Officer Says 2 Others Are Source of His Atta Claims

Washington Post ^ | 8/19/2005 | Dan Eggen

[americaprd]

The former intelligence officer who says that a Defense Department program identified Mohamed Atta and three other hijackers before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks said yesterday that many of his allegations are not based on his memory but on the recollections of others.

Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, who has been on paid administrative leave from the Defense Intelligence Agency since his security clearance was suspended in March 2004, said in a telephone interview that a Navy officer and a civilian official affiliated with the Able Danger program told him after the attacks that Atta and other hijackers had been included on a chart more than a year earlier.

But because he was not intimately familiar with the names and photographs of suspected terrorists, he did not realize that hijackers were listed until it was alleged to him after the attacks, Shaffer said. All of the charts that could support his claims have disappeared, he said.

[pinz-n-needlez]

Thanks for the clarification.

Pinz

[nopardons]

Congresses fault! They keep defunding all of that.

[BushisTheMan]

According to Tony Snow, the phone calls were for forwarding his calls...over something like a 2 year period. That works out to about $4.00 a month. They spent $400,000 to investigate $69.00.

Hillary and Bill stole more than that daily from the Whitehouse.

This is typical Clintonista SMEAR tactics that we've witnessed so many times before. This guy is a REAL hero.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

RE: "What I hope to see at the end of this... new funding for the data mining for foreign terrorists, exposure of the 9-11 Commission for the sham that it was, a few Clintonistas to be exposed and run out of town, damage done to Hillary, more torment for Bill."

Me too! Good comments, BTW.

Now on to some comments in general about the article and what I remember Lt. Col. Shaffer saying from the three interviews I've heard.

The W-P employee says his [Shaffer's] allegations are not based on his memory but on the recollections of others.. . .The comments add to the uncertainty surrounding assertions by Shaffer and Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.)

Today on Savage the Lt. Col said that that is NOT what he told the W-P employee.

To wit, the guys with the multi-terabyte databases and algorithms were at Ft. Belvoir. The analysts were at a base in Florida. It was the analysts (the "others") who took the extracted (raw) data and made them understandable. They produced the charts (graphics). Anyone who has ever worked on anything like this has seen wall-sized charts and knows the true value of graphics and a "walk through" to communicate with nontechnical folks. What does it do / mean not how does it work.

Lt. Col. Shaffer was the intelligence guy, a liaison between the DIA and Able Danger. He is neither a programmer nor an analyst. It was his job to plan the pursuit of the suspected bad guys identified by the "others". Able Danger is no more.

The Washington Post employee is a POS. He and others are creating vapor news with a distorting mist of lies and half truths.

DoD cannot immediately locate the charts? How many times are ad hoc projects initiated in DoD? The systems never get formalized; never get formally reviewed, approved and documented; never go beyond unformatted file prints and manually produced, one-time-only charts. If the end-users (Lt. Col. Shaffer for example) likes the results they can submit a request to formerly create the system. Then the higher ups can say, no. :>)

[Fruit of the Spirit]

"...the Post downplaying it every chance they get."

The Post not only downplayed it, they lied:

"...he did not realize that hijackers were listed until it was alleged to him after the attacks"

Lt. Col. Shaffer, the intelligence officer on the "Able Danger" project, was the O'Reilly factor with Tony Snow tonight. He said what the media and by the 9/11 Commission are saying is NOT what he said. He said he still has all his notes.

He, also, said there's approximately 20 boxes of material that was gleaned over a period of years by the "Able Danger" investigators.

[Fruit of the Spirit]

"My impression was the guys were (for lack of a better word) sure about Atta's cell they kept telling him and he kept pushing the issue."

You're right! He did keep pushing to inform the FBI...until a two star general reminded him that he had neither the rank nor the authority to go over his (the two star general's) head.

[pinz-n-needlez]

Thanks, WofC, for the kind words and for the clarification from LTC Shaffer.

His words will be spun and twisted every possible way, watching to see if he ever blinks. I sure hope he doesn't. :-) He seems well-prerepared and with more folks like you to explain what 'is' is as we move along, so will we be.

I sure hope that someone decided to copy a few disks for safe keeping. ;-)

Pinz

[pinz-n-needlez]

Can't wait until that 2 star general is identified so that he can be run out of town on a rail.

What was Carville's phrase? Oh yeah... And the Horse He Rode in on.

Pinz

[lexington minuteman 1775]

Lt. Col Shaffer says he has "copies" of the docments. So even if Sandy Burgler stole stuff. He still has copies of what he originally shared with 911 staff folks. I figgure the democrats are covering Clinton.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

google news returns hits for a Brad Blog

There we find Karl Rove's hand in all this. Just thought you'd like to know. Case solved.

Then Brad has this well reasoned argument. The tightly coordinated right wing conspiracy takes "swipes at Gorelick, even though no-one has (yet) made the absurd suggestion that DOD lawyers reported to a Justice Department second-in-command during the Clinton years."

Perhaps the FBI does sorta, kinda look to DOJ for direction. Just maybe the FBI responded to DoD by saying, "Sorry. They won't let us talk to you guys."

