[atomicpossum]

Army Chief of Staff? How does this play into today's hissyfit at National Review Online, lambasting Weldon because the Pentagon says the info doesn't support him? This is sounding really big...

[conservative in nyc]

Here's the post by "Anon" on Inteldump referred to in the article. Intel Dump is a blog (inteldump.powerblogs.com):

Anon (www):
OK smart guys - with your "smell tests" and "Thats just flat out wrong" opinions shown above - I hope you don't mind, but let me clear up a few things - I was there and I lived through the ABLE DANGER nightmare.

First - yes - The lawyers involved in this (and similar projects) did interpret the 9-11 terrorists as "US persons" - so while you can second guess them all you want - but that was their "legal" call as wrong as it was and is. Unfortunately, the chain of command at SOCOM went along with them (and this, I expect, will be a topic that will become more clear in the near future).

And lawyers of the era also felt that any intelligence officer viewing open internet information for the purpose of intelligence collection automatically required that any "open source" information obtained be treated as if it was "intelligence information"...does this sound like idiocy to you? It did to me - and we fought it - and I was in meetings at the OSD level, with OSD laywers, that debated this - and I even briefed the DCI George Tenet on this issue relating to an internet project.

And yes, Virgina - we tried to tell the lawyers that since the data identified Atta and the others as linked to Al Qaeda, we should be able to collect on them based on SecState Albright's declaration of Al Qaeda as transnational terrorist threat to the US...well the lawyers did not agree...go figure...so we could not collect on them - and for political reasons - could not pass them to the FBI...I know because I brokered three meetings between the FBI and SOCOM to allow SOCOM to pass the informaton to the FBI. And, sadly, SOCOM cancelled them every time...

Oh - and as to your opinion that ABLE DANGER was a precursor to the IDC - you are flat out wrong - and obviously not keeping up with what is coming out in the press. ABLE DANGER partnered with LIWA/IDC to use the LIWA/IDC capability to obtain the data on Atta and the other 9-11 terrorists. I brokered the relationship...
And - wrong again on the IDC using only "classified" databases - IDC used 2.5 terabytes (a whole hell of a lot of data) - all open source - to identify Atta and the others that have been identified. Classified data bases were only use to "confirm" the links subsequent to the open source data runs.

Oh - and DATA MINING is not overt or clandestine - it just "is" - it is something that is done with either open source or classified information. ABLE DANGER used an array of both open and close databases...

So...good try, gentlemen - good to see there is intellectual riggor here...but before you start doubting the story, perhaps you need to do better research.
8.12.2005 11:27pm

[BushisTheMan]

Is giving up his identity a crime? Was he undercover? Maybe some reporters need to go to jail? Where's Joe Wilson when you need him?

[xzins]

Now we know more about why Rumsfeld pulled Schoomaker out of retirement to take the Army chief job. Gen Schoomaker experienced so much and knows so much.

It'd be nice to pick his brain about an Al Qaeda/Iraq connection and the WMD's question.

[mercy]

Arkancide candidate.

Or we will soon find out he is a baby raper or even a Republican. [/DC nausia]

[Harrius Magnus]

I hate wishing for retribution, but BRING IT ON!!!

[nicmarlo]

fyi ping

[Purdue Pete]

Savin' it...

[del4hope]

Let's get real here folks. If Rupert Murdoch is courting Hillary like I hear he is, and FNC is getting more liberal by the day (losing the fair and balanced act).....Why then is FNC taking an interest in this story? I smell a RAT...literally.

[tomahawk]

He will be attacked by the Demoncraps and the White House, watch and see.

Too many people have a vested interest in the truth about how our government failed us by making 9/11 possible with a "do not see, do not listen" policy.

[Alia]

bttt

[Lancey Howard]

BUMP!

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

Bump.

[Carry_Okie]

Why has this taken nearly FOUR YEARS to surface???

Something isn't right here.

[Lone Red Ranger]

I really wish we didn't know their names, and I would hope that they would work to keep their anonymity. These people are potentially too valuable to expose themselves to the taudry nature of politics in it's raw undistilled publicly diseminated form. We should protect these people for the duty they perform for our country and for our cause...

[newzjunkey]

He's supposed to be on Tony Snow's show today isn't he?

[Eagle74]

I'm just not sure about all this, I'd like to believe we can hunt the Terrorists like this, and the 9/11 commission needs to be taken down a few pegs. But, I just read this and it looks to me like Shaffer just wants to get paid by the talk shows. 16 months on administrative leave?

"Shaffer's lawyer, Mark Zaid, said Wednesday that Shaffer does not have documentation related to Able Danger because his security clearance was suspended in March 2004 because of "petty and frivolous" reasons. They include a dispute over mileage reimbursement and a charges for personal calls on a work cell phone, Zaid said.

Shaffer, an Army reservist, has been on paid administrative leave for the past 16 months, Zaid said. He was an active Army major during his involvement with Able Danger, Zaid said. "

[cricket]

I have noticed that the media . . .including Fox News. . .likes to say; Able Danger knew/warned of Atta (et al) before 9/11; rather than giving dates that distinguish easily, quickly. . .between GW's first few months. . .and Clinton's eight years.

This really annoys me; just heard them again. . .