Posted on 10/20/2005 3:37:30 AM PDT by ovrtaxt
Life is always more complicated than we’d like to believe. Here is the simple version of the story. General Henry H. Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, created a black ops counter terrorism group in the Pentagon called, “ Able Danger.” A year before Mohammad Atta and his fellow Muslim fanatics carried out their attacks on 09/11, Able Danger surfaced their existence and sought to make this information known to the FBI.
They were prevented from doing so because Pentagon lawyers relied on a memorandum-- written in 1995 by Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick-- that built a wall of separation between domestic and foreign intelligence.
Gorelick served on the 09/11 Commission and was in a position to cover up her malfeasance, which in part explains why Able Danger’s revelations about this event did not get into the report and why spokesmen for the Commission first denied and have now dismissed the validity of Able Danger’s information.
What’s wrong with this picture?
The controlling legal authority on the distribution of information between the Pentagon and the FBI is not Jamie Gorelick’s memorandum or any of a set of memoranda written during the Clinton years and often confused with the Gorelick memorandum but President Ronald Reagan’s Executive Order 12333.
As one might expect knowing that President Reagan signed this memorandum, rather than hinder cooperation between the Pentagon and the FBI, President Reagan mandated cooperation between military intelligence and the FBI (Section 1.11).
Besides, when intelligence officers discover information that is vital to national security, they have ways of getting around legal restrictions. Much the same way, intelligence organizations of nation states, even adversarial nation states, often create ad hoc and informal relationships to accomplish between themselves things of mutual interest that otherwise could not be accomplished.
So the picture as it is now developed expects us to accept that a group of Pentagon lawyers, with or without the participation of the Department of Justice, used not Executive Order 12333 to determine whether the Able Danger’s information should go to the FBI but Jamie Gorelick’s memorandum of 1995.
And given the significance of this information, none of the Able Danger team members or anyone else who had access to this information was capable of getting this information to the FBI, not even through an anonymous tip with a Middle Eastern accent.
Beyond the Executive Order, there is the matter of Laird v. Tatum (1972) in which the Supreme Court upheld the Army’s right to spy on domestic groups.
Then there is the opinion of the District Court, in the Northern District of Illinois, in ACLU v. Westmoreland (1972) that also upheld that right.
So the Pentagon lawyers ignored the legal precedent, the controlling Executive Decree and instead relied on the Gorelick memorandum
But even the most cursory reading of the full Gorelick memorandum says none of the things that are attributed to it. If this is a smoking gun, the mirrors can’t be far behind. I suspect that many people writing about the Gorelick memorandum have simply not read it and relied on the quotations culled by others.
Gorelick’s memorandum refers to two cases, United States v. Rahman et. al. and United States v. Yousef, et. al., both in the Southern District of New York and related to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. The memorandum is not a general policy statement. It is concerned with future surveillance under the Federal Intelligence Security Act (1978), and how that surveillance can be implemented and kept from contaminating the ongoing criminal investigation.
There was little doubt that whatever the outcome of these cases, they would be appealed, and that the defense attorneys would attempt to use the criminal process to get national security information, including information on government informants and their families.
Rahman’s appeal to the Supreme Court was denied on January 10, 2000. Ramzi Yousef, Eyad Ismoil and Abdul Hakim Mura also appealed to the Supreme Court, challenging the jurisdiction of the United States, and this was denied on May 3, 2002.
The government successfully blocked the defense’s legal attempts to gain access to national security information.
At the time Gorelick wrote her memorandum the government needed to expand its counter intelligence gathering but also to keep the new FISA- generated surveillance separate from the federal criminal investigations. Why? Because FISA courts act in secret and grant surveillance requests under a different standard than do criminal courts.
If a defense attorney can show that the FISA court was used as a ruse to circumvent the criminal justice standard, then the attorney can argue that the government violated his client’s Fourth Amendment Rights.
Gorelick’s oft quoted but apparently misunderstood reference to creating a procedure that would go beyond what was legally required refers only to the separation of FISA acquired surveillance from the specific on-going criminal investigation.
