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The chief of staff to former congressman Curt Weldon was sentenced, July 30, for the heinous offense of not reporting $19,000 his wife made with a non-profit as required. Russell James Caso Jr., 36, got probation.

9/11, Info Sharing, and “The Wall” The rise of “the wall” between intelligence and law enforcement personnel that impeded the sharing of information within the U.S. government prior to September 11, 2001 was critically examined in a detailed monograph (pdf) that was prepared in 2004 for the 9/11 Commission. It is the only one of four staff monographs that had not previously been released. It was finally declassified and disclosed earlier this month [http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/wall.pdf --searchable HTML transcript at http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:KyzY5fDka0AJ:www.fas.org/irp/eprint/wall.pdf+%22legal+barriers+to+information+sharing:+the+erection+of+a+wall+between+intelligence+and+law+enforcement+investigations%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us]. In April 2004, Attorney General John Ashcroft testified (pdf) that the failure to properly share threat information in the summer of...

The top federal prosecutor in Chicago is threatening to sue publisher HarperCollins, calling a book about the war on terrorism that focuses in part on cases he was involved in "a deliberate lie masquerading as the truth." If HarperCollins publishes the new edition of "Triple Cross" by Peter Lance this month "and it defames me or casts me in a false light, HarperCollins will be sued," Patrick Fitzgerald said in a letter to the New York-based company. The book focuses on, among other things, major terrorism cases that Fitzgerald prosecuted when he was an assistant U.S. attorney in New York...

Janet Reno's No. 2 possible AG for ObamaJamie Gorelick accused of treating terror suspects as mere criminals Posted: June 13, 2008 10:45 pm Eastern By Jerome R. Corsi © 2008 WorldNetDaily NEW YORK – A panel of Democratic Party legal heavyweights speculated Jamie Gorelick, former deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, could be appointed attorney general if Barack Obama were elected president. In a panel chaired by Elena Kagan, dean and professor of law at Harvard Law School, Gorelick charged on the opening plenary panel of the American Constitution's Society two-day meeting in Washington that the Bush administration had...

Not What They Supposed The terror connection missed by the Clintonistas. by Stephen F. Hayes Four months after the start of the Iraq war, two former senior Clinton administration national security officials took to the pages of the New York Times to demand accountability for the Bush administration's claims about Iraq and terrorism. Or, as they put it in their opening sentence, "Iraq's supposed links to terrorists." Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon wrote that the Bush administration's assertions about Iraqi support for terrorism were "suspect" and demanded scrutiny. One sure way to know the truth about Iraq and terrorism, they...

House Inaction Left America Open To Attack By SENATOR MITCH McCONNELL Posted Monday, February 25, 2008 4:30 PM PT In the wake of 9/11, Americans were stunned to learn that our own intelligence officials had information on some of the hijackers even before the attacks. Three years later, Congress created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to prevent similar gaps in intelligence gathering. Its nonpartisan director oversees 16 agencies and advises the president and Congress on how best to detect terrorist plots. But now, when it comes to intercepting the communications of terrorists overseas, the Democrats' leadership in...

In the wake of 9/11, Americans were stunned to learn that our own intelligence officials had information on some of the hijackers even before the attacks. Three years later, Congress created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to prevent similar gaps in intelligence gathering. Its nonpartisan director oversees 16 agencies and advises the president and Congress on how best to detect terrorist plots. But now, when it comes to intercepting the communications of terrorists overseas, the Democrats' leadership in the House of Representatives has decided that his advice is optional. The consequences of inaction are real: Last Saturday,...

See link for video -- John Boehner leads Republicans out of the House, protesting the Democrats not addressing FISA extension.

The House will allow the current FISA legislation to lapse rather than address the differences between the their version of the extension and the one passed by the Senate on Tuesday. Democrats wanted yet another three-week extension to kick the can down the road again, and petulantly dropped consideration when both opponents and advocates of the Senate plan refused to agree. Now they're saying the lapse in the FISA legislation will have no effect -- as long as no new terrorist groups arise: Democrats insisted that a lapse would have no real effect. The expiration of the powers “doesn’t mean...

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III ordered an internal investigation into whether bureau agents interfered with midterm congressional elections by disclosing a corruption probe that undermined the re-election bid of Republican Rep. Curt Weldon weeks before the Nov. 7 vote. The internal probe was disclosed in a Senate Judiciary Committee report containing the FBI's written answers to questions posed by committee members. Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, asked why FBI agents searched the office of Mr. Weldon's daughter and a business associate three weeks before the elections. The publicity from the raid contributed to the Pennsylvania Republican's defeat and...

