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| General Shelton admits authorizing Able Danger |
| 2005-12-09 |
| Gen. Hugh Shelton has confirmed that four years before the 2001 attacks, he authorized a secret computer data-mining initiative to track down Osama bin Laden and operatives in al-Qaida. Shelton was the militaryâs top commander during the attacks. In his first public comments on the initiative, which some former intelligence officers say was code-named Able Danger, Shelton confirmed that he received two briefings on the mission â both well before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. âRight after I left SOCOM (Special Operations Command), I asked my successor to put together a small team, if he could, to try to use the Internet and start trying to see if there was any way that we could track down Osama bin Laden or where he was getting his money from or anything of that nature,â Shelton said Monday in an interview. âIt was just kind of an experiment,â Shelton said. âWhat can we do? So, he pulled together a bunch of really bright, computer-literate guys from across the services.â Sheltonâs assertions raise new questions about the governmentâs knowledge of the al-Qaida network before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and about the subsequent findings of a commission set up to investigate the attacks. Shelton was responding to allegations by former Pentagon intelligence officers, who say they used a data-mining program code-named Able Danger to identify terrorist Mohammed Atta and three other hijackers in early 2000, but that Pentagon lawyers blocked them from relaying their findings to the FBI. Before the Defense Department issued a gag order that prevented them from testifying to Congress in September, the former intelligence officers said they were assigned to use sophisticated software to perform complex computer searches of âopen-sourceâ data to locate links among al-Qaida operatives. Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott said he led the program that identified Atta in January or February 2000. Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer said that Shelton had issued a directive establishing Able Danger, and that he and other intelligence officers on the top-secret program briefed Shelton on its findings in early 2001. While Shelton said he never heard the program referred to as âAble Dangerâ until news reports on it first emerged in the summer, the retired general said he authorized a data-mining effort aimed at bin Laden and his associates. Shelton said he did not recall hearing or seeing Attaâs name in briefings or before the attacks. Shelton said he also did not recall seeing a large chart that the former Able Danger officers claim to have produced, displaying as many as 60 al-Qaida operatives, including Atta. In its final report last year, the Sept. 11 commission spread blame across the government but said it had not identified any of the 19 hijackers before the attacks. Rep. Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican who has led a congressional push for the Pentagon to allow open Able Danger hearings, said the Sept. 11 commission failed to adequately investigate the program or its findings. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #4 The early 'reports' that citizens like Rice came up was probably MSM misdirection away from various Clintonista connections to China, etc, possibly even Sandy Pants Burger. I hope that this will finally put paid to the 911 Comission that won't die - tools from the beginning. |
| Posted by: SR-71 2005-12-09 07:37 |
| #3 As the left and right fight over this and continue to snivel there is an underlying premise that the program had or was credible and working. If it wasnât then this is all just politics and should be on page four. But I assume it had worked to a larger degree and I am left to wonder if this weapon for fighting the war is currently being used or sitting dormant waiting out the politics while our enemies continue to plan attacks. |
| Posted by: 49 pan 2005-12-09 07:30 |
| #2 The stonewall begins to crack ... |
| Posted by: doc 2005-12-09 07:18 |
| #1 Gosh, a little here, a little there - it seems like their side of the story keeps gaining credibility... that these solid citizens are actually telling the truth and were doing precisely what they said they were doing... How about their detractors / deniers? |
| Posted by: .com 2005-12-09 03:32 |