Able Danger: Pentagon Spikes Witnesses While Shaffer Reveals New Source

The New York Times reports this evening that the Pentagon has blocked its military witnesses from testifying on Able Danger at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings tomorrow. Senator Arlen Specter registered his surprise but plans on holding the hearings anyway (h/t: AJ Strata):

The Pentagon said today that it had blocked a group of military officers and intelligence analysts from testifying at an open Congressional hearing about a highly classified military intelligence program that, the officers have said, identified a ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks as a potential terrorist more than a year before the attacks.

The announcement came a day before the officers and intelligence analysts had been scheduled to testify about the program, known as Able Danger, at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. ...

Mr. Specter said his staff had talked to all five of the potential witnesses and found that "credibility has been established" for all of them.

"There are quite a few credible people who are prepared to testify that Mohamed Atta was identified long before 9/11," he said. "Now maybe there's more than one Mohamed Atta. Or maybe there's some mistake. But that's what we're trying to find out."

The Pentagon might think that withdrawing its witnesses will keep Able Danger from breaking wide open, but they will find themselves sorely mistaken. This only demonstrates that the program found something that the Pentagon still wants hidden. If that includes a finding that their program not only found Atta and other AQ terrorists over a year before the attacks, but also predicted the USS Cole attack three weeks before it happened, and that the Pentagon shut down the program anyway, eighteen Senators will want to know why.

In fact, the withdrawal of the witnesses clearly shows that the story has substance and isn't a case of mistaken identity. Had this just been an identification of a second Mohammed Atta, as Specter postulates, the Pentagon should have no problem putting its witnesses on the stand. Nothing about a mistaken identity would create a classification problem for the hearing tomorrow.

QT Monster has a transcript from tonight's interview of LTC Tony Shaffer on the Jerry Doyle radio show. Shaffer says Donald Rumsfeld himself gave the order to stop the witnesses from appearing at the Judiciary Committee hearing:

JD: Well, when you say DoD, where's this coming from at DoD? Is this instructions to DoD from higher ups? Is this people in DoD who are afraid of what information gets out? I mean who is the person who's making this happen? AS: What I will tell you is I was told by 2 DoD officials today directly that it is their understanding that the Secretary of Defense directed that we not testify tomorrow. That is my understanding.

However, Shaffer says that former Major Eric Kleinstadt, now a civilian contractor, will still testify at the panel. Kleinstadt received the orders to destroy the Able Danger database. Specter's insistence that the hearings go forward probably hinges on Kleinstadt's ability to testify to the information that got destroyed, who ordered its destruction, and why. From that point, the committee could unravel an entire command sequence that will uncover how Able Danger got missed by the 9/11 Commission.

Another interesting fact got mentioned in Shaffer's interview. He spoke about a Dr. Eileen Pricer. One of the more mysterious potential sources of the Able Danger story involved a female PhD that could corroborate Shaffer and Phillpott, the woman who actually developed the Atta identification in the first place. I Googled Eileen Pricer and got just one hit -- but it's a doozy.

It turns out that Dr. Pricer testified before a closed session of Congressional subcommittee on national security exactly one month after 9/11. That testimony isn't available, but Rep. Christopher Shays mentions her on the record in the next day's public testimony:

Mr. Shays. In a briefing we had yesterday, we had Eileen Pricer, who argues that we don't have the data we need because we don't take all the public data that is available and mix it with the security data. And just taking public data, using, you know, computer systems that are high-speed and able to digest, you know, literally floors' worth of material, she can take relationships that are seven times removed, seven units removed, and when she does that, she ends up with relationships to the bin Laden group where she sees the purchase of chemicals, the sending of students to universities. You wouldn't see it if you isolated it there, but if that unit is connected to that unit, which is connected to that unit, which is connected to that unit, you then see the relationship. So we don't know ultimately the authenticity of how she does it, but when she does it, she comes up with the kind of answer that you have just asked, which is a little unsettling. Unsettling? Christopher Shays described Able Danger thirty-one days after the 9/11 attacks. What else did Eileen Pricer tell the Congressional subcommittee on national security on October 11, 2001? Did Pricer tell Shays that the information no longer existed but did at one time?

