This can only be a coverup by the Pentagon.
If the project was closed and all the 2 terabytes of data collected ordered destroyed; why bother prevent these military officers from testifying about it?
Plus, someone in the DOD pulled the security clearance of one of the officers who corroborated the story -- this is a relalitory move and against the Whistle Blower Laws.
I disagree. You want to believe it is a cover-up, so you refuse to allow for any other possible interpretation of the evidence. Your mind is closed to two-way traffic; there is only one destination possible in your mind.
In my mind I see the possibility of a cover-up. I also see the possibility that this was a bleeding-edge Pentagon initiative that foundered on the shoals of Clinton-era political correctness. That much is in the public domain already, placed there by Shaffer without interference from the DoD, so there certainly was no "cover-up" to that extent. But Able Danger was apparently a highly sophisticated software/data analysis program that merited the highest security classification. There are likely many legitimate concerns about puking these secrets all over the media so our enemies can get smart at no expense to themselves.
"Cover-up" implies CYA carried out by criminals who have reason to fear for their own protection and well-being if the truth is made known. Sorry. I just don't see Rumsfeld as falling into that category. Rummy is nothing if not straight-up, fearless, and brutally candid. He is a man of integrity, not a fearful desperate coward. So although I am able to see more than one possible interpretation of the evidence, I tend toward a more innocent and honorable explanation consistent with the character of the man who apparently ordered Shaffer not to testify under the hearings as presently constituted.