But even here, there is no total separation because the memorandum also creates a procedure for implementing “proactive surveillance” if the criminal justice investigation surfaced information that made such surveillance vital. And if exigent circumstances existed, even that procedure could be bypassed.
The bandied about “walled off” quote has nothing to do with even the separation of the two investigations, leading to additional corroboration that most people engaged in pounding on the Gorelick memorandum simply haven’t bothered to read it.
The “walled off” statement refers to an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA), who is expressly tasked to be liaison between the criminal investigation and the national security investigation. His mission is twofold: First, to inform the criminal investigation if the national security surveillance surfaces information that a crime is going to be committed.
Second, “to review such foreign intelligence information to ensure that evidence that might be exculpatory to any defendants currently under indictment is promptly considered for dissemination to criminal investigative personnel….”
This is an intriguing legal maneuver because it anticipates that the defense will allege that there is exculpatory information in the FISA surveillance, and the defense needs to have access to it. The government will, of course, deny access, and the defense will allege it is impossible to obtain a fair trial
The government can now argue that it put into place well in advance a procedure to find and deliver exculpatory evidence.
Since the AUSA will have access to the FISA information and the federal criminal investigation, what would prevent him from corrupting the criminal investigation with FISA generated material?
Here is where the “walled off” term enters the discussion: “That AUSA will continue to be ‘walled off’ from participation in the on-going criminal investigations….” Clearly, the memorandum “walls off” a specific person dealing with a specific set of cases, not a policy process.
This is hardly what has been portrayed in the near hysterical commentaries.
If Pentagon lawyers did rely on the Gorelick memorandum to prevent Able Danger from disseminating its information to the FBI, then we not only need to indict them for depraved indifference in the murder of three thousand of our fellow citizens; we need to immediately find out where they got their law degrees and have those recalled like a set of defective tires.
Abraham H. Miller is emeritus professor of political science, University of Cincinnati. He writes extensively on matters related to the United States intelligence community for academic and popular venues. He served three terms as chairman of the Intelligence Studies Section of the International Studies Association.
<< It is my understanding that the wall began with Jimmy Carter. >>
Any investigation into the wall's provenance leads through the ever-increasing corruption and criminality that has marked and continues to define the now considerably almost eighty years the machinery of the federal government has been increasingly and more corruptly in the hands of activist "Democrats."
All of the threads pass through and are tainted by the Soviet-agent riddled Roosevelt administration and through the bastard offspring of the Communist Party of America [Including the male parent of -- and explaining the life-long pathological anti-Americanism of one John F Kerry] who comprised then and comprise now the State and every other departments' self-perpetuating brahmanas.
As still are most members of his family, including the swimmer, Kennedy was pro-actively engaged with a much wider cross-section of America's organised crime than resides within the federal bureaucracy -- and the habitual drunkard, Johnson, who went from wrong-side-of-the tracks school teacher to our president's office without ever having earned a single free-enterprise Dollar, was too busy building a corruptly-obtained personal fortune worth about a Billion 2005 Dollars [And whose junior consigliere and bag-man, Bill Moyers, both almost single-handedly destroyed the Nixon presidency and continues to fatten himself of the public tit] to be other than a willing and actively-criminal participant.
Although the beginning of the islamists' war also tracks straight to it, Carter's gutlessness, ineptitude and incompetence [As incidently, later on, did Colin Powell's] permitted him to be easily manipulated by the self-annointed, self-appointed and self-perpetuating permenant federal public service.
But it was only when the already abjectly corruptly, criminally and communist-Chinese-compromised co-serial-rapist Clintons' Crime Family came to town that the need to Balkanize and to ghettoize the various agencies became absolutely imperative to the survival of that gang of lying, looting, mass-murdering thugs, which dedicated itself to ensuring that the copious quantities of CIA, NSC and other intelligence-agency-gathered evidence of Clinton's, his wife's and the administration's treason and systemic criminality did not find its way to the FBI and Justice. In taking the actions that sufficiently covered the Clinton Gang's tracks to keep most of them from prison, that gang and its willing permenant bureaucracy accomplices also prevented the movement from place to place of the information of crucial importance to America's security.
