Senate to Hold Hearings on Able Danger, Info Sharing

Thursday, August 25, 2005



WASHINGTON - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., plans
to hold a hearing on the "Able Danger" allegations and the larger issue of
information-sharing between the Pentagon and the FBI, FOX News has
confirmed.

Able Danger is the code name for a military-intelligence unit that
apparently learned a year before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that
lead hijacker Mohamed Atta and other terrorists were already in the United
States.

One of the central Able Danger claims - that military lawyers blocked the
sharing of the Atta information from the FBI in the late summer and early
fall of 2000 - will be a priority of the committee's probe, FOX News has
confirmed.

Some analysts involved with Able Danger have recently gone public with their
findings, saying they were discouraged from looking further into Atta, and
their attempts to share their information with the FBI were thwarted,
because Atta was a legal foreign visitor at the time.

"This story needs to be told. The American people need to be told what could
have been done to prevent 3,000 people from losing their lives," said Rep.
Curt Weldon, R-Pa.

Weldon drew attention to Able Danger by speaking about it on the House floor
and publicly calling for the Sept. 11 commission to explain why the
intelligence information wasn't detailed in its final report.

Some Able Danger analysts, including Army Reserve Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer,
claim that in October 2003, they told commission staffers of the presence of
Al Qaeda operatives in the United States in 2000.

The Pentagon has been looking into what it knew and when it knew it, but
spokesman Larry DiRita on Monday said defense officials have not been unable
to verify the Able Danger claims so far.

"There appear to be more memories than there is information to substantiate
those memories. We're reviewing the matter carefully, but thus far have not
found what it is these handful of individuals seem to remember. At a certain
point, we'll decide we have looked long enough and welcome anyone else
coming forward with additional information," the Pentagon said in a
statement.

But Weldon on Thursday urged the Pentagon not to issue any more statements
on Able Danger until its findings are complete.

Weldon said in a statement that doing so "might give the unfortunate
impression that its results are predetermined."

The congressman said he spoke to DiRita on Wednesday and that "he was
backpedaling left and right," claiming he was misquoted about the status of
the search.

"There's something very sinister going on here that really troubles me,"
Weldon told FOX News on Thursday, blasting the Sept. 11 commission for not
taking the claims more seriously. He said some panel members were trying to
smear Shaffer and Able Danger.

"What's the Sept. 11 commission got to hide?" Weldon asked. "The commission
is trying to spin this because they're embarrassed about what's coming out.
In two weeks with two staffers, I've uncovered more in this regard than they
did with 80 staffers and $15 million of taxpayer money."

Weldon added that at least five people on the federal payroll will testify
under oath about the validity of the Able Danger intelligence.

According to Weldon, the FBI in September 2000 set up meetings with special
operations officers on three separate occasions to transfer the Atta and Al
Qaeda information, but the transfers never took place.

Weldon said not only was Specter planning hearings on Able Danger, but that
he also spoke with House Speaker Dennis Hastert about focusing more
attention on the matter.

"When this is over, the Sept. 11 commission is going to have egg all over
their face," he said.

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Ping, Harry.



I told you so!

Looks like Clinton didn't get his moneys worth with Gore-Lick.

I'm afraid he may have with the Turd-Burglar though.