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-----Original Message----- From: Das GOAT To: Roads End Cc: E Mael0; JusB; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 5:38:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time Subject: Able Danger and Posse Comitatus [Original message attached...] www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substanceânot soap-boxingâplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'âwith its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsâis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ <A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
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Specter: Pentagon may be obstructing committee
Key witnesses ordered not to testify about secret program
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Department of Defense "ordered five key witnesses not to testify" about a secret Pentagon unit that some claim identified several of the 9/11 hijackers more than a year before the attacks, Sentate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said Wednesday.
"That looks to me as it may be obstruction of the committee's activities," Specter, R-Pennsylvania, said at the start of his committee's hearing into the unit code-named Able Danger.
Before Wednesday's hearing, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the Pentagon was concerned about discussing a classified program in an open hearing and it had worked with the committee to provide a Department of Defense representative to testify. That representative was the acting assistant to the secretary for intelligence oversight, William Dugan.
Whitman also said the Pentagon is "working very closely with the committees of oversight to provide them with all of the info they need to assess Able Danger." The Judiciary Committee does not have oversight over the Pentagon.
At Wednesday's hearings, attorney Mark Zaid testified that his clients, Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and defense contractor James Smith, had been prevented from testifying. Shaffer and Smith contend that Able Danger used data mining techniques to identify four of the September 11 hijackers, including Mohammed Atta, and that at least one chart existed that featured a photograph of Atta.
Shaffer and Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pennsylvania, have previously made these assertions in media reports and other public forums.
Zaid testified that "at no time did Able Danger identify Mohammed Atta as being physically present in the United States ... No information obtained at the time would have led anyone to believe criminal activity had taken place or that any specific terrorist activities were being planned."
Also testifying Wednesday was a former defense intelligence analyst, Erik Kleinsmith, who said he helped support Able Danger in 1999 and 2000. He testified that in April 2000 his work became "severely restricted and ultimately shut down due to intelligence oversight concerns," which led to the destruction of very large amounts of data about Able Danger, including information about Atta and other terrorists.
URL: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5875900.htmlPoliticians on Wednesday blasted the Pentagon for failing to supply clear answers about--or witnesses with intimate knowledge of--a data-mining endeavor believed to have identified a Sept. 11 ringleader before the attacks.Known as Able Danger, the project was created by the U.S. Army in 1999 and used to compile primarily publicly available information in a computer program and later map out a network of people with ties to known terrorists. But sometime between December 2000 and March 2001, the project was disbanded--for unclear reasons--and up to 2.5 terabytes worth of records, both electronic and hard copy, were ordered destroyed by the Army.
Sen. Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, convened a hearing Wednesday to ask whether Sept. 11 ringleader Mohammed Atta's photo was, in fact, part of that data, and, above all, why the data was not shared with law enforcement agencies but deleted instead.
But, in an 11th-hour decision that surprised and perplexed senators, the Defense Department prohibited five key witnesses from testifying at the hearing, citing concerns about classified information, Specter said.
Some of the witnesses were nonetheless present in the audience. At one point, Specter even asked them to stand and be identified. But the senators could question only people who said they could speak for those witnesses, including Mark Zaid, the attorney representing two men closely involved with Able Danger, and Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa.
Weldon initially brought Able Danger to light about three months ago and has long been pushing for greater intelligence data sharing among the Defense Department, CIA and FBI. In a June speech before the House of Representatives, he expressed dismay that Able Danger did not appear in the 9/11 Commission's report.
An audibly frustrated Weldon praised the effectiveness of the Army's data-mining tactics, which have since spread to law enforcement agencies. He described a situation in which he was able to get a greater volume of information about a Serbian individual involved in the Kosovo peace talks through the Army than through the CIA.
Zaid said his clients, seated behind him, would have told senators that the Able Danger project did identify four Sept. 11 hijackers, including Atta, in its extensive data-mining process. All the information came from sources such as Lexis-Nexis, Westlaw, other subcontractors and the Internet--not government databases or classified sources, he said. His clients made repeated attempts to set up meetings with the FBI to share their charts and data, Zaid said, but all of those commitments were ultimately cancelled.
Zaid was quick to note that the people on the charts could have been "nefarious or innocuous," and that "no information obtained at the time would have led anyone to believe criminal activity had taken place or that any specific terrorist activities were being planned."
Erik Kleinsmith, a former Army major who now works for Lockheed Martin, said he was ordered in 2000 by an Army lawyer to destroy all the data used in Able Danger. The reason for the destruction, he said, was an Army regulation that prohibits retention of data about U.S. persons beyond 90 days unless it has been determined to fit into one of 13 categories related to counterterrorism investigations.
["Zaid told committee members that some of the secret unit's records were also destroyed in March 2001 and spring 2004 ,<i.e., under President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld>>]." --Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,169991,00.html]
The rules in question were issued by the president--not Congress--in the early 1980s in response to prior misuse of intelligence to gather information on American civil rights protesters, anti-Vietnam War demonstrators and other activists, said William Dugan, the sole Defense Department representative who spoke at the hearing. "We place special emphasis on the protection of information about United States persons," he said.
But, Specter asked, was Mohammed Atta considered a U.S. person?
"No," Dugan replied, after some prodding.
Dugan acknowledged that the regulations probably would have permitted the information in question to be shared with law enforcement agencies before its destruction.
"Why wasn't it done in this case?" Specter asked.
"I can't tell you."
Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, suggested that a legislative remedy may be in order. "If a lawyer was too aggressive in requiring deletion of things they shouldn't have," he said, "Congress should look into that."
Specter indicated that additional hearings may take place. "We are not dealing with a matter of minor consequence," he said, instructing Dugan to "go back and tell [Donjald Rumsfeld] the American people are entitled to some answers."
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
September 21, 2005
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman said Wednesday he would look into whether the Pentagon obstructed his committee by refusing to allow testimony from five people who had knowledge of a secret military unit named ``Able Danger.''
They were expected to testify Wednesday about a link between al-Qaida and four of the Sept. 11 hijackers - including leader Mohamed Atta - that the unit is said to have uncovered than a year before the 2001 attacks.
``I think the Department of Defense owes the American people an explanation of what went on here,'' said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.
Maj. Paul Swiergosz, a Defense Department spokesman, said that public testimony about Able Danger would be inappropriate. ``We have expressed our security concerns and believe it is simply not possible to discuss Able Danger in any great detail in any public forum,'' Swiergosz said.
A second spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said the Pentagon believes it has provided sufficient information on Able Danger to the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees, which oversee the department.
<snip>
Specter said one reason for the hearing was to determine whether the federal Posse Comitatus law needs to be amended. The 1878 law restricts the military's law enforcement functions in the United States.
The Pentagon was represented at the hearing by William Dugan, the acting assistant to the secretary for intelligence oversight.
Dugan testified that he had very limited knowledge of Able Danger. But, he said, if the information were properly collected, Posse Comitatus should not have prevented intelligence sharing between the Pentagon and the FBI.
www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substanceânot soap-boxingâplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'âwith its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsâis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ <A HREF="">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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