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To: azsportsterman

There is one account of a big (internal) fuss about ABLE DANGER in May 2000 (during Clinton administration) when the private contractor doing at least a key segment of the work was abruptly fired (see below). But I have the strong impression that AD was not terminated as a program until Feb. 2001 -- I'll try to find the link for that, it's somewhere on the 'ATTA' list of threads.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1471803/posts




[from NY Post story linked above]:

Cyber-sleuths working for a Pentagon intelligence unit that reportedly identified some of the 9/11 hijackers before the attack were fired by military officials, after they mistakenly pinpointed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other prominent Americans as potential security risks, The Post has learned.

The private contractors working for the counter-terrorism unit Able Danger lost their jobs in May 2000. The firings following a series of analyses that Pentagon lawyers feared were dangerously close to violating laws banning the military from spying on Americans, sources said.

The Pentagon canceled its contract with the private firm shortly after the analysts — who were working on identifying al Qaeda operatives — produced a particularly controversial chart on proliferation of sensitive technology to China, the sources said.

-snip-

Sources said the private contractors, using sophisticated computer software that sifts through massive amounts of raw data to establish patterns, came up with a chart of Chinese strategic and business connections in the U.S.

-snip-

The China chart was put together by James Smith, who confirmed yesterday that his contract with the military was canceled and he was fired from his company because the military brass became concerned about the focus on U.S. citizens.

-snip-

"It was shut down in a matter of hours. The colonel said our service was no longer needed and told me: 'You just ended my career.' "


184 posted on 08/29/2005 7:05:39 PM PDT by Enchante
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To: Enchante

Weldon did speak about "the chart" tonight and says he has a psuedo-copy of it but that he gave the original one to somebody else (Steve Shandler?). I was left with the impression it's in good hands.


191 posted on 08/29/2005 7:08:10 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: Enchante

WOW...great find!


253 posted on 08/29/2005 7:32:15 PM PDT by nopardons
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