Atta files destroyed by Pentagon

The Washington Times ^ | 9-22-25 | Bill Gertz

[stan_sipple]

Pentagon lawyers during the Clinton administration ordered the destruction of intelligence reports that identified September 11 leader Mohamed Atta months before the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, according to congressional testimony yesterday. A lawyer for two Pentagon whistleblowers also told the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday that the Defense Intelligence Agency last year destroyed files on the Army's computer data-mining program known as Able Danger to avoid disclosing the information.

[El Gato]

Regulations required destroying intel on U.S. citizens after 90 days. Atta and the other three 9/11 terrorists identified by Able Danger were NOT U.S. citizens.

Am I mistaken, or was Atta actually an American citizen? I thought all this time that he was an alien on a visa.

The regulations refer to US persons, which aparently includes legal resident aliens, either permanent or temporary. They thought Atta was legal, but in reality he wasn't. I didn't say the regulations made sense, nor the court rulings they are based on, which give most Constitutional protections to legal and even illegal aliens.

[bobsunshine]

I agree with you in that I do think the Administration acted to keep the information private. I heard yesterday that Rummy would allow the AD members to talk to the committee in private, due to national security issues. Since the gov. is still doing some sort of data-mining, various groups would file all sorts of lawsuits, etc. if it was known that some of the information was on private citizens (90 day window).

So, if the Gov. would allow the AD team to talk in private, then I don't think there is any "cover-up". Remember, if the committee issues subpoenas, the AD team would testify, then any "cover-up" would be blown. Also, most of the information by Shaffer and others has already been given to the public. Only one not heard from is Dr. Pricer.

If sources and methods are going to end up being revealed, I don't have a problem with this being done in private, mainly because if exposed in public, the current methods may not be as effective and more people may die. I am not completely sold that this is what's going on but for the moment I'll give Bush and others the benefit of the doubt.

That said, I would like to know in open hearings,
Why did the 9/11 commission not act on the information presented to them by the AD team and dig deeper. Did anyone stop that investigation?

HERE is another interesting comment.

According to blogspot Topdog08.com, he said "the word I got from him (a friend checking Shaffer's story about Rummy) was that contrary to popular knowledge, Rummy didn't pull the plug on the witnesses, it came from "Cobweb".

Cobweb is security for Vice President's office "Cheney" or assistant, per Secret Service.

Site for all code names:

http://www.2600.com/secret/more/codes.html

[Piranha]

I'm not ignoring the impact of the Clinton Administration's gross neglect of the problem of terrorism and OBL in particular. I personally believe (and it is a belief because I don't have proof) that the Gorelick wall played a major part in enabling al-Qaeda to function as well as it did, and that Clinton's refusal to engage OBL (and in particular to take him from Sudan) made the problem much, much worse for the US after Clinton left office. I also would not be surprised to learn that OKC and the plane that went down over Long Island were directly tied in to al-Qaeda, but the information that had been gathered was destroyed under the 90-day policy.

Al of that has nothing to do with the Bush Administration's destruction last year of documents relevant to an ongoing investigation of a critical national security issue.

[Political Junkie Too]

How come no one is mentioning William Cohen during all of this?

-PJ

[Paulus Invictus]

Rush has said nothing yet about the Able Danger mess and the failure of the DOD to allow the Able Danger people to testify. This is a huge issue! Who are they protecting, Clinton or Bush?

[eyespysomething]

Wow, that's really interesting. Really interesting. And it may very well be, plus wasn't she the provost at Stanford? Would that have been the same time period as the Chinese students were identified? I can see in such a huge data mining effort many names coming up.

I really want to know the truth, to know what's going on.

[tennmountainman]

Right on coserv. Posters here still seem to blame the media for Sandy Berger getting a slap on the wrist, blame the media for not mentioning Able Danger and blame DOD for not allowing the witnesses to testify.

NEED I REMIND YOU WE REPUBLICANS CONTROL ALL THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT.
PENTEGON EMPLOYEE'S WORK FOR RUMMY. RUMMY WORKS FOR BUSH.
WE ARE IN THE MAJORITY IN BOTH HOUSES. EVEN THOUGH WE DON'T ACT LIKE IT.

[eyespysomething]

This transcends party lines, obviously. I am not partisan when it comes to protecting our citizens from outside terrorists: I don't care who has undertaken what appears to be some kind of corruption - I want them to get theirs. I want the truth and I CAN handle it.

Big bump to that!

[tennmountainman]

Rush has been given his talking points.

[popdonnelly]

My apology for suggesting that you did.

[eyespysomething]

post mark

[cmiller623]

Just another Government cover up "for the good of the country" blah, blah, blah. This whole thing makes me sick to my stomach. Thank God Weldon has been pursuing this. Savage had a lawyer on last night that has been representing a couple of the Whistleblowers. Nice to see Bill Gertz take up the investigative reporting!

[Fawn]

Yes--I apologize that I insinuated that you ate too much mercury. Happy now? :)

[ArmyTeach]

Thanks. I forgot to put the (sarc off) at the end of my post. The desination of US PERSONS seems to be a broad and undefined category - a perfect cover.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Ask Jamie Goerlick (sp)... the fact she left messages for Weldon saying she was innocent in this is very suspicious.