Gee willikers! Maybe ol' Brad is a spinin' like a whirling dervish. Lefties are good at that all the while projecting; i.e. claiming that the right does it.

Being diappointed with ol' Brad's competence I moved on. Official Washington is good at ignoring things to do with pesky problems, I've found.

Paul Sperry wrote

"The Clinton administration 'de-emphasized' fighting Arab international terrorism to focus on domestic terrorism – namely, white 'right-wing' militia groups -- which led to the FBI ignoring Arab nationals flocking to U.S. flight schools, veteran FBI agents told WorldNetDaily.

"They say the shift was so dramatic at the FBI that dozens of boxes of evidence that agents gathered in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing case were never analyzed – until it was too late. The evidence held valuable clues to al-Qaida's network and operations, they say.

"Some 40 boxes of material left over from the WTC investigation, which lasted through the late '90s, 'were never gone through,' said one Washington-based agent familiar with the probe. Another seven to eight boxes of evidence from the Manila, Philippines, side of the investigation also were never looked at, he added.

"'It was data tailor-made for analysis,' the agent said. " [End excerpt. My emphasis]

And all this worry about civil rights during the Clinton years? His DOJ/FBI worked closely with the SPLC and the ADL to develop policy and countermeasures especially while getting ready for all the Christians that were expected to come a shootin' out of the church compounds at 0001 hours on 1 Jan., 2000.

[RobbyS]

I have read that he was told to shut up by a two-star. Generals hate insubordination, or what they perceive to be it.

[Ostlandr]

That's the tradeoff- privacy vs. security.

Let me put it this way- I'm a right-wing conservative who sometimes gets passionate about civil liberties and government oppression. I'm also an armchair military historian, and do research on the WWII Germans online. I fully expect if the FBI is ever fishing the web for potential neo-nazi terrorists, my name will pop up- and be quickly eliminated from consideration.
Let's imagine for a minute that 9/11 was the work of neo-nazis. Given the above, plus the fact that I'm over six feet tall, blond hair, blue eyes, and of German decent, I would darn well expect to have trouble getting on an airplane- and rightly so! If I fit the profile, then by all means investigate me 'til the cows come home- turn my life upside down and put the pieces under a microscope. I will be honored when it's all over to have the FBI say "He's on our side."

[Sal]

He did keep pushing to inform the FBI...until a two star general reminded him that he had neither the rank nor the authority to go over his (the two star general's) head.

I sure hope we get the name of this Clintonista knee-pad appointee, two star POS pretty damn quick.

Back when Ashcroft first exposed Gorelick, someone--I think it was Dick Morris--made the statement that she couldn't have helped Al Qaeda more if she'd been on their ground squad. He didn't say she WAS on the ground squad, just that she couldn't have hurt US worse if she had been.

She wasn't alone, there were a lot of Clintonistas who were really helping Al Qaeda whether they meant to or not.

[AmishDude]

His cover may have been blown. Or the paperwork wasn't kosher on his security clearance. The fact that the WaPo doesn't say tells me that it's pretty innocuous. If it undermined his credibility, they'd have it in bold.

[AmishDude]

Great post. BTW, regarding this:

(I don't think Clinton's fragile self esteem can tolerate a *hint* of criticism any more, it's as precarious as Michael Jackson's nose!)

That is what Billy Dale was all about. They could have fired him in a heartbeat and been perfectly legally justified. But instead of being criticized for firing an old faithful public servant, they'd rather have every action they take be on behalf of a moral crusade.

[pinz-n-needlez]

I think your connection is true. But I also think that Clinton has gotten much much more fragile since he's been out of office. Earlier in the week, I printed out a 10 page article written by a woman reporter during a recent trip of his to Africa (it was a New York -something- article).

It was delicious to read! He's crumbling into little insecure pieces. An investigation into these matters may just send him over the edge. I know we've been wishing that for years. It was a delight to see it happening. (I may have to repay that pleasure karmically someday, it will be worth it. lol)

The man has been seeking approval all his life, and he's finally getting slapped, from every side. He worked hard to deserve it!

Pinz

[AmishDude]

You shouldn't live your life to see Bill Clinton's nervous breakdown. I don't think it will happen. He's a sociopath of some sort. The worst ever was when he attacked Peter Jennings over the Monica thing. He won't get worse than that. A very clever person could probably manipulate him to get him to do a Colonel Jessup moment, but it would take time.

[pinz-n-needlez]

Actually, I live my life to spin, weave, knit and sew. But I keep talk radio, FNC and CPAN on while I do it. :-)

Remind me about Col. Jessup. My brain is hainng a midlife moment.

In the meantime, I'll go try to find that article....

Thanks,
Pinz

[pinz-n-needlez]

Here it is, the NY Metro... http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/features/12469/

BTW, he's definitely running for SC of the UN. Wonder when he'll stick the knife in Kofi's back. ;-)

Pinz

[AmishDude]

Oh, Col. Jessup is the Jack Nicholson character in A Few Good Men. "You can't handle the truth."