Pentagon conduct an "investigation"
to evaluate the "credibility" of Col. Shaffer and Capt. Phillpott.
The final 9/11 Commission report...concluded that "American intelligence
agencies were unaware of Mr. Atta until the day of the attacks." This now
looks to be embarrassingly wrong. The Joint Intelligence Committees should
reconvene and, in addition to Able Danger team members, we should have the 9/11
commissioners appear as witnesses so the families can hear their explanation
why this doesn't matter.
Military Bars 9/11 Intel Testimony
2005-09-21, CBS/Associated Press
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/21/terror/main871800.shtml
2005-09-21, CBS/Associated Press
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/21/terror/main871800.shtml
The Department of Defense forbade a military intelligence
officer to testify Wednesday about a secret military unit that the officer says
identified four Sept. 11 hijackers as terrorists more than a year before the
attacks, according to the man's attorney.
The Judiciary Committee was hearing testimony about the work of a classified
unit code named "Able Danger." Zaid, appearing on behalf of Shaffer
and contractor John Smith [stated] that Able Danger, using data mining techniques,
identified four of the terrorists who struck on Sept. 11, 2001 - including
mastermind Mohamed Atta. "At least one chart, and possibly more, featured
a photograph of Mohamed Atta," Zaid said. Maj. Paul Swiergosz, a Defense
Department spokesman, said Wednesday that open testimony would not be
appropriate. "There's nothing more to say than that," Swiergosz said.
"It's not possible to discuss the Able Danger program because there are
security concerns." Zaid also charged that records associated with the
unit were destroyed during 2000 and March 2001, and copies were destroyed in
spring 2004.Former members of the Sept. 11 commission have
dismissed the "Able Danger" assertions.
9/11 Commission's Staff Rejected
Report on Early Identification of Chief Hijacker
2005-08-11, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/11/politics/11intel.html?ex=1281412800&en=3c4c...
2005-08-11, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/11/politics/11intel.html?ex=1281412800&en=3c4c...
The
Sept. 11 commission was warned by a uniformed military officer 10 days before
issuing its final report that the account would be incomplete without reference
to what he described as a secret military operation that by the summer of 2000
had identified as a potential threat the member of Al Qaeda who would lead the
attacks more than a year later. The
officials said that the information had not been included in the report because
aspects of the officer's account had sounded inconsistent with what the commission
knew about that Qaeda member, Mohammed Atta, the plot's leader. [Republican
Congressman Curt] Weldon has accused the commission of ignoring information
that would have forced a rewriting of the history of the Sept. 11 attacks. He
has asserted that the Able Danger unit ... sought to call their superiors'
attention to Mr. Atta and three other future hijackers in the summer of 2000.
In a letter sent Wednesday to members of the commission, Mr. Weldon criticized
the panel in scathing terms, saying that its "refusal to investigate Able
Danger after being notified of its existence, and its recent efforts to feign
ignorance of the project ... brings shame on the commissioners." Al
Felzenberg, who served as the commission's chief spokesman, said earlier this
week that staff members who were briefed about Able Danger at a first meeting,
in October 2003, did not remember hearing anything about Mr. Atta or an
American terrorist cell. On Wednesday, however, Mr. Felzenberg said the
uniformed officer who briefed two staff members in July 2004 had indeed
mentioned Mr. Atta.
Witnesses in Defense Dept. Report
Suggest Cover-Up of 9/11 Findings
2010-10-04, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/04/exclusive-witnesses-defense-depart...
2010-10-04, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/04/exclusive-witnesses-defense-depart...
A
document obtained and witnesses interviewed by Fox News raise new questions
over whether there was an effort by the Defense Department to cover up a
pre-9/11 military intelligence program known as "Able Danger." At
least five witnesses questioned by the Defense Department's Inspector General
told Fox News that their statements were distorted by investigators in the
final IG's report -- or it left out key information, backing up assertions that
lead hijacker Mohammed Atta was identified a year before 9/11. Lt. Col Tony
Shaffer, an operative involved with Able Danger [and author of Operation Dark Heart,
a recent book which discussed the Able Danger operation, and all copies of
which were destroyed by the Pentagon] said, "My last interview was very,
very hostile." When asked why the IG's report was so aggressive in its
denials of his claims and those of other witnesses -- that the data mining
project had identified Atta as a threat to the U.S. before 9/11 -- Shaffer said [the] Defense Department was worried
about taking some of the blame for 9/11. Specifically, the Defense Intelligence
Agency ... wanted the removal of references to a meeting between Shaffer and
the executive director of the 9/11 Commission, Philip Zelikow, removed. Shaffer alleges that in that meeting,
which took place in Afghanistan, the commission was told about Able Danger and
the identification of Atta before the attacks. Shaffer, who was undercover at
the time, said there was "stunned silence" at the meeting. No mention
of this was made in the final 9/11 Commission report.
Note: Able
Danger was the program which identified Mohamed Atta and three other alleged
9/11 hijackers as a potential terror threat before 9/11. To read major media
reports on the intense controversy around this program (which is likely why Shaffer's book is being burned by
the Pentagon), click here. For a highly revealing Fox News
interview with Col. Shaffer on these major deceptions, click here.
Senators Accuse Pentagon of
Obstructing Inquiry on Sept. 11 Plot
2005-09-22, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/22/politics/22intel.html?ex=1285041600&en=be75...
2005-09-22, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/22/politics/22intel.html?ex=1285041600&en=be75...
Senators from both parties accused the Defense Department on
Wednesday of obstructing an investigation into whether a highly classified
intelligence program known as Able Danger did indeed identify Mohamed Atta and
other future hijackers as potential threats well before the terrorist attacks
of Sept. 11, 2001. The
complaints came after the Pentagon blocked several witnesses from testifying
before the Senate Judiciary Committee at a public hearing on Wednesday. The
only testimony provided by the Defense Department came from a senior official
who would say only that he did not know whether the claims were true. But
members of the panel, led by Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania,
said they regarded as credible assertions by current and former officers in the
program. The officers have said they were prevented by the Pentagon from
sharing information about Mr. Atta and others with the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. The Pentagon has acknowledged that at least five members of Able
Danger have said they recall a chart produced in 2000 that identified Mr. Atta,
who became the lead hijacker in the Sept. 11 plot, as a potential terrorist.
Secrets in Plain Sight in Censored
Book’s Reprint
2010-09-18, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/us/18book.html
2010-09-18, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/us/18book.html
The
National Security Agency, headquarters for the government’s eavesdroppers and
code breakers, has been located at Fort Meade, Md., for half a century. Its
nickname, the Fort, has been familiar for decades to neighbors and government
workers alike. Yet that nickname is one of hundreds of supposed secrets
Pentagon reviewers blacked out in the new, censored edition of an intelligence
officer’s Afghan war memoir. The
Defense Department is buying and destroying the entire uncensored first
printing of Operation Dark Heart,
by Anthony Shaffer, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve and former Defense
Intelligence Agency officer, in the name of protecting national security. Another supposed secret removed from
the second printing: the location of the Central Intelligence Agency’s training
facility — Camp Peary, Va., a fact discoverable from Wikipedia. And the name
and abbreviation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, routinely mentioned
in news articles. And the fact that Sigint means “signals intelligence.” Not
only did the Pentagon black out Colonel Shaffer’s cover name in Afghanistan,
Chris Stryker, it deleted the source of his pseudonym: the name of John Wayne’s
character in the 1949 movie “The Sands of Iwo Jima.” The redactions offer a
rare glimpse behind the bureaucratic veil that cloaks information the
government considers too important for public airing.
Note: Interesting
that this NY
Times article fails
to even mention the "Able Danger" program which Shaffer publicly
revealed had identified some of the hijackers before 9/11. For powerful
information suggesting government foreknowledge of 9/11 through this program, click here. Yet a Fox News article available here gives all the details. For lots more
from major media sources on government secrecy, click here.
National security whistle-blowers
allege retaliation
2006-02-16, Sacramento Bee (leading newspaper of California's capital city)
http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/politics/story/3168792p-11877323c.html
2006-02-16, Sacramento Bee (leading newspaper of California's capital city)
http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/politics/story/3168792p-11877323c.html
Military
and intelligence officers told spellbound lawmakers Tuesday that their careers
had been ruined by superiors because they refused to lie about Able Danger, Abu
Ghraib and other national security controversies. Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer ...
told a House Government Reform subcommittee that he and other intelligence
officers and contractors working on the top-secret program code-named
"Able Danger" had identified Mohammed Atta, ringleader of the Sept.
11 attacks, but were prevented from passing their findings to the FBI.
"Many of us have a personal commitment to ... going forward to expose the
truth and wrongdoing of government officials who, before and after the 9/11
attacks, failed to do their job." Shaffer
contradicted recent statements by Philip Zelikow, former executive director of
the Sept. 11 commission, who denied having met with Shaffer and other Able
Danger operatives in Afghanistan in October 2003. "I did meet with
him," Shaffer said. "I have the business card he gave me. I find it hard to believe that he
could not remember meeting me." The commission's chairman and vice
chairman, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean and former Rep. Lee Hamilton,
released a statement saying the panel had looked into the work of Able Danger
and found it "historically insignificant."