Such visible operatives as such of its more visible manifestations of evil as second-generation lifetime-Soviet-agent, dangerous dullard and September 11 2001-airport-security-subversive, Al-fredo Gore, active chicom agent, John Huang, "wall-memo" issuing, justice-obstructionist, Gorelick, Hubbel, Bader Ginsberg, Reno, Lanny Davis, Harold Ickes, Bruce Lindsey, Richard Benveniste, Tenent, James Hall, James Kallstrom, Sandy Burgler et al were only the tip of the iceberg of a for decades abjectly-politicized and finally-effectively criminalized federal bureaucracy absolutely converted to and dedicated to the at-all-costs corruption-cover-up and preservation of the Clinton Gang.
It is history that the Clinton Gang's visible criminal arrogance -- and particularly after the Mrs-Clinton-conducted firing of every United States Attorney and simultaneous looting and conversion to criminal usage of the FBI's every data base -- all of course ignored and/or wilfully mischaracterized by its every MSM axis-of-evil mate, finally felt no restraints and knew no bounds.
It is of course another story that George W Bush has not only refused and/or resisted every effort to pursue the owed every American criminal investigations of every member of that gang but has also contributed to the Clintons' and to their gang's rehabilitations, speaks very poorly of Mr Bush and of America's self-appointed oligarchy.
And will, along with Mrs Miers and America's Sovereign Borders and a few other glaring abrogations, no doubt be debited to the Republican Party's ongoing accounts!
Sukkot Shabbat, All Y'All.
Blessings -- Brian
BUMPping
T&T!
The list of subversives is endless on the left.
lol! You still have my quote in your tagline- cool!
Ping
I concluded long ago that the CIA and FBI had the responsibility to know about the terrorists and their plans. They had the information to draw the correct conclusion that we would be attacked by our own airliners being flown into buildings by Islamic militants. When confronted by the information they did not believe it. ABLE DANGER says there was more and better information than previously known.
Conclusions:
FBI and CIA were negligent and derelict and people died as a result.
The 9/11 Commission was wrong. The government knew or should have known we were going to be attacked.
The Commission is a whitewash to absolve the executive branch.
Jamie the Pig Gorelick built the HIGHER wall!
What info drew you to those conclusions before Able Danger? I suspected as much myself, but I couldn't quite connect the dots until recently.
FBI and CIA were negligent and derelict and people died as a result.
The 9/11 Commission was wrong. The government knew or should have known we were going to be attacked.
The Commission is a whitewash to absolve the executive branch.
I have gradually and reluctantly come to the same conclusions.
What motive would the Pentagon have to hold secret information regarding the life and death of Americans? Life or death information allegedly withheld due some cockeyed memorandam from some lame brained congress creature?
I can't imagine that. This dog won't hunt. No way no how.
Yeah, right, and we ran right out and spied all over the peace movement - not.
What we did was pull our heads back in and hide out until .... sometime around 9/11.
Executive Orders provide authority, which is useless in the absence of responsibility and backbone.
<< What motive would the Pentagon have to hold secret information regarding the life and death of Americans? Life or death information allegedly withheld due some cockeyed memorandam from some lame brained congress creature?
I can't imagine that .... >>
We understand that you cannot.
But all that is limited by your inability to imagine/[Comprehend/"understand"/appreciate etceteras] reality and or by your failure and/or inability to imagine and/or to recognize evil is your imagination/comprehension/appreciation/recognition.
All you are seeing is the projection of your own lack of imagination and, one trusts, of your own inherent goodness and innocence.
But the Truth is still the Truth.
And, sad to say, your ignorance also is similarly pretty much a constant.
Blessings -- Brian
Wow, Brian- you almost sound like f.Christian! And that's no easy feat.
Takenoprisoner, are you saying that Gorelick's 'wall' memo had nothing to do with Able Danger info being suppressed by DOD lawyers?
<< Wow, Brian- you almost sound like .........! And that's no easy feat. >>
I sound like me.