Senator Specter should invite Christopher Shays to have a seat on the witness bench, and he should also start issuing subpoenas for the witnesses that the Pentagon wants to silence. We need answers, and we need to know that our country will fight terrorism with every tool at its disposal.

Mr. Smith would have indicated he was tasked with compiling information and put it into charts containing massive amounts of data showing associational links.

Kept one chart on wall until summer 2004 when it was destroyed during an office move. The chart had Atta on the chart and 3 others of the 20 hijackers.

He would have made one mention that in one point in time, he wasn't there then, that federal agents came to Orion in March/April 2000 and confiscated much of the data that Orion had compiled. They never obtained his charts or data because it was unclassified and it wasin the trunk of his car.

After spring 2000 that contract ceased to exist so he didn't participate in the efforts.

Specter: Was it THE Atta?

Answer: Yes. The photo came through a contractor, a foreign source . It was the look of the photo that post 9/11 that he had the chart in his office and show anyone who came by and say "look what we compiled" and shake his head and say what if.

The chart was destroyed. It was on tissue paper and it was taped to the wall and when they moved the office, it tore.

second set of notes

Zaid says the main focus should be "where are the other terrorists identified on those charts".?

Kyle establishes the fact that the witnesses themselves should be allowed to testify.

Maj Erik Kleinsmith, retired, Former Chief of Intelligence, Land Information Warfare Analysis testifies. Explains how data mining can assist in intelligence gathering.

Special Operations approached him to support Able Danger. We were able to map Al Queda as worldwide threat within 4 months. they were shut down because of concerns about
oversight concerns, dictated by Intelligence Oversight rules we had to live by.

Specter asks what knowledge he has about destruction of documents. Kleinsmith says I'm the guy. I destroyed data. all of it classified and unclassified. all charts, all soft and hard copy destroyed or deleted.

We May, JUne 2000 is when documentation was destroyed.
We got instructions, Tony Gentry ordered it all destroyed. Army 381-10 regulation regarding keeping info on private citizens no longer than 90 days.

"Delete this info or you guys will go to jail," Gentry told Kleinsmith"

Specter is most interested in finding out if all this is connected to Posse Commitattttas. spector is a one trick pony, on Posse C. Gentry says no, it's not Posse C, it's army regulations. Specter is disappointed..that's his main interest.

Kleinsmith believes Shaeffer, and Philpott IMPLICITELY. Kleinsmith doesn't remember seeing Atta himself, but he believes Shaeffer and Philpott when they say they saw Atta and remember seeing his picture.

Kleinsmith said every night I say, if we had not been shut down, we would have been able to help prevent 9-ll. we think we might have helped prevent it....me and the members of our team all believe that.

thank God! Senator Sessions showed up!!!
Kleinsmith says I could have convveniently forgotten to delete the information, but that would have violated the specific army regulation.
Kleinsmith consulted legal advice before he deleted Able Danger.

Sessions ask if Army regulation should be changed? Kleinsmith says my recommendation would be to investigate how helpful open data mining can be in fighting terrorists.

Sessions says we get after the mililtary for breaking regulations, now we are after them for keeping them.
Lawyer Zaid tells Sessions private contractors are under no regulations to prevent them from open data gathering. Says the Army got into trouble over helping .local law enforcemtn at Waco.

Zaid says as he understands the laws, Able Danger would not have crossed the line of being in violation of the Army regulation, or Posse C.

Those within Able Danger wwere confident they didn't cross the legal line, Zaid says.
What happened is when Atta was connected to Brooklyn, that made legal eagles think he was a private citizen.

Specter identifies Schaeffer and J. D. Smith The DoD has prohibited them from testifying, explains Zaid. Schaeffer specifically, and Smith becsause I advised him not to until we get specific instructions, because he still works for DoD.

J.D. Smith's contract with Orion at the Pentagon had no link to classified information.
Zaid says no information involved here is classified. Zaid says there is no reason why they should be prevented from testifying today.

Atta's photo was not a government provided photo. It was from private source. Smith remembers it because of the evil look.

Zaid is good, doing excellent job in explaining background of how 9-ll Commission staff got briefing on Atta, but never followed up. (I missed the name of the 9-ll Commission Deputy who got the briefing from Schaefffer). Sometime between the time Schaeffer briefed the 9-ll staff and the publication of the Report, someone made the decision for the Commission to ignore Able Danger.

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