Note: Though
Able Danger received wide media coverage when it first came out six months ago, CNN was the only major media outlet to
give significant coverage to this most important news. Yet CNN did not post the
text of the program on their website. Why isn't our media covering this vital
topic? For lots more on this, seehttp://www.WantToKnow.info/911information and http://www.WantToKnow.info/abledanger911
More than half of the U.S. House of
Representatives wants open hearings on Able Danger
2005-11-18, US House of Representatives Website of Curt Weldon (R-Pa)
http://curtweldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=37076
2005-11-18, US House of Representatives Website of Curt Weldon (R-Pa)
http://curtweldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=37076
U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), vice chairman of the House Armed
Services and Homeland Security Committees, has sent a letter to Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld signed by over half of the House of Representatives requesting
that he allow "former participants in the intelligence program known as
ABLE DANGER to testify in an open hearing before the United States
Congress." The
letter has 246 signatures (144 Republicans, 101 Democrats, and one
Independent), including senior members and leadership on both sides of the
isle. "The full story of ABLE DANGER deserves to be heard by the American
people," said Weldon. "Secretary Rumsfeld must understand that the
will of Congress is behind allowing members of the ABLE DANGER effort to
testify in an open hearing about the work they were doing prior to 9-11 to
track the linkages and relationships of al-Qaeda worldwide. Congressional
efforts to investigate ABLE DANGER have been obstructed by Department of
Defense insistence that certain individuals with knowledge of ABLE DANGER be
prevented from freely and frankly testifying in an open hearing.
Note: Why did
no media found this key story worth covering? The request was never granted,
while the investigation was eventually declared closed by the military without
any significant outside investigation.
Congressman Curt Weldon's Speech to
Congress
2005-10-19, Official Website of Congressman Weldon (R-Pa)
http://curtweldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=35792
2005-10-19, Official Website of Congressman Weldon (R-Pa)
http://curtweldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=35792
"I
have been in this institution 19 years. I am the vice chairman of [the
Committee on Armed Services] and chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the
purchase of our weapons systems. I am a strong supporter of our military. I am
a strong supporter of President Bush. I campaigned for him. I am a strong
supporter of Secretary Rumsfeld. I say all of that, Mr. Speaker,
because...there is something desperately wrong here. There is a bureaucracy in
the Defense Intelligence Agency that is out of control. They want to destroy the reputation
of a 23-year military officer, Bronze Star recipient, hero of our country, with
two kids because people in defense intelligence are embarrassed at what is
going to come out. I have met with at least 10 people who fully corroborate
what Tony Shaffer says. This is not [about] Republicans or Democrats. It is
about what is fundamental to this country. I would ask our constituents across
America [who] we represent to join us, to express their outrage, to e-mail,
make phone calls, write letters to the Secretary of Defense, the President of
the United States, to Members of Congress to...let the Able Danger story
finally come out to the American people. Let them understand what really
happened. Let Scott Philpott talk. Let Tony Shaffer talk. Let the others who
have been silenced have a chance to tell their story to Congress and openly to
the American people. In the end, the country will be stronger.
Note: For lots more reliable, verifiable information
specifically on Able Danger:
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&before_9/11=ableDanger
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&before_9/11=ableDanger
National Security Watch: Disquieted
whistleblowers
2005-10-11, U.S. News and World Report
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051011/11natsec.htm
2005-10-11, U.S. News and World Report
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051011/11natsec.htm
The
first annual National Security Whistleblowers Conference...has to be one of the
more unusual gatherings of intelligence veterans in recent years. The nearly 20
current or former officials from the FBI, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, and
even the supersecret National Security Agency who make up the core of the
conference share an unusual distinction: They are all deeply out of favor with
their longtime employers. Most cannot discuss the allegations they are making
in detail because the specifics are highly classified. The agencies they work
for also refuse to answer questions. The
current and former officials at the conference said that today's climate in
Washington has never been worse for whistleblowers. One of the biggest names of the
conference never even uttered a word. Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer is the military
intelligence operative who...went public with a controversial claim that a year
before September 11, his top-secret task force "Able
Danger" was able to identify the man who later turned out to be
the lead hijacker [on 9/11]. Shaffer was slated to speak but instead sat
quietly by as his lawyer, Mark Zaid, spoke for him. "Tony is not allowed
to talk," Zaid said. "He is gagged from talking to Congress."
The conference was organized by Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator who was
pushed out of the bureau after raising
accusations of
wrongdoing by other FBI translators. She has been barred from discussing the
details of her case by the FBI. She created the National Security
Whistleblowers Coalition www.nswbc.org to bring whistleblowers like her
together to push for legal reforms.
Note: For a detailed article in Vanity Fair on Sibel Edmonds'
courageous efforts to expose the truth, click here. For the whistleblowing action which
drew international media attention by WantToKnow.info founder Fred Burks,click
here.
Atta known to Pentagon before 9/11
2005-09-28, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509280150sep28,1,3686073....
2005-09-28, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509280150sep28,1,3686073....
Four
years after the nation's deadliest terror attack, evidence is accumulating that
a super-secret Pentagon intelligence unit identified the organizer of the Sept.
11 hijackings, Mohamed Atta, as an Al Qaeda operative months before he entered
the U.S. Had the FBI been alerted to what the Pentagon purportedly knew in
early 2000, Atta's name could have been put on a list that would have tagged
him as someone to be watched the moment he stepped off a plane in Newark, N.J.,
in June of that year. Physical
and electronic surveillance of Atta, who lived openly in Florida for more than
a year, and who acquired a driver's license and even an FAA pilot's license in
his true name, might well have made it possible for the FBI to expose the Sept.
11 plot before the fact. Anthony
Shaffer, a civilian Pentagon employee, says he was asked in the summer of 2000
by a Navy captain, Scott Phillpott, to arrange a meeting between the FBI and
representatives of the Pentagon intelligence program, code-named Able/Danger.
But he said the meeting was canceled after Pentagon lawyers concluded that
information on suspected Al Qaeda operatives with ties to the U.S. might
violate Pentagon prohibitions on retaining information on "U.S.
persons," a term that includes U.S. citizens and permanent resident
aliens. Asked by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, at a hearing last week whether Atta...was a "U.S. person,"
a senior Pentagon official answered, "No, he was not."
Pentagon Revokes 9/11 Officer's
Clearance
2005-09-30, ABC/Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1173334
2005-09-30, ABC/Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1173334
An
officer who has claimed that a classified military unit identified four Sept.
11 hijackers before the 2001 attacks is facing Pentagon accusations of breaking
numerous rules, charges his lawyer suggests are aimed at undermining his
credibility. The alleged infractions by Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, 42,
include obtaining a service medal under false pretenses, improperly flashing
military identification while drunk and stealing pens, according to military
paperwork shown by his attorney to The Associated Press. Shaffer was one of the
first to publicly link Sept. 11 leader Mohamed Atta to the unit code-named Able
Danger. Shaffer was one of five witnesses the Pentagon ordered not to appear
Sept. 21 before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the unit's findings. The military revoked
Shaffer's top security clearance this month, a day before he was supposed to
testify to a congressional committee.
Panel rejects assertion US knew of
Atta before Sept. 11
2005-09-15, Boston Globe/Associated Press
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/09/15/panel_reject...
2005-09-15, Boston Globe/Associated Press
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/09/15/panel_reject...
Former members of the Sept. 11 commission on Wednesday dismissed
assertions that a Pentagon intelligence unit identified lead hijacker Mohamed
Atta as an member of al-Qaida long before the 2001 attacks. Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., had accused the commission of
ignoring intelligence about Atta while it investigated the attacks. The
commission's former chairman, Thomas Kean, said there was no evidence anyone in
the government knew about Atta before Sept. 11, 2001. Two military officers,
Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott, claimed a
classified military intelligence unit, known as 'Able Danger,' identified Atta
before the attacks. Shaffer has said three other hijackers were identified,
too. Kean said the recollections of the intelligence officers cannot be
verified by any document. 'Bluntly, it just didn't happen and that's the
conclusion of all 10 of us,' said a former commissioner, ex-Sen. Slade Gorton,
R-Wash. Weldon's spokesman, John Tomaszewski, said no commissioners have met
with anyone from Able Danger 'yet they choose to speak with some form of
certainty without firsthand knowledge.'
Note: If
you read the New York Times article from Aug. 11th, commission officials
clearly stated that they were warned by a uniformed military officer 10 days
before issuing the commission's final report that the account would be
incomplete without reference Able Danger and Atta, as confirmed by the
commission's own chief spokesperson. Is this more recent article a rewriting of
the facts?
Pentagon Employee Was Ordered to
Destroy Data Identifying Atta As a Terrorist
2005-09-15, ABC/Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1131137
2005-09-15, ABC/Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1131137
A
Pentagon employee was ordered to destroy documents that identified Mohamed Atta
as a terrorist two years before the 2001 attacks, a congressman said Thursday. The employee is prepared to testify next week
before the Senate Judiciary Committee and was expected to identify the person
who ordered him to destroy the large volume of documents, said Rep. Curt
Weldon, R-Pa. Weldon
declined to identify the employee, citing confidentiality matters. Weldon
described the documents as "2.5 terabytes" as much as one-fourth of
all the printed materials in the Library of Congress, he added.
Pentagon Finds More Who Recall Atta
Intel
2005-09-02, Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR20050902005...
2005-09-02, Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR20050902005...
Pentagon
officials said Thursday they have found three more people who recall an
intelligence chart that identified Sept. 11 mastermind Mohamed Atta as a
terrorist one year before the attacks on New York and Washington. But they have
been unable to find the chart or other evidence that it existed. On Thursday,
four intelligence officials provided the first extensive briefing for reporters
on the outcome of their interviews with people associated with Able Danger and
their review of documents. They said they interviewed at least 80 people over a
three-week period and found three, besides Philpott and Shaffer, who said they
remember seeing a chart that either mentioned Atta by name as an al-Qaida
operative or showed his photograph. Four of the five recalled a chart with a
pre-9/11 photo of Atta; the other person recalled only a reference to his name. The intelligence officials said they consider the
five people to be credible but their recollections are still unverified. Navy
Cmdr. Christopher Chope, of the Center for Special Operations at U.S. Special
Operations Command, said there were "negative indications" that
anyone ever ordered the destruction of Able Danger documents, other than the materials
that were routinely required to be destroyed under existing regulations.
