Able Danger and the jiggered timeline

American Thinker ^ | 8 12 05 | Clarice Feldman

[george76]

In its latest response to the report that it failed to account for the Able Danger report, the 9/11 Commission spokesman indicates the report was inconsistent with the INS records as to the date of Atta's entry into the US.

Of course, the very idea of considering INS entry records dispositive is itself a howler to anyone who pays attention.Aside from the sloppiness of the controls at our borders and the inadequacy of the INS' record keeping, we know that Atta's April 2001 entry upon which the Commission apparently relies, is itself mysterious. He is recorded as having entered twice on the same day at the same entry point under two different visa numbers.

The mystery of Atta's doppelganger remains unresolved.

The INS inspector general noted in his report that Atta appeared to have entered the US twice on January 10th 20001. That is because Atta had been given two separate admission numbers--- 68653985709, expiring 9/10/01, and 10847166009 expiring July 9th (INS report, p.48).

[Darkwolf377]

Wow, the 9-11 Commission is amateur hour. They can't invent even lame excuses.

[Albion Wilde]

Interesting that his expiration date was the day before the attack.

[TexasTransplant]

Wonder if the papers that Sandy Berger stuck in his pants could shed any light on this subject?

[Travis McGee]

Lending IDs between themselves is a common trick of terrorists and criminals for crossing borders and other purposes. Atta may have lent his ID to another cell member, knowing how sloppy our border controls are.

Able Danger relies on "brilliant data mining" to arrange a picture out of thousands of minute but interrelated factoids. Credit card use, ATM hits, internet use etc are all crunched by computers. But they CANNOT tell WHO exactly USED someone's credit card etc at a particular time.

Some of the discrepancies in the time lines ("Atta was elsewhere when Able Danger said he was in such and such a place") may be the result of Atta and his cell lending IDs, credit cards etc to one another as a matter of convenience.

Able Danger data mining can only tell when an ID or credit card was used, NOT who used it. This does NOT take away from the value of Able Danger information, but it is important to understand this twist.

[Travis McGee]

C5

[onyx]

You're exactly right. One legit ID is passed around (copied) for use by the hundreds. Not exaggerating either.

[okie01]

Able Danger data mining can only tell when an ID or credit card was used, NOT who used it. This does NOT take away from the value of Able Danger information, but it is important to understand this twist.

By the same token, the 9/11 commission insists that Atta could not possibly have been meeting with al-Ani in Prague because, at about the same time, his cell phone was used to make a call in Florida.

[the Real fifi]

Exactly! On the one hand they refuse to credit Czech intelligence and the evidence that Spanish AQ gave Atta a fake visa to go to Prague because his cellphone was used in Florida on that date while on the other they ignore Able Danger and the Dof Agriculture employee who says she met with Atta in Florida in April or May of 2000 before the INS records him entering the country.

Captain's Quarters is on this like paint with some important new information.http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/005201.php

[Travis McGee]

Exactly. The classic example.

[vrwc0915]

Some baddies in the know purposely make a cell phone known to law enforcement and have someone else to physically carry said phone to provide an electronic alibi. While electronic methods are useful good old fashion eyes on surveillance will never be outdated

[nopardons]

bttt

[Travis McGee]

It boggles the mind to wonder how many times IDs are passed back over the fence, to allow more and more illegals to "legally" cross into the USA.

[Travis McGee]

Very true, crooks can do tricks like that. But it in no way takes away the effectiveness of Able Danger type "brilliant data mining" to ferret out subtle connections between people which adds up to a possible terror cell. Really strange factoids, when added up by the hundreds and crunched by supercomputers.

For example, uncommon spices they frequently purchase, unusual soaps which appear on the Von's supermarket account, strange use of phone cards, mini-storage units at the same address, people coming together in cities with no record of their habitation. This is just a fingernail clipping of the landfill of information "brilliant data mining" sifts and collates, looking for connections adding up to a terror cell.

No one set of factoids is damning, a "smoking gun." This is where folks are misunderstanding things like the FBI looking at library records. The library records are not useful for one person and one book, but as part of the vast constellation of data points which in aggregate make up the picture of a terror cell.

Little or none of the data mined information is used in a conventional evidenciary manner. The goal is to ID possible terror cells, and then apply old fashioned surveillance techniques to find the confirmational evidence, and go if for the arrest, or for the kill.

[newzjunkey]

the 9-11 Commission is amateur hour.

Well, when you consider one of the commissioners had a key part in making sure this information never reached the FBI thanks to her "Gorelick Wall" policy, you can't expect the panel to be much more than a lame white wash drowning with incompetence.

I agree, their excuse is beyond lame and doesn't even rate "fig leaf" status.

[Myrddin]

Good observation with respect to knowing when and where an item was used, but being unable to assure the user was the actual owner of the ID.

I'm reminded of the technique of cutting off a tracking collar from an animal and hanging it on the back end of an 18 wheel truck. It would be dead simple to pass "terrorist" ids to ignorant individuals with permission to use them as a diversionary tactic.

[newzjunkey]

While electronic methods are useful good old fashion eyes on surveillance will never be outdated

Which makes the dismantling of HUMAN intelligence under the Clinton regime all that more despicable.

[papertyger]

I just don't understand why Able Danger is so earth shattering. I'm reading thousands of details here on FR and I just can't make the pieces come together in a coherent picture.

Why is the Clinton administration 'hung' with this information when they skated on not taking Bin Laden when the Sudan offered him?

[backhoe]

Able Danger, 9-11 Report, Gorelick, and so much more...

Click the picture...

[piasa]

I'm reading thousands of details here on FR and I just can't make the pieces come together in a coherent picture.

Some of us though, have been getting some fairly coherent pictures on several fronts.

An example of putting little pieces together is the Niger flap thing and the CBS TANG forgeries that Buckhead and another web site helped expose.

Little details have revealed when the press has been pulling our leg or hasn't revealed all it knows about people it cites as sources.

Lots of little reports reveal reporters' sources hammering in "talking points" more easily than if you read just one report. If you only read one report on an event you won't see the talking point and won't know you're emotions are being manipulated.