11 August 2005: As we reported yesterday, Congressman Curt Weldon (R-PA) delivered to his peers in Congress on 27 June, 2005 revelations and evidence gained by a secret military intelligence entity, Code Name: “Able Danger” a full year prior to the events of September 11, 2001. (See article below). According to Congressman Weldon, and as reported by FoxNews yesterday, "Lawyers within the administration — and we're talking about the Clinton administration, not the Bush administration — said 'you can't do it'" when referencing the “taking out” of a known terrorist cell that would be the main component of the 9/11 attacks. These “lawyers” then placed 3M Post-It brand stickers over Mohammed Atta's face. In my professional opinion, the words and actions taken by these lawyers were the beginning of a literal, real-world cover-up which would result in the deaths of 2,819 innocent human beings.
This situation begs for Congressional inquiry into exactly who these lawyers are- their names, where are they today and additionally, where is the evidence of any legal oversight of their actions - which appear to be demonstrably illegal, incompetent, negligent and possibly conducted with the highest degree of malfeasance.. Furthermore, additional questions for a Congressional inquiry are: (1) under whose specific direction did they act, and (2) under what legal authority did they act? In general, why did they NOT share information with our intelligence agencies to allow Atta and his fellow terrorists to be stopped when there was ample legal ability to do so?
There is a very salient and critical point virtually every reporting media outlet has been remiss in identifying regarding intelligence collection activities by the United States Department of Defense. It is this: ALL US Department of Defense intelligence activities, just like US SOCOM's "Able Danger," ARE NOT derived from, emanate from or promulgated by US law and Congressional legislation. They arise specifically from Executive Order 12333 (signed by President Ronald Reagan on December 4, 1981) and all the authority resides and has resided since that time with the President of the United States who is the military Commander-In-Chief as well as the chief constitutional law enforcement officer of the land.
Details of E.O. 12333 can be found here.
Specifically, as found section 1.11, line items (d), (f) and (k) Presidential Executive Order 12333 gives direction to the Secretary of Defense as follows:
(d) Conduct counterintelligence activities in support of Department of Defense components outside the United States in coordination with the CIA, and within the United States in coordination with the FBI pursuant to procedures agreed upon by the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General;
(f) Provide for the timely transmission of critical intelligence, as defined by the Director of Central Intelligence, within the United States Government;
(k) Conduct such administrative and technical support activities within and outside the United States as are necessary to perform the functions described in sections (a) through (j) above.
Section 1.12, line item (d) states the following:
The foreign intelligence and counterintelligence elements of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps,
Whose responsibilities shall include: (1) Collection, production and dissemination of military and military-related foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, and information on the foreign aspects of narcotics production and trafficking. When collection is conducted in response to national foreign intelligence requirements, it will be conducted in accordance with guidance from the Director of Central Intelligence. Collection of national foreign intelligence, not otherwise obtainable, outside the United States shall be coordinated with the CIA, and such collection within the United States shall be coordinated with the FBI;
Additionally, EO 12333 concludes with the following:
Agencies within the Intelligence Community are authorized to:
(b) Unless otherwise precluded by law or this Order, participate in law enforcement activities to investigate or prevent clandestine intelligence activities by foreign powers, or international terrorist or narcotics activities;
Finally we come to the strawman legal argument which came from the “administration lawyers” as related by Congressman Weldon regarding the possession of “green cards”. The facts are these: Mohammed Atta and his terrorist cohorts were clearly and factually established as Al-Qaeda functionaries of a foreign government [Taliban of Afghanistan] with Al-Qaeda itself being a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (DFTO). Designated terrorist’s do not receive and retain "green card" status, and any card so previously attained would have to be considered a priori fraudulent, null and void.
These are the salient facts regarding the intelligence collected by “Able Danger”. What remains is the also overlooked Congressional oversight of intelligence activities as delineated in EO 12333. The now defunct blue-ribbon 9/11 Commission having dropped the ball once is excused from further inquiry, and we call for a full-scale Congressional investigation which must reveal the truth of the matter to the American people. This is what we taxpayers pay them to do. It what our tax dollars paid “Able Danger” to do, and what EO-12333 signed by President Ronald Reagan in December 1981 directed them to do on our behalf.
Congress Critter Billy Bob, perhaps you can lend you fine analysis to this thread and what are the chances of a "real" investigation by Congress into this matter.
These are the salient facts regarding the intelligence collected by “Able Danger”. What remains is the also overlooked Congressional oversight of intelligence activities as delineated in EO 12333. The now defunct blue-ribbon 9/11 Commission having dropped the ball once is excused from further inquiry, and we call for a full-scale Congressional investigation which must reveal the truth of the matter to the American people. This is what we taxpayers pay them to do. It what our tax dollars paid “Able Danger” to do, and what EO-12333 signed by President Ronald Reagan in December 1981 directed them to do on our behalf
cgk wrote '(1) under whose specific direction did they act, and (2) under what legal authority did they act? '
Excellent post. This is the heart of the matter. The survivors of 9/11 and the families of the victims should be screaming for answers. Although I think it will become quite apparent that the lawyers were wrong, the question that I hope gets answered is why in the world they would want to protect foreigners from F.B.I. scrutiny.
I think the answer is and always has been the link between campaign donations for technology transfer between the Clinton organizatiom the the Communist Chinese.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=13516
well said - thank you