Pentagon, Senate committee bicker
over 9/11 probe
2005-09-23, ABC/Reuters
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1154206
2005-09-23, ABC/Reuters
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1154206
The
Pentagon and the Senate Judiciary Committee squabbled publicly on Friday about
whether lawmakers could question five key witnesses in public about their
claims the U.S. military identified four September 11 hijackers long before the
20001 attacks. The panel's chairman, Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of
Pennsylvania, said at Wednesday's hearing the Pentagon could be guilty of
obstructing congressional proceedings. Other lawmakers accused the Defense
Department of orchestrating a cover-up. On Friday, the Senate committee announced the Pentagon had
reversed its position and would allow the five witnesses to testify at a new
public hearing scheduled for October 5. The five witnesses in question were
all involved with Able Danger and contend the team identified September 11
ringleader Mohamed Atta and three other hijackers as members of an al Qaeda
cell in early 2000. One prospective witness, Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, has
said publicly that Able Danger members tried to pass the information about Atta
along to the FBI three times in September 2000 but were forced by Pentagon
lawyers to cancel the meetings. Much of the information related to Able Danger
was destroyed in 2000.
Able Danger disabled
2005-08-13, Toledo Blade
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050813/COLUMNIST14/508130...
2005-08-13, Toledo Blade
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050813/COLUMNIST14/508130...
What
may be a bigger scandal is that the staff of the 9/11 Commission knew of Able
Danger and what it had found, but made no mention of it in its report. This is
as if the commission that investigated the attack on Pearl Harbor had written
its final report without mentioning the Japanese. Mr. Weldon unveiled Able Danger
in a speech on the House floor June 27, but his remarks didn't attract
attention until the New York Times reported on them Tuesday. When the story
broke, former Rep. Lee Hamilton, a Democrat from Indiana, co-chairman of the
9/11 Commission, at first denied the commission had ever been informed of what
Able Danger had found, and took a swipe at Mr. Weldon's credibility: "The
Sept. 11th Commission did not learn of any U.S. government knowledge prior to
9/11 of the surveillance of Mohammed Atta or his cell," Mr. Hamilton said.
"Had we learned of it obviously it would have been a major focus of our
investigation." Mr.
Hamilton changed his tune after the New York Times reported Thursday, and the
Associated Press confirmed, that commission staff had been briefed on Able
Danger in October, 2003, and again in July, 2004. The 9/11 commission wrote
history as it wanted it to be, not as it was. The real history of what happened
that terrible September day has yet to be written.
More remember Atta ID’d as terrorist
pre-9/11
2005-09-01, MSNBC/Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9163145
2005-09-01, MSNBC/Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9163145
Pentagon
officials said Thursday they have found three more people who recall an
intelligence chart that identified Sept. 11 mastermind Mohamed Atta as a
terrorist one year before the attacks on New York and Washington. But they have
been unable to find the chart or other evidence that it existed. On Thursday,
four intelligence officials provided the first extensive briefing for reporters
on the outcome of their interviews with people associated with Able Danger and
their review of documents. They said they interviewed at least 80 people over a
three-week period and found three, besides Philpott and Shaffer, who said they
remember seeing a chart that either mentioned Atta by name as an al-Qaida
operative or showed his photograph. Four of the five recalled a chart with a
pre-9/11 photo of Atta; the other person recalled only a reference to his name. The intelligence officials said
they consider the five people to be credible but their recollections are still
unverified.
The suppression of Able Danger
2006-02-18, Toledo Blade
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060218/COLUMNIST14/602180...
2006-02-18, Toledo Blade
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060218/COLUMNIST14/602180...
Mr. Kleinsmith and the two colleagues who testified with him in
[a House Armed Services Committee] open session are convinced that had the information
they developed been acted on, not only 9/11, but also the October 2000, attack
on the destroyer USS Cole in which 17 sailors died could have been prevented. Through computer scanning of some 2.5 terabytes of
classified and unclassified data, the Able Danger team identified five
"nodes" of al-Qaeda activity. One was in Brooklyn. Another was in the
port of Aden in Yemen, where the USS Cole was attacked. Able Danger linked
Mohamed Atta and three other 9/11 hijackers to the Brooklyn cell, said Lt. Col.
Tony Shaffer, who was the liaison between the Defense Intelligence Agency and
the Able Danger team. Colonel Shaffer testified he tried three times to have
Able Danger data on the Brooklyn cell presented to the FBI, but that on each
occasion Pentagon lawyers forbade the meeting. In a commentary in the Wall [Street] Journal last November, Louis Freeh, who was
FBI director at the time, said that if he had been told about what Able Danger
had learned, 9/11 likely would have been prevented. In March, 2000, Mr. Kleinsmith was ordered to stop
all work on Able Danger, and, later, to delete all the information collected.
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.
Note: Though
Able Danger received wide media coverage when first reported six months ago,
the amazing revelations of the recent hearings have received very little
attention, which is why we include this article from the leading newspaper of
Toledo, Ohio. For lots more reliable, verifiable information on Able Danger,
seehttp://www.WantToKnow.info/abledanger911
num
Pentagon Destroys Copies of Controversial Memoir Written by Army Officer
2010-09-25, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/25/pentagon-destroys-copies-controver...
Pentagon Destroys Copies of Controversial Memoir Written by Army Officer
2010-09-25, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/25/pentagon-destroys-copies-controver...
The Pentagon has burned 9,500 copies of Army Reserve Lt. Col.
Anthony Shaffer's memoir Operation Dark Heart, his book about going undercover in Afghanistan. A
Department of Defense official tells Fox News that the department purchased
copies of the first printing because they contained information which could
cause damage to national security. The U.S. Army originally cleared the book for release. The
U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency attempted to block the book about the tipping
point in Afghanistan and a controversial pre-9/11 data mining project called
"Able Danger." In a letter obtained by Fox News, the DIA says
national security could be breached if Operation
Dark Heart is
published in its current form. The agency also attempted to block key portions
of the book that claim "Able Danger" successfully identified hijacker
Mohammed Atta as a threat to the United States before the Sept. 11, 2001,
terror attacks.
Note: Able
Danger was the program which identified Mohamed Atta and three other alleged
9/11 hijackers as a potential terror threat before 9/11. To read major media
reports on the intense controversy around this program (which is likely why the
book is being burned), click here.
Why did the 9/11 Commission ignore
'Able Danger'
2005-11-17, Wall Street Journal Article by Former FBI Director Louis Freeh
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007559
2005-11-17, Wall Street Journal Article by Former FBI Director Louis Freeh
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007559
The
Able Danger intelligence, if confirmed, is undoubtedly the most relevant fact
of the entire post-9/11 inquiry. Even the most junior investigator would
immediately know that the name and photo ID of Atta in 2000 is precisely the
kind of tactical intelligence the FBI has many times employed to prevent
attacks. Yet the 9/11 Commission inexplicably concluded that it "was not
historically significant." This
astounding conclusion -- in combination with the failure to investigate Able
Danger and incorporate it into its findings -- raises serious challenges to the
commission's credibility and, if the facts prove out, might just render the
commission historically insignificant itself. The Able Danger team had identified
Atta and three other 9/11 hijackers by mid-2000 but were prevented by military
lawyers from giving this information to the FBI. The Pentagon...blocked several
military officers from testifying...about the Able Danger program. The chairman
of the 9/11 Commission reacted to Able Danger with the standard Washington PR
approach. [He] demanded that the Pentagon conduct an "investigation"
to evaluate the "credibility" of Col. Shaffer and Capt. Phillpott.
The final 9/11 Commission report...concluded that "American intelligence
agencies were unaware of Mr. Atta until the day of the attacks." This now
looks to be embarrassingly wrong. The Joint Intelligence Committees should
reconvene and, in addition to Able Danger team members, we should have the 9/11
commissioners appear as witnesses so the families can hear their explanation
why this doesn't matter.
Military Bars 9/11 Intel Testimony
2005-09-21, CBS/Associated Press
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/21/terror/main871800.shtml
2005-09-21, CBS/Associated Press
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/21/terror/main871800.shtml
The Department of Defense forbade a military intelligence
officer to testify Wednesday about a secret military unit that the officer says
identified four Sept. 11 hijackers as terrorists more than a year before the
attacks, according to the man's attorney.
The Judiciary Committee was hearing testimony about the work of a classified
unit code named "Able Danger." Zaid, appearing on behalf of Shaffer
and contractor John Smith [stated] that Able Danger, using data mining
techniques, identified four of the terrorists who struck on Sept. 11, 2001 -
including mastermind Mohamed Atta. "At least one chart, and possibly more,
featured a photograph of Mohamed Atta," Zaid said. Maj. Paul Swiergosz, a
Defense Department spokesman, said Wednesday that open testimony would not be
appropriate. "There's nothing more to say than that," Swiergosz said.
"It's not possible to discuss the Able Danger program because there are
security concerns." Zaid also charged that records associated with the
unit were destroyed during 2000 and March 2001, and copies were destroyed in
spring 2004.Former members of the Sept. 11 commission have
dismissed the "Able Danger" assertions.
9/11 Commission's Staff Rejected
Report on Early Identification of Chief Hijacker
2005-08-11, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/11/politics/11intel.html?ex=1281412800&en=3c4c...
2005-08-11, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/11/politics/11intel.html?ex=1281412800&en=3c4c...
The
Sept. 11 commission was warned by a uniformed military officer 10 days before
issuing its final report that the account would be incomplete without reference
to what he described as a secret military operation that by the summer of 2000
had identified as a potential threat the member of Al Qaeda who would lead the
attacks more than a year later. The
officials said that the information had not been included in the report because
aspects of the officer's account had sounded inconsistent with what the
commission knew about that Qaeda member, Mohammed Atta, the plot's leader.