[ravingnutter]

Found this in a search:

Condoleezza Rice and the Stanford spy ring

[ksen]

They[the democrats] thought they got away with it . . . but didn't.

What makes you think they haven't? I haven't seen any of them led away handcuffed in an orange jumpsuit yet.

[PureTrouble]

The 9/11 commission was put together to find out what was the most damaging information and then discredited it with its report. Then ordered the discredited information destroyed, because both parties realized that they were going to get really dirty and messed up with the release of info.

Was it Clintoons or current admin? who knows, but there was definitely a deal made between the 2 parties to let Sandy Berger get off with such a light sentence if say Dem's did something in return, maybe legislation or court picks or something.

Its just Washington political business.

We are just discovering the cleanup after its too late.

[anglian]

This comes to mind - China-gate figure Johnny Chung pled guilty to funneling $10,000 to Kerry and $18,000 to Clinton's 1996 reelection on orders from Chinese General Ji, then the head of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) military intelligence. The money donated to Kerry came directly from cash provided by the Chinese Army General.

According to stories published in the New York Times, Newsweek and the New York Post, Chung came to Kerry's office in July 1996 to seek help in getting Lt. Colonel Liu Chaoying in to meet with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Lt. Colonel Liu was then an executive of China Aerospace, a PLA military owned company that produces nuclear tipped missiles. Liu's sponsor Johnny Chung made clear during a meeting in Senator Kerry's office that she was interested in getting China Aerospace listed on the U.S. Stock Exchange.

[Itzlzha]

H) Bernie Schwarz of Loral

I) Harry Ellen

And who is THIS guy? From an article from Newsmax...

"The (Justice) department's inspector general, according to Solomon, is examining the business dealings of several agents from the FBI's Phoenix Field Office. Solomon reported that court documents allege that some agents and their "assets" were doing business deals with China at the same time the bureau was investigating China's illegal acquisitions of sensitive technologies.

Solomon reported that some agents may have taken over and profited from front companies originally set up to support undercover investigations. Another account, published in the Arizona Republic, has the IG investigation trying to determine whether agents misused their position and their informants for personal gain.

FBI policies regarding the use of informants have been under close scrutiny since the revelations about its handling of a suspected Chinese-American double agent in Los Angeles.

The IG investigation was initiated after Arizona freelance journalist Don Devereux charged that he had uncovered financial illegalities on the part of some Phoenix-based agents. The case is also entangled with allegations by Arizona businessman Harry Ellen. Ellen converted to Islam in the early 1990s and later agreed to work with the bureau against suspected Middle Eastern terrorist groups. Ellen charges that the FBI also targeted him against a Chinese businesswoman, suspected by the bureau of being an intelligence agent.

Gee...and who was Harry Ellen? Let's examine him from these AP stories...

FBI Sent Hamas Money in Late 1990's Monday, October 6, 2003

JOHN SOLOMON

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - While President Clinton was trying to broker an elusive peace between Israelis and Palestinians, the FBI was secretly funneling money to suspected Hamas figures to see if the militant group would use it for terrorist attacks, according to interviews and court documents.

"One of the FBI's key operatives, who has had a falling out with the bureau, provided an account of the operation at a friend's closed immigration court proceeding. AP obtained and reviewed the court documents.

Arizona businessman Harry Ellen testified he permitted the FBI to bug his home, car and office, allowed his Muslim foundation's activities in the Gaza Strip to be monitored by agents, arranged a peace meeting between major Palestinian activists and gained personal access to Yasser Arafat during more than four years of cooperation with the FBI."

I think a LOT of the Charlie Trie/James and Mochtar Riady/John Huang stuff WAS CAUGHT and Collated by Able Danger, along with the Bernie Schwarz Loral garbage!

Hmm...could THIS be any connection?

"According to The Year of the Rat by Edward Timperlake and William C. Triplett, the top contributors to the 1992 Clinton campaign were Chinese agents. In 1996, the leading Clinton donors were U.S. defense contractors doing business with Chinese missile manufacturers.

Where was the CIA in all this? Right in the thick of it. According to the Cox Report, Congressional investigators sought the CIA’s help in probing Hughes Electronics for leaking missile technology to the Chinese.

But instead of helping, the CIA tipped off Hughes about the probe. It revealed the names of employees slated to be interviewed and told the company what questions they would likely be asked.

On another occasion, a CIA scientist named Ronald Pandolfi raised the alarm that Hughes might be leaking missile secrets. The CIA killed his report, according to The New York Times (December 7, 1998).

Chalk it up to the Third Way. Hughes Electronics – a division of General Motors Corporation -- supplies the CIA with satellites and communications equipment. The mutual back-scratching that went on between these two organizations perfectly fulfills Clinton’s vision of public-private cooperation.

As for the Republicans, don’t expect much action from them. Defense contractors donate big bucks to the GOP too.

So I think it overlapped from Islamazi terroism studies to Chinese spying and funding of terror....and those things led RIGHT to X-42's doorstep!

Hence the "destroy all evidence" order when they believed AlGore wasn't going to be elected.

And GHWB's dancing with China and Bush's rather laxadasical attitute towards China may be why the evidence was eliminated in 2004...along with the blackmail threats from the 900+ FBI files.

(Readjusts tin-foil...)