The War on Weldon Gets Scarier, Part II © Jack Cashill WorldNetDaily.com August 21, 2007 This the second in a four part series detailing how and why a collaboration of Democratic activists conspired to unseat Pennsylvania congressman, Curt Weldon, in the November 2006 elections. Read Part 1. I met Congressman Curt Weldon for the first (and only) time in July 2006. He graciously consented to assist me in some research I was doing. I, in turn, was able to help connect some of the dots in the chain of forces aligned against him. All dots led to former national security...

You are earnestly urged to believe that the attacks and dirty tricks used against Congressman Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican seeking re-election, have absolutely nothing to do with the following: 1 — Congressman Weldon took the lead in getting House approval of SDI — the missile defense that was bitterly opposed by the Clinton White House. (See this column "Go along to get along? Not this congressman," Oct. 16, 2006). 2 — The idea of a U.S. missile defense system is also opposed (for obvious reasons) by the enemies of the United States (first the Soviet Union, then the terrorists)...

When the history of the Bush era is written, no scandal will impress the reader as more telling of the time and place than the one that has engulfed Curt Weldon, the deposed Republican congressman from Pennsylvania. To be clear, Weldon is not the perpetrator of this scandal but its victim. To understand how he got embroiled, a quick look back at a nearly forgotten chapter in the annals of the Clinton administration is in order. In January 1997, the Clinton White House went public with a 332-page report that bore the "Austin Powers"-like title, "Communication Stream of Conspiracy Commerce."...

On July 6, 2006, Stonebridge International, a global strategy firm, announced that it had added a new member to its high-profile, five-member advisory board—former Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton. True to form, the major media ignored the Hamilton appointment. They should not have. Hamilton, who had served as Vice-Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, had just joined a firm headed by the man who had criminally undermined that very Commission, Stonebridge chairman and founder, Samuel "Sandy" Berger.

A lengthy Senate investigation has debunked charges by a Republican congressman that military analysts identified Mohamed Atta and other Sept. 11 hijackers before the attacks, according to a committee aide familiar with the report. In a letter to members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sens. Pat Roberts and John D. Rockefeller dismissed suggestions by Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., that defense analysts ignored analysis that could have prevented the attacks. Roberts, R-Kan., is outgoing chairman and Rockefeller, of West Virginia, is the senior Democrat who will assume the chairmanship next month. They concluded "there was no evidence Mohamed Atta or any...

This may be useful at various 9/11 events. Poster has a 9/11/2001 image of New York City and New York Harbor. I've added some information about Able Danger and appropriate quotes for this solemn, sad day. Never Forget. Never Again. Download instructions to download/save PDF version to desktop. : Scroll down to the Click on the Download for free with... Basic Scroll to the Click here to begin your download link. Left click to download/save. Double click to open, then and print the 9-sheet color artwork (trim 1-2 edges, then glue stick or tape into the large poster) Takes only...

Missteps proved costly for Weldon Timothy Logue, Of the Times Staff 11/09/2006 Email to a friend Post a Comment Printer-friendly Since the day he succeeded Bob Edgar, it often appeared the only person who posed a threat to Curt Weldon’s seat in the 7th District was Curt Weldon. If the uber-entrenched Republican were ever to go down in flames, some theorized it would take more than a credible and well-funded opponent. "A loss by Curt Weldon can only be self-inflicted," Democratic political consultant Larry Ceisler said in the summer of 2004. "The opponent doesn’t matter. The external factors don’t matter."...

NAVY VICE-ADMIRAL JOE SESTAK "WALKS THE PLANK" ONE DAY AFTER NEW CNO, ADMIRAL MIKE MULLEN, TAKES OVER TOUGH-TALKING, NO-NONSENSE TOP BOSS BOUNCES VERN CLARK "CRONY" - MORE BRASS MAY BE "ON THE WAY OUT" It took the new Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Mike Mullen, less than 24 hours to dump one of the most disliked officers among the Navy's top brass. Vice-Admiral Joe Sestak, an arrogant and obnoxious "bully-boy," who delighted in being rude and unreasonable and getting away with it, found he was expendable the minute his mentor went out the door. Rumsfeld "yes-man" and weaselly politician Vern...

CREW - Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in government (eye roll) have launched a new dirty trick against Curt Weldon and it is clear it was done in conjunction with the Sestak campaign. What remains to be seen is if the Mainstream media reports it objectively given the obvious facts. E-mails received by CREW have prompted us to ask the Department of Justice to investigate whether Congressman Curt Weldon (R-PA) violated the law by intimidating government personnel "in the national security field" who support his opponent, Joe Sestak. The first e-mail describes a "hit list" compiled of Weldon opponent's supporters....