[Republican Congressman Curt] Weldon has accused the commission of ignoring
information that would have forced a rewriting of the history of the Sept. 11
attacks. He has asserted that the Able Danger unit ... sought to call their
superiors' attention to Mr. Atta and three other future hijackers in the summer
of 2000. In a letter sent Wednesday to members of the commission, Mr. Weldon
criticized the panel in scathing terms, saying that its "refusal to
investigate Able Danger after being notified of its existence, and its recent
efforts to feign ignorance of the project ... brings shame on the commissioners."
Al Felzenberg, who served as the commission's chief spokesman, said earlier
this week that staff members who were briefed about Able Danger at a first
meeting, in October 2003, did not remember hearing anything about Mr. Atta or
an American terrorist cell. On Wednesday, however, Mr. Felzenberg said the
uniformed officer who briefed two staff members in July 2004 had indeed
mentioned Mr. Atta.
Witnesses in Defense Dept. Report
Suggest Cover-Up of 9/11 Findings
2010-10-04, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/04/exclusive-witnesses-defense-depart...
2010-10-04, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/04/exclusive-witnesses-defense-depart...
A
document obtained and witnesses interviewed by Fox News raise new questions
over whether there was an effort by the Defense Department to cover up a
pre-9/11 military intelligence program known as "Able Danger." At
least five witnesses questioned by the Defense Department's Inspector General
told Fox News that their statements were distorted by investigators in the
final IG's report -- or it left out key information, backing up assertions that
lead hijacker Mohammed Atta was identified a year before 9/11. Lt. Col Tony
Shaffer, an operative involved with Able Danger [and author of Operation Dark Heart,
a recent book which discussed the Able Danger operation, and all copies of
which were destroyed by the Pentagon] said, "My last interview was very,
very hostile." When asked why the IG's report was so aggressive in its
denials of his claims and those of other witnesses -- that the data mining
project had identified Atta as a threat to the U.S. before 9/11 -- Shaffer said [the] Defense Department was worried
about taking some of the blame for 9/11. Specifically, the Defense Intelligence
Agency ... wanted the removal of references to a meeting between Shaffer and
the executive director of the 9/11 Commission, Philip Zelikow, removed. Shaffer alleges that in that meeting,
which took place in Afghanistan, the commission was told about Able Danger and
the identification of Atta before the attacks. Shaffer, who was undercover at
the time, said there was "stunned silence" at the meeting. No mention
of this was made in the final 9/11 Commission report.
Note: Able
Danger was the program which identified Mohamed Atta and three other alleged
9/11 hijackers as a potential terror threat before 9/11. To read major media
reports on the intense controversy around this program (which is likely why Shaffer's book is being burned by
the Pentagon), click here. For a highly revealing Fox News
interview with Col. Shaffer on these major deceptions, click here.
Senators Accuse Pentagon of
Obstructing Inquiry on Sept. 11 Plot
2005-09-22, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/22/politics/22intel.html?ex=1285041600&en=be75...
2005-09-22, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/22/politics/22intel.html?ex=1285041600&en=be75...
Senators from both parties accused the Defense Department on
Wednesday of obstructing an investigation into whether a highly classified
intelligence program known as Able Danger did indeed identify Mohamed Atta and
other future hijackers as potential threats well before the terrorist attacks
of Sept. 11, 2001. The
complaints came after the Pentagon blocked several witnesses from testifying
before the Senate Judiciary Committee at a public hearing on Wednesday. The
only testimony provided by the Defense Department came from a senior official
who would say only that he did not know whether the claims were true. But
members of the panel, led by Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania,
said they regarded as credible assertions by current and former officers in the
program. The officers have said they were prevented by the Pentagon from
sharing information about Mr. Atta and others with the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. The Pentagon has acknowledged that at least five members of Able
Danger have said they recall a chart produced in 2000 that identified Mr. Atta,
who became the lead hijacker in the Sept. 11 plot, as a potential terrorist.
Secrets in Plain Sight in Censored
Book’s Reprint
2010-09-18, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/us/18book.html
2010-09-18, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/us/18book.html
The
National Security Agency, headquarters for the government’s eavesdroppers and
code breakers, has been located at Fort Meade, Md., for half a century. Its
nickname, the Fort, has been familiar for decades to neighbors and government
workers alike. Yet that nickname is one of hundreds of supposed secrets
Pentagon reviewers blacked out in the new, censored edition of an intelligence
officer’s Afghan war memoir. The
Defense Department is buying and destroying the entire uncensored first
printing of Operation Dark Heart,
by Anthony Shaffer, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve and former Defense
Intelligence Agency officer, in the name of protecting national security. Another supposed secret removed from
the second printing: the location of the Central Intelligence Agency’s training
facility — Camp Peary, Va., a fact discoverable from Wikipedia. And the name
and abbreviation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, routinely mentioned
in news articles. And the fact that Sigint means “signals intelligence.” Not
only did the Pentagon black out Colonel Shaffer’s cover name in Afghanistan,
Chris Stryker, it deleted the source of his pseudonym: the name of John Wayne’s
character in the 1949 movie “The Sands of Iwo Jima.” The redactions offer a
rare glimpse behind the bureaucratic veil that cloaks information the
government considers too important for public airing.
Note: Interesting
that this NY
Times article fails
to even mention the "Able Danger" program which Shaffer publicly
revealed had identified some of the hijackers before 9/11. For powerful
information suggesting government foreknowledge of 9/11 through this program, click here. Yet a Fox News article available here gives all the details. For lots more
from major media sources on government secrecy, click here.
National security whistle-blowers
allege retaliation
2006-02-16, Sacramento Bee (leading newspaper of California's capital city)
http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/politics/story/3168792p-11877323c.html
2006-02-16, Sacramento Bee (leading newspaper of California's capital city)
http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/politics/story/3168792p-11877323c.html
Military
and intelligence officers told spellbound lawmakers Tuesday that their careers
had been ruined by superiors because they refused to lie about Able Danger, Abu
Ghraib and other national security controversies. Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer ...
told a House Government Reform subcommittee that he and other intelligence
officers and contractors working on the top-secret program code-named
"Able Danger" had identified Mohammed Atta, ringleader of the Sept.
11 attacks, but were prevented from passing their findings to the FBI.
"Many of us have a personal commitment to ... going forward to expose the
truth and wrongdoing of government officials who, before and after the 9/11
attacks, failed to do their job." Shaffer
contradicted recent statements by Philip Zelikow, former executive director of
the Sept. 11 commission, who denied having met with Shaffer and other Able
Danger operatives in Afghanistan in October 2003. "I did meet with
him," Shaffer said. "I have the business card he gave me. I find it hard to believe that he
could not remember meeting me." The commission's chairman and vice
chairman, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean and former Rep. Lee Hamilton,
released a statement saying the panel had looked into the work of Able Danger
and found it "historically insignificant."
Note: Though
Able Danger received wide media coverage when it first came out six months ago, CNN was the only major media outlet to
give significant coverage to this most important news. Yet CNN did not post the
text of the program on their website. Why isn't our media covering this vital
topic? For lots more on this, seehttp://www.WantToKnow.info/911information and http://www.WantToKnow.info/abledanger911
More than half of the U.S. House of
Representatives wants open hearings on Able Danger
2005-11-18, US House of Representatives Website of Curt Weldon (R-Pa)
http://curtweldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=37076
2005-11-18, US House of Representatives Website of Curt Weldon (R-Pa)
http://curtweldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=37076
U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), vice chairman of the House Armed
Services and Homeland Security Committees, has sent a letter to Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld signed by over half of the House of Representatives
requesting that he allow "former participants in the intelligence program
known as ABLE DANGER to testify in an open hearing before the United States Congress." The letter has 246 signatures (144 Republicans, 101
Democrats, and one Independent), including senior members and leadership on
both sides of the isle. "The full story of ABLE DANGER deserves to be
heard by the American people," said Weldon. "Secretary Rumsfeld must
understand that the will of Congress is behind allowing members of the ABLE
DANGER effort to testify in an open hearing about the work they were doing
prior to 9-11 to track the linkages and relationships of al-Qaeda worldwide.
Congressional efforts to investigate ABLE DANGER have been obstructed by
Department of Defense insistence that certain individuals with knowledge of
ABLE DANGER be prevented from freely and frankly testifying in an open hearing.
Note: Why did
no media found this key story worth covering? The request was never granted,
while the investigation was eventually declared closed by the military without
any significant outside investigation.
Congressman Curt Weldon's Speech to
Congress
2005-10-19, Official Website of Congressman Weldon (R-Pa)
http://curtweldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=35792
2005-10-19, Official Website of Congressman Weldon (R-Pa)
http://curtweldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=35792
"I
have been in this institution 19 years. I am the vice chairman of [the
Committee on Armed Services] and chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the
purchase of our weapons systems. I am a strong supporter of our military. I am
a strong supporter of President Bush. I campaigned for him. I am a strong
supporter of Secretary Rumsfeld. I say all of that, Mr. Speaker,
because...there is something desperately wrong here. There is a bureaucracy in
the Defense Intelligence Agency that is out of control. They want to destroy the reputation
of a 23-year military officer, Bronze Star recipient, hero of our country, with
two kids because people in defense intelligence are embarrassed at what is
going to come out. I have met with at least 10 people who fully corroborate
what Tony Shaffer says. This is not [about] Republicans or Democrats. It is
about what is fundamental to this country. I would ask our constituents across
America [who] we represent to join us, to express their outrage, to e-mail,
make phone calls, write letters to the Secretary of Defense, the President of
the United States, to Members of Congress to...let the Able Danger story
finally come out to the American people. Let them understand what really
happened. Let Scott Philpott talk. Let Tony Shaffer talk. Let the others who
have been silenced have a chance to tell their story to Congress and openly to
the American people. In the end, the country will be stronger.
