DoD "ABLE DANGER" FINDINGS

With all of the turmoil in New Orleans, this story is not going to get much attention right now.

Nonetheless, it's worth mentioning because it does prove that Curt Weldon is not the nutcase that Dems tried to make him out to be. I think some conservative commentators owe him an apology as well.

DoD Discusses ‘Able Danger’ Findings

By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1, 2005 -- The Defense Department today announced its findings after three weeks of investigations into allegations made by two military intelligence officers about the “Able Danger” program.

After doing extensive document searches and interviewing 80 people involved with the Able Danger program, DoD officials have been unable to find the chart alleged to have contained a photo of Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta, said Pat Downs, a senior policy analyst with the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.

Through interviews, DoD officials did find three people who recall a chart with either a photo or a reference to Atta, Downs said. The three are in addition to Army Reserve Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott, a military intelligence officer with U.S. Special Operations Command, who originally came forward with allegations that Atta had been identified before Sept. 11.

One person who recalled the chart was a SOCOM civilian analyst; one was an analyst with the Land Information Warfare Activity; and one was a contractor, said Thomas Gandy, the Army’s director of counterintelligence and human intelligence.

DoD officials have searched documents from all organizations involved with Able Danger, in addition to all the documents sent to the 9/11 commission, Downs said. They found a chart similar to the one described by the five people, but it did not contain a photo or a reference to Atta, she said.

The interviews were conducted with people who were involved both integrally and peripherally with Able Danger, said Navy Cmdr. Christopher Chope, of SOCOM’s Center for Special Operations. These interviews have not been completed, and some people are being re-interviewed as more information is discovered, Downs said.

There is a possibility that such a chart could have been destroyed, because during Able Danger, strict regulations about destruction of documents containing information about U.S. persons were followed, Gandy said. However, the officials found no indication that legal advice was given to anyone involved with the program to destroy documents, Chope said.

So--

According to the Defense Department's on-going investigation, six people are on the record saying that Mohammed Atta was identified before 9/11.

Will the Democrats attempt to smear these individuals as they did Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer?

I doubt it.

I think right now the Dems are focusing all their efforts on exploiting Hurricane Katrina in order to damage President Bush and his administration. I'd be surprised if they bothered to dig up any dirt to discredit these other people.

What with John Roberts's confirmation hearings coming up and the disaster in the Gulf, I doubt Able Danger and the fact that Atta was identified as a threat prior to 9/11 will be of interest to many.

It could come up if Hillary tries to claim credit for the "peaceful" 1990s Clinton era when she seeks the Dem nomination in 2008.

In any event, I'm sure she won't repeat her "Bush knew" line in an attempt to score political points.