The Man the Left Wants to Beat (PA-07 - Curt Weldon)

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is investigating whether Republican Rep. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania traded his political influence for lucrative lobbying and consulting contracts for his daughter, according to sources with direct knowledge of the inquiry. The FBI, which opened an investigation in recent months, has formally referred the matter to the department's Public Integrity Section for additional scrutiny. At issue are Weldon's efforts between 2002 and 2004 to aid two Russian companies and two Serbian brothers with ties to strongman Slobodan Milosevic, a federal law enforcement official said. The Russian companies and a Serbian foundation run by the brothers'...

BE HERE, OR BE NOWHERE!

The Clinton shadow government (CSG) is picking battles where it can as long as they are not on a real battlefield. This November it has set its figurative sights on Curt Weldon, a veteran Republican congressman from Pennsylvania's Democrat-leaning 7th District. Weldon is paying the price for exposing a project known as Able Danger. In June 2005 he revealed that Clinton administration attorneys had intervened to stop the "Able Danger" group in the Defense Intelligence Agency from initiating preventive actions against two of the 9-11 terrorists. He has also written the book "Countdown to Terror," an exposé of the CIA's...

Did you ever wonder how a small group of Boomer radicals took over the Democratic Party, the universities, the media and Bolshiewood? David Horowitz may know. What’s more, he thinks it’s happening again, with what he and Richard Poe call the “Shadow Party,” a “George Soros conglomerate” that can mobilize some $300 million in political money to control the Dems. Horowitz explains, in a chilling interview with Bill Steigerwald of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, based on his new book with Richard Poe called The Shadow Party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and Sixties Radicals Seized Control of the Democratic Party (Nelson...

  Dave Gaubatz A former U.S. federal agent and counter-terrorism specialist deployed to Iraq before the war says he waged a three-year, unsuccessful battle to get officials to search four sites where he believes the former Saddam regime buried weapons of mass destruction. Dave Gaubatz, an Arabic linguist who now serves as chief investigator with the Dallas County Medical Examiner, told his story to Ryan Mauro of WorldThreats.com. Gaubatz said the suspected sites have never been searched by the Iraq Survey Group, the fact-finding mission dispatched by the U.S.-led multinational force. Two sites are within the city limits of Nasariyah,...

On the surface, Joe Sestak seems like the perfect Democrat candidate. Sestak is giving Republican Representative Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania a tough fight for his seat in Congress. However, like most former Clinton administration officials, Sestak has much to hide and little to say about his work during the 1990s. Sestak is an ex-Navy admiral who served as Director of Defense Policy on the Clinton National Security Council from 1995 to 1997. Sestak often served in positions that required expertise in weapons and space technology. Sestak served in the G.W. Bush administration as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations Warfare Requirements...

Pa. races could set table for 2008 By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, July 9, 2006 Welcome to Pennsylvania, known as "The Cradle of America" because the Founders drafted and signed the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. Fast-forward 230 years and it is about to become another national cradle - a political one -- for the 2006 midterm elections.

In the years since the United States led a “Coalition of the Willing” in the liberation of Iraq, few issues have been more contentious and more afflicted with confusion, misinformation and hyperbole than the question of whether Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and, if so, what became of them. I commend this distinguished Committee for its willingness to try to get to the bottom of so vexing a matter, and appreciate greatly being afforded the opportunity to contribute to its deliberations.

The U.S. military has found more Iraqi weapons in recent months, in addition to the 500 chemical munitions recently reported by the Pentagon, a top defense intelligence official said Thursday. Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, did not specify if the newly found weapons were also chemical munitions. But he said he expected more. "I do not believe we have found all the weapons," he told the House Armed Services Committee, offering few details in an open session that preceded a classified briefing to lawmakers. Responding to questions from lawmakers anxious to make political points ahead...

High-ranking members of Bill Clinton's national security team have joined together to defeat Pennsylvania Republican Curt Weldon's House re-election bid this November - in what looks like retaliation for Weldon's efforts in exposing the Clinton administration's Able Danger scandal. In June 2005, Weldon went public with news that Clinton administration lawyers prevented the Defense Intelligence Agency's Able Danger group from blowing the whistle on two al-Qaida terrorists who would later pilot the planes that destroyed the World Trade Center. Though the media downplayed Weldon's bombshell, a number of high ranking Clinton officials apparently haven't forgotten - and they're pouring money...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 24, 2006 Contact: Robert Dixon [cell] (916) 441-6197 or email: robert@MoveAmericaForward.org CIA LEAKER MARY McCARTHY & WASH. POST’S DANA PRIEST HAVE PARTISAN HISTORY TOGETHER New Questions Arise About CIA Leaker & Washington Post Reporter’s Political Motivations (SAN FRANCISCO) – The nation’s largest pro-troop grassroots organization, Move America Forward (website: www.MoveAmericaForward.org) has uncovered new ties between disgraced CIA leaker, Mary McCarthy, and Washington Post reporter, Dana Priest. Priest was the reporter who received a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on classified information on the war on terrorism that CIA analyst Mary McCarthy leaked to her in...