Note: For lots more reliable, verifiable information
specifically on Able Danger:
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&before_9/11=ableDanger
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&before_9/11=ableDanger
National Security Watch: Disquieted
whistleblowers
2005-10-11, U.S. News and World Report
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051011/11natsec.htm
2005-10-11, U.S. News and World Report
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051011/11natsec.htm
The
first annual National Security Whistleblowers Conference...has to be one of the
more unusual gatherings of intelligence veterans in recent years. The nearly 20
current or former officials from the FBI, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, and
even the supersecret National Security Agency who make up the core of the
conference share an unusual distinction: They are all deeply out of favor with
their longtime employers. Most cannot discuss the allegations they are making
in detail because the specifics are highly classified. The agencies they work
for also refuse to answer questions. The
current and former officials at the conference said that today's climate in
Washington has never been worse for whistleblowers. One of the biggest names of the
conference never even uttered a word. Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer is the military
intelligence operative who...went public with a controversial claim that a year
before September 11, his top-secret task force "Able
Danger" was able to identify the man who later turned out to be
the lead hijacker [on 9/11]. Shaffer was slated to speak but instead sat
quietly by as his lawyer, Mark Zaid, spoke for him. "Tony is not allowed
to talk," Zaid said. "He is gagged from talking to Congress."
The conference was organized by Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator who was
pushed out of the bureau after raising
accusations of
wrongdoing by other FBI translators. She has been barred from discussing the
details of her case by the FBI. She created the National Security
Whistleblowers Coalition www.nswbc.org to bring whistleblowers like her
together to push for legal reforms.
Note: For a detailed article in Vanity Fair on Sibel Edmonds'
courageous efforts to expose the truth, click here. For the whistleblowing action which
drew international media attention by WantToKnow.info founder Fred Burks,click
here.
Atta known to Pentagon before 9/11
2005-09-28, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509280150sep28,1,3686073....
2005-09-28, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509280150sep28,1,3686073....
Four
years after the nation's deadliest terror attack, evidence is accumulating that
a super-secret Pentagon intelligence unit identified the organizer of the Sept.
11 hijackings, Mohamed Atta, as an Al Qaeda operative months before he entered
the U.S. Had the FBI been alerted to what the Pentagon purportedly knew in
early 2000, Atta's name could have been put on a list that would have tagged
him as someone to be watched the moment he stepped off a plane in Newark, N.J.,
in June of that year. Physical
and electronic surveillance of Atta, who lived openly in Florida for more than
a year, and who acquired a driver's license and even an FAA pilot's license in
his true name, might well have made it possible for the FBI to expose the Sept.
11 plot before the fact. Anthony
Shaffer, a civilian Pentagon employee, says he was asked in the summer of 2000
by a Navy captain, Scott Phillpott, to arrange a meeting between the FBI and
representatives of the Pentagon intelligence program, code-named Able/Danger.
But he said the meeting was canceled after Pentagon lawyers concluded that
information on suspected Al Qaeda operatives with ties to the U.S. might
violate Pentagon prohibitions on retaining information on "U.S.
persons," a term that includes U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens.
Asked by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, at a hearing last week whether Atta...was a "U.S. person,"
a senior Pentagon official answered, "No, he was not."
Pentagon Revokes 9/11 Officer's
Clearance
2005-09-30, ABC/Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1173334
2005-09-30, ABC/Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1173334
An
officer who has claimed that a classified military unit identified four Sept.
11 hijackers before the 2001 attacks is facing Pentagon accusations of breaking
numerous rules, charges his lawyer suggests are aimed at undermining his
credibility. The alleged infractions by Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, 42,
include obtaining a service medal under false pretenses, improperly flashing
military identification while drunk and stealing pens, according to military
paperwork shown by his attorney to The Associated Press. Shaffer was one of the
first to publicly link Sept. 11 leader Mohamed Atta to the unit code-named Able
Danger. Shaffer was one of five witnesses the Pentagon ordered not to appear
Sept. 21 before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the unit's findings. The military revoked
Shaffer's top security clearance this month, a day before he was supposed to
testify to a congressional committee.
Panel rejects assertion US knew of
Atta before Sept. 11
2005-09-15, Boston Globe/Associated Press
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/09/15/panel_reject...
2005-09-15, Boston Globe/Associated Press
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/09/15/panel_reject...
Former members of the Sept. 11 commission on Wednesday dismissed
assertions that a Pentagon intelligence unit identified lead hijacker Mohamed
Atta as an member of al-Qaida long before the 2001 attacks. Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., had accused the commission of
ignoring intelligence about Atta while it investigated the attacks. The
commission's former chairman, Thomas Kean, said there was no evidence anyone in
the government knew about Atta before Sept. 11, 2001. Two military officers,
Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott, claimed a
classified military intelligence unit, known as 'Able Danger,' identified Atta
before the attacks. Shaffer has said three other hijackers were identified,
too. Kean said the recollections of the intelligence officers cannot be
verified by any document. 'Bluntly, it just didn't happen and that's the
conclusion of all 10 of us,' said a former commissioner, ex-Sen. Slade Gorton,
R-Wash. Weldon's spokesman, John Tomaszewski, said no commissioners have met
with anyone from Able Danger 'yet they choose to speak with some form of
certainty without firsthand knowledge.'
Note: If
you read the New York Times article from Aug. 11th, commission officials
clearly stated that they were warned by a uniformed military officer 10 days
before issuing the commission's final report that the account would be
incomplete without reference Able Danger and Atta, as confirmed by the commission's
own chief spokesperson. Is this more recent article a rewriting of the facts?
Pentagon Employee Was Ordered to
Destroy Data Identifying Atta As a Terrorist
2005-09-15, ABC/Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1131137
2005-09-15, ABC/Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1131137
A
Pentagon employee was ordered to destroy documents that identified Mohamed Atta
as a terrorist two years before the 2001 attacks, a congressman said Thursday. The employee is prepared to testify next week
before the Senate Judiciary Committee and was expected to identify the person
who ordered him to destroy the large volume of documents, said Rep. Curt
Weldon, R-Pa. Weldon
declined to identify the employee, citing confidentiality matters. Weldon
described the documents as "2.5 terabytes" as much as one-fourth of
all the printed materials in the Library of Congress, he added.
Pentagon Finds More Who Recall Atta
Intel
2005-09-02, Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR20050902005...
2005-09-02, Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR20050902005...
Pentagon
officials said Thursday they have found three more people who recall an
intelligence chart that identified Sept. 11 mastermind Mohamed Atta as a
terrorist one year before the attacks on New York and Washington. But they have
been unable to find the chart or other evidence that it existed. On Thursday,
four intelligence officials provided the first extensive briefing for reporters
on the outcome of their interviews with people associated with Able Danger and
their review of documents. They said they interviewed at least 80 people over a
three-week period and found three, besides Philpott and Shaffer, who said they
remember seeing a chart that either mentioned Atta by name as an al-Qaida
operative or showed his photograph. Four of the five recalled a chart with a
pre-9/11 photo of Atta; the other person recalled only a reference to his name. The intelligence officials said they consider the
five people to be credible but their recollections are still unverified. Navy
Cmdr. Christopher Chope, of the Center for Special Operations at U.S. Special
Operations Command, said there were "negative indications" that
anyone ever ordered the destruction of Able Danger documents, other than the
materials that were routinely required to be destroyed under existing
regulations.
Pentagon, Senate committee bicker
over 9/11 probe
2005-09-23, ABC/Reuters
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1154206
2005-09-23, ABC/Reuters
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1154206
The
Pentagon and the Senate Judiciary Committee squabbled publicly on Friday about
whether lawmakers could question five key witnesses in public about their
claims the U.S. military identified four September 11 hijackers long before the
20001 attacks. The panel's chairman, Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of
Pennsylvania, said at Wednesday's hearing the Pentagon could be guilty of
obstructing congressional proceedings. Other lawmakers accused the Defense
Department of orchestrating a cover-up. On Friday, the Senate committee announced the Pentagon had
reversed its position and would allow the five witnesses to testify at a new
public hearing scheduled for October 5. The five witnesses in question were
all involved with Able Danger and contend the team identified September 11
ringleader Mohamed Atta and three other hijackers as members of an al Qaeda
cell in early 2000. One prospective witness, Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, has
said publicly that Able Danger members tried to pass the information about Atta
along to the FBI three times in September 2000 but were forced by Pentagon
lawyers to cancel the meetings. Much of the information related to Able Danger
was destroyed in 2000.
Able Danger disabled
2005-08-13, Toledo Blade
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050813/COLUMNIST14/508130...
2005-08-13, Toledo Blade
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050813/COLUMNIST14/508130...
What
may be a bigger scandal is that the staff of the 9/11 Commission knew of Able
Danger and what it had found, but made no mention of it in its report. This is
as if the commission that investigated the attack on Pearl Harbor had written
its final report without mentioning the Japanese. Mr. Weldon unveiled Able
Danger in a speech on the House floor June 27, but his remarks didn't attract
attention until the New York Times reported on them Tuesday. When the story
broke, former Rep. Lee Hamilton, a Democrat from Indiana, co-chairman of the
9/11 Commission, at first denied the commission had ever been informed of what
Able Danger had found, and took a swipe at Mr. Weldon's credibility: "The
Sept. 11th Commission did not learn of any U.S. government knowledge prior to
9/11 of the surveillance of Mohammed Atta or his cell," Mr. Hamilton said.
"Had we learned of it obviously it would have been a major focus of our
investigation." Mr.
Hamilton changed his tune after the New York Times reported Thursday, and the
Associated Press confirmed, that commission staff had been briefed on Able
Danger in October, 2003, and again in July, 2004. The 9/11 commission wrote
history as it wanted it to be, not as it was. The real history of what happened
that terrible September day has yet to be written.