And it's a piece of cake!
[With 7/8th of my brain tied behind my back]
"Takenoprisoner, are you saying that Gorelick's 'wall' memo had nothing to do with Able Danger info being suppressed by DOD lawyers?"
I'm saying it could be red herring. I'm saying that you and Mr. Allen are not the authoity on this.
Now Mr. Allen let's talk about your ability to imagine since you have so brazenly challenged mine. Imagine (if you can) that you held info you knew could effect the lives of your fellow Americans, would you allow some memo from some congress creature (and inspite of lawyers) prevent you from getting that life or death information into the right hands? Or would you find some way around that memo (even if you erroneously believed it to be the law)in order to protect American lives? Or would you lay low (erroneously slouching behind the skirts of gorelick's law like some sort of wussie) allowing three thousand plus souls to perish because you feared that you might somehow violate the law and in the process ruin your army career?
What's your call Allen?
What you're questioning isn't even in doubt. The way you characterize it, that's pretty much how it happened.
Did you happen to see the hearing on CSPAN about a month ago? It was beyond belief! Remember, we were not on alert before 911 the way we are now.
<< Now [Brian] let's talk about your ability to imagine since you have so brazenly challenged mine.
Imagine (if you can) that you held info you knew could effect the lives of your fellow Americans, would you allow some memo from some congress creature (and inspite of lawyers) prevent you from getting that life or death information into the right hands? Or would you find some way around that memo (even if you erroneously believed it to be the law)in order to protect American lives? Or would you lay low (erroneously slouching behind the skirts of gorelick's law like some sort of wussie) allowing three thousand plus souls to perish because you feared that you might somehow violate the law and in the process ruin your army career?
What's your call [Brian]? >>
To such an unimaginative challenge I shall dig [The very tips of the fingers of one hand] into my bag of tricks and experience of the kind of folks to whom you allude and draw you a picture.
In the process I shall keep the necessity that you employ any imagination to the absolute minimum.
It is important, though, that I most emphatically point out to you that although I have been exposed to the kind of poor fish I suggest you cannot imagine, I am not one of them.
As to whom I am referring, imagine if you can that America is a massive talent pool. Then imagine the 25 thousand or so of to-some-slight-degree-or-other FRee enterprise American busnesses, companies, corporations and other employers, all of which get to fish, net, seine, trawl, long-line and drift-net the American talent pool.
Before the feral and other gummints get to dredge the pool's bottom for what's left -- and some tounge-chewin' babblin' idiot floatsam and jetsom to bring up the quota hire numbers -- and gets to put them all in charge of its agencies.
Then imagine (if you can) that every one of those held info he knew could effect the lives of his fellow Americans allowed some memo from some congress creature [And in spite of lawyers] to prevent him from getting that life or death information into the right hands.
OR TO ANY PLACE WHERE IT MET ALL OF THE OTHER KEY PIECES OF INFORMATION THAT COMPLETED AN OTHERWISE UNIMAGINED AND INVISIBLE-TO-ALL-BUT-A-VERY-FEW-OF-US SECURITY MOSAIC.
The imagine that none of those who held those pieces of information bothered to find any way around that memo [Some even believing it to be the law, some being too bloody stupid and/or indolent to notice - others believing that continuing to support the Clinton Crime Family pre-empted any other course of action and still others being too damned evil and/or mean-spirited to care] in order to protect American lives.
And imagine that every last one of them but one [Who is at present for his courage being stripped of his honor and Marine Corps pension] continued to lay low [Maliciously and/or erroneously slouching behind the skirts of the Gorelicker's law like the every sort of totalitarian-socialist agenda-driven wussies they are] and allowed three thousand plus souls to perish because he feared that he might somehow violate the law and in the process ruin his army career?
Get it?
Good.
Now you are imagining precisely what happened.
Blessings -- Brian
The left hand does not know what the right hand is doing and the larger the Fed Gov't gets the greater the information gap.
Are you thinking of the same pentagon intelligence that allowed the bombing of tents in the desert, an aspirin factory and the Chinese embassy?
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