Proving that he’s just as adept at stuffing an election candidate’s coffers as he is at stuffing his own socks, Sandy Berger hosted an "almost secret" Washington fund-raiser for a recently retired three-star vice admiral last night. Vice Adm. Joseph Sestak Jr, as the Village People would say, is "In the Navy". And when you want to take an Able Danger Congressman Curt Weldon down, what better way than to send in the Navy? Berger, dubbed "Sandy Burglar" by radio meister Rush Limbaugh, gained notoriety for trying to stuff classified documents into his socks and other attire. The man, who...

SWARTHMORE, Pa.: A rushed morning commuter barely looked up as recently retired Navy Vice Adm. Joe Sestak handed him campaign material at a train station. Two minutes later, the commuter was back. "Are you Joe? ... What year did you graduate from the academy?" Wayne Barner, 68, asked Sestak after noticing in the brochure that the Democratic candidate was a fellow graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. The political novice's military resume is attracting attention in his bid to unseat 10-term Rep. Curt Weldon, the second-ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee who has strong national security credentials and...

Several members of President Bill Clinton’s national security team are hosting a Washington fund-raiser tonight for retired Vice Adm. Joseph Sestak Jr., the Democrat running against U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon in November. Officials at Sestak’s campaign headquarters in Media will not comment on the event, though an invitation sent out to potential donors and obtained by the Daily Times lists Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger as a host. "As a general rule, campaigns don’t comment on fund-raisers or people who hold them," said Sestak’s campaign chairman, Myles Duffy. Berger, who served as Clinton’s second-term national security adviser, pleaded guilty last year...

The Clinton Years: The Gathering Storm Rep. Curt Weldon, R-PA, delivered the following speech at Restoration Weekend, which took place at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix February 23-26, 2006: It’s good to be with all of you. Many of you are old friends whom I’ve met with over the years. It’s great to be able to share a few thoughts with you about national security and specific projects I’m working on. You know, in my 20 years in Congress, the one thing I’ve come to understand about our country’s history is that the success of our country’s security has really...

The principals in the Able Danger story have filed suit to restrain the Department of Defense from retaliating against Tony Shaffer and to allow these witnesses to retain counsel during the closed hearings that Congress has scheduled into the data-mining program. Mark Zaid, representing Shaffer as well as contractor J. D. Smith, filed the suit on Monday against the DoD, DIA, the Army, and their attorneys in the DC district court. I've copied the text into the extended entry of this post. Most of those who have followed Able Danger will not be surprised by the allegations in the lawsuit....

I've created an Able Danger Podcast blog to generate a podcast feed so folks can subscribe to this feed and easily obtain any Able Danger audio (mp3) files. Here is the podcast feed for the Able Danger podcasts. The link to this feed is easy to find at the top left corner of my main blog, QT Monster, just above the Able Danger blog roll. Folks can subscribe to this podcast feed through iTunes. From the iTunes interface pull down the Advanced menu, click on subscribe to podcast, and in the dialogue box paste the URL for this podcast feed:...

Sources close to the ongoing Department of Defense investigation into the controversial Able Danger data mining intelligence program, which purportedly identified Mohammed Atta and three other 9/11 hijackers a year before the worst terror attacks in US history, say the mystery person who actually obtained a much-disputed photograph of Atta for the Able Danger team has now been identified. Ever since the Pentagon-ordered destruction in 2000 of 2.5 terabytes of data unearthed by Able Danger – allegedly including a chart featuring Atta’s photograph that revealed terrorist links and patterns when clicked on – skeptics have long raised doubt about the...

The first 20 minutes or so of the Able Danger conference call was previously posted here. The next three audio clips are here, here and here. Attending this conference call with Congressman Weldon were: AJ Strata from The Strata-Sphere, Dana from Common Sense Political Thought, Curt from Flopping Aces, Mike of Able Danger Blog, QT Monster, Rory O’Connor, Pierre from Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill, Bluto from Jawa Report and The Dread Pundit Bluto.