More remember Atta ID’d as terrorist
pre-9/11
2005-09-01, MSNBC/Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9163145
2005-09-01, MSNBC/Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9163145
Pentagon
officials said Thursday they have found three more people who recall an
intelligence chart that identified Sept. 11 mastermind Mohamed Atta as a
terrorist one year before the attacks on New York and Washington. But they have
been unable to find the chart or other evidence that it existed. On Thursday,
four intelligence officials provided the first extensive briefing for reporters
on the outcome of their interviews with people associated with Able Danger and
their review of documents. They said they interviewed at least 80 people over a
three-week period and found three, besides Philpott and Shaffer, who said they
remember seeing a chart that either mentioned Atta by name as an al-Qaida
operative or showed his photograph. Four of the five recalled a chart with a
pre-9/11 photo of Atta; the other person recalled only a reference to his name. The intelligence officials said
they consider the five people to be credible but their recollections are still
unverified.
The suppression of Able Danger
2006-02-18, Toledo Blade
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060218/COLUMNIST14/602180...
2006-02-18, Toledo Blade
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060218/COLUMNIST14/602180...
Mr. Kleinsmith and the two colleagues who testified with him in
[a House Armed Services Committee] open session are convinced that had the
information they developed been acted on, not only 9/11, but also the October
2000, attack on the destroyer USS Cole in which 17 sailors died could have been
prevented. Through
computer scanning of some 2.5 terabytes of classified and unclassified data,
the Able Danger team identified five "nodes" of al-Qaeda activity.
One was in Brooklyn. Another was in the port of Aden in Yemen, where the USS
Cole was attacked. Able Danger linked Mohamed Atta and three other 9/11
hijackers to the Brooklyn cell, said Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, who was the liaison
between the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Able Danger team. Colonel
Shaffer testified he tried three times to have Able Danger data on the Brooklyn
cell presented to the FBI, but that on each occasion Pentagon lawyers forbade
the meeting. In a commentary in the Wall [Street] Journal last November, Louis Freeh, who was
FBI director at the time, said that if he had been told about what Able Danger
had learned, 9/11 likely would have been prevented. In March, 2000, Mr. Kleinsmith was ordered to stop
all work on Able Danger, and, later, to delete all the information collected.
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.
Note: Though
Able Danger received wide media coverage when first reported six months ago,
the amazing revelations of the recent hearings have received very little
attention, which is why we include this article from the leading newspaper of
Toledo, Ohio. For lots more reliable, verifiable information on Able Danger,
seehttp://www.WantToKnow.info/abledanger911
Pentagon Destroys Copies of Controversial Memoir Written by Army Officer
2010-09-25, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/25/pentagon-destroys-copies-controver...
The Pentagon has burned 9,500 copies of Army Reserve Lt. Col.
Anthony Shaffer's memoir Operation Dark Heart, his book about going undercover in Afghanistan. A
Department of Defense official tells Fox News that the department purchased
copies of the first printing because they contained information which could
cause damage to national security. The U.S. Army originally cleared the book for release. The
U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency attempted to block the book about the tipping
point in Afghanistan and a controversial pre-9/11 data mining project called
"Able Danger." In a letter obtained by Fox News, the DIA says
national security could be breached if Operation
Dark Heart is
published in its current form. The agency also attempted to block key portions
of the book that claim "Able Danger" successfully identified hijacker
Mohammed Atta as a threat to the United States before the Sept. 11, 2001,
terror attacks.
Note: Able
Danger was the program which identified Mohamed Atta and three other alleged
9/11 hijackers as a potential terror threat before 9/11. To read major media
reports on the intense controversy around this program (which is likely why the
book is being burned), click here.
Why did the 9/11 Commission ignore 'Able Danger'
2005-11-17, Wall Street Journal Article by Former FBI Director Louis Freeh
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007559
2005-11-17, Wall Street Journal Article by Former FBI Director Louis Freeh
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007559
The
Able Danger intelligence, if confirmed, is undoubtedly the most relevant fact
of the entire post-9/11 inquiry. Even the most junior investigator would
immediately know that the name and photo ID of Atta in 2000 is precisely the
kind of tactical intelligence the FBI has many times employed to prevent
attacks. Yet the 9/11 Commission inexplicably concluded that it "was not
historically significant." This
astounding conclusion -- in combination with the failure to investigate Able
Danger and incorporate it into its findings -- raises serious challenges to the
commission's credibility and, if the facts prove out, might just render the
commission historically insignificant itself. The Able Danger team had identified
Atta and three other 9/11 hijackers by mid-2000 but were prevented by military
lawyers from giving this information to the FBI. The Pentagon...blocked several
military officers from testifying...about the Able Danger program. The chairman
of the 9/11 Commission reacted to Able Danger with the standard Washington PR
approach. [He] demanded that the Pentagon conduct an "investigation"
to evaluate the "credibility" of Col. Shaffer and Capt. Phillpott.
The final 9/11 Commission report...concluded that "American intelligence
agencies were unaware of Mr. Atta until the day of the attacks." This now
looks to be embarrassingly wrong. The Joint Intelligence Committees should
reconvene and, in addition to Able Danger team members, we should have the 9/11
commissioners appear as witnesses so the families can hear their explanation
why this doesn't matter.
Military Bars 9/11 Intel Testimony
2005-09-21, CBS/Associated Press
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/21/terror/main871800.shtml
2005-09-21, CBS/Associated Press
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/21/terror/main871800.shtml
The Department of Defense forbade a military intelligence
officer to testify Wednesday about a secret military unit that the officer says
identified four Sept. 11 hijackers as terrorists more than a year before the
attacks, according to the man's attorney.
The Judiciary Committee was hearing testimony about the work of a classified
unit code named "Able Danger." Zaid, appearing on behalf of Shaffer
and contractor John Smith [stated] that Able Danger, using data mining
techniques, identified four of the terrorists who struck on Sept. 11, 2001 -
including mastermind Mohamed Atta. "At least one chart, and possibly more,
featured a photograph of Mohamed Atta," Zaid said. Maj. Paul Swiergosz, a
Defense Department spokesman, said Wednesday that open testimony would not be
appropriate. "There's nothing more to say than that," Swiergosz said.
"It's not possible to discuss the Able Danger program because there are
security concerns." Zaid also charged that records associated with the
unit were destroyed during 2000 and March 2001, and copies were destroyed in
spring 2004.Former members of the Sept. 11 commission have
dismissed the "Able Danger" assertions.
9/11 Commission's Staff Rejected Report on Early
Identification of Chief Hijacker
2005-08-11, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/11/politics/11intel.html?ex=1281412800&en=3c4c...
2005-08-11, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/11/politics/11intel.html?ex=1281412800&en=3c4c...
The
Sept. 11 commission was warned by a uniformed military officer 10 days before
issuing its final report that the account would be incomplete without reference
to what he described as a secret military operation that by the summer of 2000
had identified as a potential threat the member of Al Qaeda who would lead the
attacks more than a year later. The
officials said that the information had not been included in the report because
aspects of the officer's account had sounded inconsistent with what the
commission knew about that Qaeda member, Mohammed Atta, the plot's leader.
[Republican Congressman Curt] Weldon has accused the commission of ignoring
information that would have forced a rewriting of the history of the Sept. 11
attacks. He has asserted that the Able Danger unit ... sought to call their
superiors' attention to Mr. Atta and three other future hijackers in the summer
of 2000. In a letter sent Wednesday to members of the commission, Mr. Weldon
criticized the panel in scathing terms, saying that its "refusal to
investigate Able Danger after being notified of its existence, and its recent
efforts to feign ignorance of the project ... brings shame on the
commissioners." Al Felzenberg, who served as the commission's chief
spokesman, said earlier this week that staff members who were briefed about
Able Danger at a first meeting, in October 2003, did not remember hearing
anything about Mr. Atta or an American terrorist cell. On Wednesday, however,
Mr. Felzenberg said the uniformed officer who briefed two staff members in July
2004 had indeed mentioned Mr. Atta.
Witnesses in Defense Dept. Report Suggest Cover-Up of 9/11
Findings
2010-10-04, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/04/exclusive-witnesses-defense-depart...
2010-10-04, Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/04/exclusive-witnesses-defense-depart...
A
document obtained and witnesses interviewed by Fox News raise new questions
over whether there was an effort by the Defense Department to cover up a
pre-9/11 military intelligence program known as "Able Danger." At
least five witnesses questioned by the Defense Department's Inspector General
told Fox News that their statements were distorted by investigators in the
final IG's report -- or it left out key information, backing up assertions that
lead hijacker Mohammed Atta was identified a year before 9/11. Lt. Col Tony
Shaffer, an operative involved with Able Danger [and author of Operation Dark Heart,
a recent book which discussed the Able Danger operation, and all copies of
which were destroyed by the Pentagon] said, "My last interview was very,
very hostile." When asked why the IG's report was so aggressive in its
denials of his claims and those of other witnesses -- that the data mining
project had identified Atta as a threat to the U.S. before 9/11 -- Shaffer said [the] Defense Department was worried
about taking some of the blame for 9/11. Specifically, the Defense Intelligence
Agency ... wanted the removal of references to a meeting between Shaffer and
the executive director of the 9/11 Commission, Philip Zelikow, removed. Shaffer alleges that in that meeting,
which took place in Afghanistan, the commission was told about Able Danger and
the identification of Atta before the attacks. Shaffer, who was undercover at
the time, said there was "stunned silence" at the meeting. No mention
of this was made in the final 9/11 Commission report.
Note: Able
Danger was the program which identified Mohamed Atta and three other alleged
9/11 hijackers as a potential terror threat before 9/11. To read major media
reports on the intense controversy around this program (which is likely why Shaffer's book is being burned by
the Pentagon), click here. For a highly revealing Fox News
interview with Col. Shaffer on these major deceptions, click here.
Senators Accuse Pentagon of Obstructing Inquiry on Sept.
11 Plot
2005-09-22, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/22/politics/22intel.html?ex=1285041600&en=be75...
2005-09-22, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/22/politics/22intel.html?ex=1285041600&en=be75...
Senators from both parties accused the Defense Department on
Wednesday of obstructing an investigation into whether a highly classified
intelligence program known as Able Danger did indeed identify Mohamed Atta and
other future hijackers as potential threats well before the terrorist attacks
of Sept. 11, 2001. The
complaints came after the Pentagon blocked several witnesses from testifying
before the Senate Judiciary Committee at a public hearing on Wednesday. The
only testimony provided by the Defense Department came from a senior official
who would say only that he did not know whether the claims were true. But
members of the panel, led by Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania,
said they regarded as credible assertions by current and former officers in the
program. The officers have said they were prevented by the Pentagon from
sharing information about Mr. Atta and others with the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. The Pentagon has acknowledged that at least five members of Able
Danger have said they recall a chart produced in 2000 that identified Mr. Atta,
who became the lead hijacker in the Sept. 11 plot, as a potential terrorist.
Secrets in Plain Sight in Censored Book’s Reprint
2010-09-18, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/us/18book.html
2010-09-18, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/us/18book.html
The
National Security Agency, headquarters for the government’s eavesdroppers and
code breakers, has been located at Fort Meade, Md., for half a century. Its
nickname, the Fort, has been familiar for decades to neighbors and government
workers alike. Yet that nickname is one of hundreds of supposed secrets
Pentagon reviewers blacked out in the new, censored edition of an intelligence
officer’s Afghan war memoir. The
Defense Department is buying and destroying the entire uncensored first
printing of Operation Dark Heart,
by Anthony Shaffer, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve and former Defense
Intelligence Agency officer, in the name of protecting national security. Another supposed secret removed from
the second printing: the location of the Central Intelligence Agency’s training
facility — Camp Peary, Va., a fact discoverable from Wikipedia. And the name
and abbreviation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, routinely mentioned
in news articles. And the fact that Sigint means “signals intelligence.” Not
only did the Pentagon black out Colonel Shaffer’s cover name in Afghanistan,
Chris Stryker, it deleted the source of his pseudonym: the name of John Wayne’s
character in the 1949 movie “The Sands of Iwo Jima.” The redactions offer a
rare glimpse behind the bureaucratic veil that cloaks information the
government considers too important for public airing.
Note: Interesting
that this NY
Times article fails
to even mention the "Able Danger" program which Shaffer publicly
revealed had identified some of the hijackers before 9/11. For powerful
information suggesting government foreknowledge of 9/11 through this program, click here. Yet a Fox News article available here gives all the details. For lots more
from major media sources on government secrecy, click here.
National security whistle-blowers allege retaliation
2006-02-16, Sacramento Bee (leading newspaper of California's capital city)
http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/politics/story/3168792p-11877323c.html
2006-02-16, Sacramento Bee (leading newspaper of California's capital city)
http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/politics/story/3168792p-11877323c.html
Military
and intelligence officers told spellbound lawmakers Tuesday that their careers
had been ruined by superiors because they refused to lie about Able Danger, Abu
Ghraib and other national security controversies. Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer ...
told a House Government Reform subcommittee that he and other intelligence
officers and contractors working on the top-secret program code-named
"Able Danger" had identified Mohammed Atta, ringleader of the Sept.
11 attacks, but were prevented from passing their findings to the FBI.
"Many of us have a personal commitment to ... going forward to expose the
truth and wrongdoing of government officials who, before and after the 9/11
attacks, failed to do their job." Shaffer
contradicted recent statements by Philip Zelikow, former executive director of
the Sept. 11 commission, who denied having met with Shaffer and other Able
Danger operatives in Afghanistan in October 2003. "I did meet with
him," Shaffer said. "I have the business card he gave me. I find it hard to believe that he
could not remember meeting me." The commission's chairman and vice
chairman, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean and former Rep. Lee Hamilton,
released a statement saying the panel had looked into the work of Able Danger
and found it "historically insignificant."
Note: Though
Able Danger received wide media coverage when it first came out six months ago, CNN was the only major media outlet to
give significant coverage to this most important news. Yet CNN did not post the
text of the program on their website. Why isn't our media covering this vital
topic? For lots more on this, seehttp://www.WantToKnow.info/911information and http://www.WantToKnow.info/abledanger911
More than half of the U.S. House of Representatives wants
open hearings on Able Danger
2005-11-18, US House of Representatives Website of Curt Weldon (R-Pa)
http://curtweldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=37076
2005-11-18, US House of Representatives Website of Curt Weldon (R-Pa)
http://curtweldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=37076
U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), vice chairman of the House Armed
Services and Homeland Security Committees, has sent a letter to Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld signed by over half of the House of Representatives
requesting that he allow "former participants in the intelligence program
known as ABLE DANGER to testify in an open hearing before the United States
Congress." The
letter has 246 signatures (144 Republicans, 101 Democrats, and one
Independent), including senior members and leadership on both sides of the
isle. "The full story of ABLE DANGER deserves to be heard by the American
people," said Weldon. "Secretary Rumsfeld must understand that the
will of Congress is behind allowing members of the ABLE DANGER effort to
testify in an open hearing about the work they were doing prior to 9-11 to
track the linkages and relationships of al-Qaeda worldwide. Congressional
efforts to investigate ABLE DANGER have been obstructed by Department of
Defense insistence that certain individuals with knowledge of ABLE DANGER be
prevented from freely and frankly testifying in an open hearing.
Note: Why did
no media found this key story worth covering? The request was never granted,
while the investigation was eventually declared closed by the military without
any significant outside investigation.
Congressman Curt Weldon's Speech to Congress
2005-10-19, Official Website of Congressman Weldon (R-Pa)
http://curtweldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=35792
2005-10-19, Official Website of Congressman Weldon (R-Pa)
http://curtweldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=35792
"I
have been in this institution 19 years. I am the vice chairman of [the
Committee on Armed Services] and chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the
purchase of our weapons systems. I am a strong supporter of our military. I am a
strong supporter of President Bush. I campaigned for him. I am a strong
supporter of Secretary Rumsfeld. I say all of that, Mr. Speaker,
because...there is something desperately wrong here. There is a bureaucracy in
the Defense Intelligence Agency that is out of control. They want to destroy the reputation
of a 23-year military officer, Bronze Star recipient, hero of our country, with
two kids because people in defense intelligence are embarrassed at what is
going to come out. I have met with at least 10 people who fully corroborate
what Tony Shaffer says. This is not [about] Republicans or Democrats. It is
about what is fundamental to this country. I would ask our constituents across
America [who] we represent to join us, to express their outrage, to e-mail,
make phone calls, write letters to the Secretary of Defense, the President of
the United States, to Members of Congress to...let the Able Danger story
finally come out to the American people. Let them understand what really
happened. Let Scott Philpott talk. Let Tony Shaffer talk. Let the others who
have been silenced have a chance to tell their story to Congress and openly to
the American people. In the end, the country will be stronger.
Note: For lots more reliable, verifiable information
specifically on Able Danger:
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&before_9/11=ableDanger
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&before_9/11=ableDanger
National Security Watch: Disquieted whistleblowers
2005-10-11, U.S. News and World Report
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051011/11natsec.htm
2005-10-11, U.S. News and World Report
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051011/11natsec.htm
The
first annual National Security Whistleblowers Conference...has to be one of the
more unusual gatherings of intelligence veterans in recent years. The nearly 20
current or former officials from the FBI, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, and
even the supersecret National Security Agency who make up the core of the
conference share an unusual distinction: They are all deeply out of favor with
their longtime employers. Most cannot discuss the allegations they are making
in detail because the specifics are highly classified. The agencies they work
for also refuse to answer questions. The
current and former officials at the conference said that today's climate in
Washington has never been worse for whistleblowers. One of the biggest names of the
conference never even uttered a word. Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer is the military
intelligence operative who...went public with a controversial claim that a year
before September 11, his top-secret task force "Able
Danger" was able to identify the man who later turned out to be
the lead hijacker [on 9/11]. Shaffer was slated to speak but instead sat
quietly by as his lawyer, Mark Zaid, spoke for him. "Tony is not allowed
to talk," Zaid said. "He is gagged from talking to Congress."
The conference was organized by Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator who was
pushed out of the bureau after raising
accusations of
wrongdoing by other FBI translators. She has been barred from discussing the details
of her case by the FBI. She created the National Security Whistleblowers
Coalition www.nswbc.org to bring whistleblowers like her
together to push for legal reforms.
Note: For a detailed article in Vanity Fair on Sibel Edmonds'
courageous efforts to expose the truth, click here. For the whistleblowing action which
drew international media attention by WantToKnow.info founder Fred Burks,click
here.
Atta known to Pentagon before 9/11
2005-09-28, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509280150sep28,1,3686073....
2005-09-28, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509280150sep28,1,3686073....
Four
years after the nation's deadliest terror attack, evidence is accumulating that
a super-secret Pentagon intelligence unit identified the organizer of the Sept.
11 hijackings, Mohamed Atta, as an Al Qaeda operative months before he entered
the U.S. Had the FBI been alerted to what the Pentagon purportedly knew in
early 2000, Atta's name could have been put on a list that would have tagged
him as someone to be watched the moment he stepped off a plane in Newark, N.J.,
in June of that year. Physical
and electronic surveillance of Atta, who lived openly in Florida for more than
a year, and who acquired a driver's license and even an FAA pilot's license in
his true name, might well have made it possible for the FBI to expose the Sept.