Some traditional intelligence officials, however, seemed either skeptical or jealous of LIWA's capability. At one conference, "Able Danger" analysts identified four major al-Qaida hubs - the Middle East, East Africa, Balkans and the Far East - in about 90 minutes."Because we weren't an intelligence organization, we got a lot of bad press," he said. "Folks thought we were running fast and loose with the data."By April, the "Able Danger" team was told to end its support of SOCOM. During the month's long work stoppage, SOCOM's patience ran out, and the military command transferred the work to a Raytheon facility in...

Able Danger identified Mohammad Atta and at least 2 other 9-11 hijackers more than a year before the 9-11 attacks. Why was the data that connected Mohammad Atta as a possible terrorist threat to the United States destroyed, and why wasn't this information shared with the FBI so the 9-11 attacks might have been prevented? 1. Dr. Stephen A. Cambone, U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, explains that there wasn't any prohibition against sharing Able Danger information with the FBI. One of Dr. Cambone's colleagues says, "...we share in Army intelligence and DoD intelligence, we share information with the FBI...

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., said the Bush administration's presentation of the deal by a Dubai-based company to purchase the operating rights of six major U.S. ports "almost smacks of an arrogance" in its dealings with Congress. Weldon, vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, made the statement Tuesday afternoon in an interview on Cable News Network. Dubai Ports World (DPW.YY), owned by Dubai's government, is set to purchase U.K.-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (PO.LN), which runs the ports of Baltimore, Miami, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia....

In his Washington D.C. office last Thursday, a slightly tired Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa) was lamenting to Canada Free Press the ongoing suppression of Able Danger. Eric Kleinsmith and two colleagues had given testimony in open session before the House Armed Services Committee the day before. Weldon said that he had found it demoralizing that sincere witnesses, who had turned out for the hearings in full military dress, had been identified on committee papers as "only Mr."

China Study Rocks The Hill and Unleashes The Purge: While Cambone tried to link the data purge to this 90-day rule, Weldon and the other witnesses (with first hand knowledge) pointed to the LIWA China Study that was being done in parallel to the Able Danger study. I have stated all along this was the lynchpin, the source of all later cover ups and mistakes and lost opportunities. We all know the story so I will not repeat it here, but what we learned from the hearings is how far up this went. Weldon let slip that the initial China...

No you're right Tony, and the significance here is that the FBI Director back then, Louis Freeh said in October of last year on national television, that if he had had the Able Danger information the FBI might well have been able to stop the hijacking. In our hearing past week, and we had both classified and unclassified, we had five people that testified under oath that they believed the same thing. That if the data they collected, that if the analysis they did had been able to be passed to the FBI, they agree with Louis Freeh, that would...

MediaChannel.org used the powerful new MediaVision tool to monitor television news coverage of the Able Danger Congressional hearings. To our astonishment CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" was the only news show to give Able Danger any significant coverage. We were so shocked by the lack of coverage that we created an online campaign to try to pressure TV news networks to cover, as Lou Dobbs put it, "what could be the biggest scandal of our lifetime." Click here to send networks an email demanding coverage! So, sadly, here it is. All the TV coverage we could find thus far:

25th Item: Holy Cow! Weldon has a signed affidavit from a witness that talked to one of Cambone’s staff recently and who said Cambone’s group was going to ‘kill this story’ and Shaffer had no credibility. The name is Butch Willard This is right after Cambone claimed no one was not trying to ‘bring the information forward’. If Weldon is right, Cambone just perjured himself and is in hot water now. The witness is an ex intelligence officer (woman). They moved all this to the closed session!

REP. CURT WELDON: In the opening hearing, in the closed hearing, we had five people testify that they agree with Louis Freeh. That the information they had could have prevented 9/11 from ever happening. And they testified under oath. The Defense Department said they didn't have any information. WELDON: You know, Zelicow (ph) should have testified in open session, because nothing he said was classified. I don't think he wants to be in open session to let the American people see us question him. We should have had Dieter Snell there. He's the guy that debriefed Scott Philpot. DOBBS: Congressman,...

Program mysteries unresolved By: KEITH PHUCAS, Times Herald Staff 02/17/2006 WASHINGTON - When all the facts about "Able Danger" are revealed, the history of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will be rewritten, according to Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, who accused the Pentagon at a Congressional hearing Wednesday of trying to hide the former data mining effort that claims it identified hijacker Mohamed Atta more than a year before the terrorist attacks. In 2000, the Defense Department shut down the program without explaining why and ordered the wholesale destruction of mountains of personal information swept into the project's data sets...

Audio of the today's entire Able Danger hearing is posted here.