11 plot before the fact. Anthony
Shaffer, a civilian Pentagon employee, says he was asked in the summer of 2000
by a Navy captain, Scott Phillpott, to arrange a meeting between the FBI and
representatives of the Pentagon intelligence program, code-named Able/Danger.
But he said the meeting was canceled after Pentagon lawyers concluded that
information on suspected Al Qaeda operatives with ties to the U.S. might
violate Pentagon prohibitions on retaining information on "U.S.
persons," a term that includes U.S. citizens and permanent resident
aliens. Asked by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, at a hearing last week whether Atta...was a "U.S. person,"
a senior Pentagon official answered, "No, he was not."
Pentagon Revokes 9/11 Officer's Clearance
2005-09-30, ABC/Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1173334
2005-09-30, ABC/Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1173334
An
officer who has claimed that a classified military unit identified four Sept.
11 hijackers before the 2001 attacks is facing Pentagon accusations of breaking
numerous rules, charges his lawyer suggests are aimed at undermining his
credibility. The alleged infractions by Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, 42,
include obtaining a service medal under false pretenses, improperly flashing
military identification while drunk and stealing pens, according to military
paperwork shown by his attorney to The Associated Press. Shaffer was one of the
first to publicly link Sept. 11 leader Mohamed Atta to the unit code-named Able
Danger. Shaffer was one of five witnesses the Pentagon ordered not to appear
Sept. 21 before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the unit's findings. The military revoked
Shaffer's top security clearance this month, a day before he was supposed to
testify to a congressional committee.
Panel rejects assertion US knew of Atta before Sept. 11
2005-09-15, Boston Globe/Associated Press
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/09/15/panel_reject...
2005-09-15, Boston Globe/Associated Press
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/09/15/panel_reject...
Former members of the Sept. 11 commission on Wednesday dismissed
assertions that a Pentagon intelligence unit identified lead hijacker Mohamed
Atta as an member of al-Qaida long before the 2001 attacks. Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., had accused the commission of
ignoring intelligence about Atta while it investigated the attacks. The
commission's former chairman, Thomas Kean, said there was no evidence anyone in
the government knew about Atta before Sept. 11, 2001. Two military officers,
Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott, claimed a
classified military intelligence unit, known as 'Able Danger,' identified Atta
before the attacks. Shaffer has said three other hijackers were identified,
too. Kean said the recollections of the intelligence officers cannot be
verified by any document. 'Bluntly, it just didn't happen and that's the
conclusion of all 10 of us,' said a former commissioner, ex-Sen. Slade Gorton,
R-Wash. Weldon's spokesman, John Tomaszewski, said no commissioners have met
with anyone from Able Danger 'yet they choose to speak with some form of
certainty without firsthand knowledge.'
Note: If
you read the New York Times article from Aug. 11th, commission officials
clearly stated that they were warned by a uniformed military officer 10 days
before issuing the commission's final report that the account would be
incomplete without reference Able Danger and Atta, as confirmed by the
commission's own chief spokesperson. Is this more recent article a rewriting of
the facts?
Pentagon Employee Was Ordered to Destroy Data Identifying
Atta As a Terrorist
2005-09-15, ABC/Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1131137
2005-09-15, ABC/Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1131137
A
Pentagon employee was ordered to destroy documents that identified Mohamed Atta
as a terrorist two years before the 2001 attacks, a congressman said Thursday. The employee is prepared to testify next week
before the Senate Judiciary Committee and was expected to identify the person
who ordered him to destroy the large volume of documents, said Rep. Curt
Weldon, R-Pa. Weldon
declined to identify the employee, citing confidentiality matters. Weldon
described the documents as "2.5 terabytes" as much as one-fourth of
all the printed materials in the Library of Congress, he added.
Pentagon Finds More Who Recall Atta Intel
2005-09-02, Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR20050902005...
2005-09-02, Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR20050902005...
Pentagon
officials said Thursday they have found three more people who recall an
intelligence chart that identified Sept. 11 mastermind Mohamed Atta as a
terrorist one year before the attacks on New York and Washington. But they have
been unable to find the chart or other evidence that it existed. On Thursday,
four intelligence officials provided the first extensive briefing for reporters
on the outcome of their interviews with people associated with Able Danger and
their review of documents. They said they interviewed at least 80 people over a
three-week period and found three, besides Philpott and Shaffer, who said they
remember seeing a chart that either mentioned Atta by name as an al-Qaida
operative or showed his photograph. Four of the five recalled a chart with a
pre-9/11 photo of Atta; the other person recalled only a reference to his name. The intelligence officials said they consider the
five people to be credible but their recollections are still unverified. Navy
Cmdr. Christopher Chope, of the Center for Special Operations at U.S. Special
Operations Command, said there were "negative indications" that
anyone ever ordered the destruction of Able Danger documents, other than the
materials that were routinely required to be destroyed under existing
regulations.
Pentagon, Senate committee bicker over 9/11 probe
2005-09-23, ABC/Reuters
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1154206
2005-09-23, ABC/Reuters
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1154206
The
Pentagon and the Senate Judiciary Committee squabbled publicly on Friday about
whether lawmakers could question five key witnesses in public about their
claims the U.S. military identified four September 11 hijackers long before the
20001 attacks. The panel's chairman, Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of
Pennsylvania, said at Wednesday's hearing the Pentagon could be guilty of
obstructing congressional proceedings. Other lawmakers accused the Defense
Department of orchestrating a cover-up. On Friday, the Senate committee announced the Pentagon had
reversed its position and would allow the five witnesses to testify at a new
public hearing scheduled for October 5. The five witnesses in question were
all involved with Able Danger and contend the team identified September 11
ringleader Mohamed Atta and three other hijackers as members of an al Qaeda
cell in early 2000. One prospective witness, Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, has
said publicly that Able Danger members tried to pass the information about Atta
along to the FBI three times in September 2000 but were forced by Pentagon
lawyers to cancel the meetings. Much of the information related to Able Danger
was destroyed in 2000.
Able Danger disabled
2005-08-13, Toledo Blade
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050813/COLUMNIST14/508130...
2005-08-13, Toledo Blade
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050813/COLUMNIST14/508130...
What
may be a bigger scandal is that the staff of the 9/11 Commission knew of Able
Danger and what it had found, but made no mention of it in its report. This is
as if the commission that investigated the attack on Pearl Harbor had written
its final report without mentioning the Japanese. Mr. Weldon unveiled Able
Danger in a speech on the House floor June 27, but his remarks didn't attract
attention until the New York Times reported on them Tuesday. When the story
broke, former Rep. Lee Hamilton, a Democrat from Indiana, co-chairman of the
9/11 Commission, at first denied the commission had ever been informed of what
Able Danger had found, and took a swipe at Mr. Weldon's credibility: "The
Sept. 11th Commission did not learn of any U.S. government knowledge prior to
9/11 of the surveillance of Mohammed Atta or his cell," Mr. Hamilton said.
"Had we learned of it obviously it would have been a major focus of our
investigation." Mr.
Hamilton changed his tune after the New York Times reported Thursday, and the
Associated Press confirmed, that commission staff had been briefed on Able
Danger in October, 2003, and again in July, 2004. The 9/11 commission wrote
history as it wanted it to be, not as it was. The real history of what happened
that terrible September day has yet to be written.
More remember Atta ID’d as terrorist pre-9/11
2005-09-01, MSNBC/Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9163145
2005-09-01, MSNBC/Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9163145
Pentagon
officials said Thursday they have found three more people who recall an
intelligence chart that identified Sept. 11 mastermind Mohamed Atta as a
terrorist one year before the attacks on New York and Washington. But they have
been unable to find the chart or other evidence that it existed. On Thursday,
four intelligence officials provided the first extensive briefing for reporters
on the outcome of their interviews with people associated with Able Danger and
their review of documents. They said they interviewed at least 80 people over a
three-week period and found three, besides Philpott and Shaffer, who said they
remember seeing a chart that either mentioned Atta by name as an al-Qaida
operative or showed his photograph. Four of the five recalled a chart with a
pre-9/11 photo of Atta; the other person recalled only a reference to his name. The intelligence officials said
they consider the five people to be credible but their recollections are still
unverified.
The suppression of Able Danger
2006-02-18, Toledo Blade
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060218/COLUMNIST14/602180...
2006-02-18, Toledo Blade
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060218/COLUMNIST14/602180...
Mr. Kleinsmith and the two colleagues who testified with him in
[a House Armed Services Committee] open session are convinced that had the
information they developed been acted on, not only 9/11, but also the October
2000, attack on the destroyer USS Cole in which 17 sailors died could have been
prevented. Through
computer scanning of some 2.5 terabytes of classified and unclassified data,
the Able Danger team identified five "nodes" of al-Qaeda activity.
One was in Brooklyn. Another was in the port of Aden in Yemen, where the USS
Cole was attacked. Able Danger linked Mohamed Atta and three other 9/11
hijackers to the Brooklyn cell, said Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, who was the liaison
between the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Able Danger team. Colonel
Shaffer testified he tried three times to have Able Danger data on the Brooklyn
cell presented to the FBI, but that on each occasion Pentagon lawyers forbade
the meeting. In a commentary in the Wall [Street] Journal last November, Louis Freeh, who was
FBI director at the time, said that if he had been told about what Able Danger
had learned, 9/11 likely would have been prevented. In March, 2000, Mr. Kleinsmith was ordered to stop
all work on Able Danger, and, later, to delete all the information collected.
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.
Note: Though
Able Danger received wide media coverage when first reported six months ago,
the amazing revelations of the recent hearings have received very little
attention, which is why we include this article from the leading newspaper of
Toledo, Ohio. For lots more reliable, verifiable information on Able Danger,
seehttp://www.WantToKnow.info/abledanger911
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