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One of the biggest names of the conference never even uttered a word. Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer is the military intelligence operative who recently went public with a controversial claim that a year before September 11, his top-secret task force "Able Danger" was able to identify the man who later turned out to be the lead hijacker as being connected to al Qaeda. Shaffer is a veteran of top-secret operations against terrorists, including some in Afghanistan, and several of his DIA colleagues have come out publicly to confirm that they remember Mohamed Atta being identified in 2000 as part of...

The principals in the Able Danger story have filed suit to restrain the Department of Defense from retaliating against Tony Shaffer and to allow these witnesses to retain counsel during the closed hearings that Congress has scheduled into the data-mining program. Mark Zaid, representing Shaffer as well as contractor J. D. Smith, filed the suit on Monday against the DoD, DIA, the Army, and their attorneys in the DC district court. I've copied the text into the extended entry of this post. Most of those who have followed Able Danger will not be surprised by the allegations in the lawsuit....

I've created an Able Danger Podcast blog to generate a podcast feed so folks can subscribe to this feed and easily obtain any Able Danger audio (mp3) files. Here is the podcast feed for the Able Danger podcasts. The link to this feed is easy to find at the top left corner of my main blog, QT Monster, just above the Able Danger blog roll. Folks can subscribe to this podcast feed through iTunes. From the iTunes interface pull down the Advanced menu, click on subscribe to podcast, and in the dialogue box paste the URL for this podcast feed:...

Sources close to the ongoing Department of Defense investigation into the controversial Able Danger data mining intelligence program, which purportedly identified Mohammed Atta and three other 9/11 hijackers a year before the worst terror attacks in US history, say the mystery person who actually obtained a much-disputed photograph of Atta for the Able Danger team has now been identified. Ever since the Pentagon-ordered destruction in 2000 of 2.5 terabytes of data unearthed by Able Danger – allegedly including a chart featuring Atta’s photograph that revealed terrorist links and patterns when clicked on – skeptics have long raised doubt about the...

The first 20 minutes or so of the Able Danger conference call was previously posted here. The next three audio clips are here, here and here. Attending this conference call with Congressman Weldon were: AJ Strata from The Strata-Sphere, Dana from Common Sense Political Thought, Curt from Flopping Aces, Mike of Able Danger Blog, QT Monster, Rory O’Connor, Pierre from Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill, Bluto from Jawa Report and The Dread Pundit Bluto.

Some traditional intelligence officials, however, seemed either skeptical or jealous of LIWA's capability. At one conference, "Able Danger" analysts identified four major al-Qaida hubs - the Middle East, East Africa, Balkans and the Far East - in about 90 minutes."Because we weren't an intelligence organization, we got a lot of bad press," he said. "Folks thought we were running fast and loose with the data."By April, the "Able Danger" team was told to end its support of SOCOM. During the month's long work stoppage, SOCOM's patience ran out, and the military command transferred the work to a Raytheon facility in...

Able Danger identified Mohammad Atta and at least 2 other 9-11 hijackers more than a year before the 9-11 attacks. Why was the data that connected Mohammad Atta as a possible terrorist threat to the United States destroyed, and why wasn't this information shared with the FBI so the 9-11 attacks might have been prevented? 1. Dr. Stephen A. Cambone, U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, explains that there wasn't any prohibition against sharing Able Danger information with the FBI. One of Dr. Cambone's colleagues says, "...we share in Army intelligence and DoD intelligence, we share information with the FBI...

China Study Rocks The Hill and Unleashes The Purge: While Cambone tried to link the data purge to this 90-day rule, Weldon and the other witnesses (with first hand knowledge) pointed to the LIWA China Study that was being done in parallel to the Able Danger study. I have stated all along this was the lynchpin, the source of all later cover ups and mistakes and lost opportunities. We all know the story so I will not repeat it here, but what we learned from the hearings is how far up this went. Weldon let slip that the initial China...

No you're right Tony, and the significance here is that the FBI Director back then, Louis Freeh said in October of last year on national television, that if he had had the Able Danger information the FBI might well have been able to stop the hijacking. In our hearing past week, and we had both classified and unclassified, we had five people that testified under oath that they believed the same thing. That if the data they collected, that if the analysis they did had been able to be passed to the FBI, they agree with Louis Freeh, that would...

MediaChannel.org used the powerful new MediaVision tool to monitor television news coverage of the Able Danger Congressional hearings. To our astonishment CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" was the only news show to give Able Danger any significant coverage. We were so shocked by the lack of coverage that we created an online campaign to try to pressure TV news networks to cover, as Lou Dobbs put it, "what could be the biggest scandal of our lifetime." Click here to send networks an email demanding coverage! So, sadly, here it is. All the TV coverage we could find thus far:

25th Item: Holy Cow! Weldon has a signed affidavit from a witness that talked to one of Cambone’s staff recently and who said Cambone’s group was going to ‘kill this story’ and Shaffer had no credibility. The name is Butch Willard This is right after Cambone claimed no one was not trying to ‘bring the information forward’. If Weldon is right, Cambone just perjured himself and is in hot water now. The witness is an ex intelligence officer (woman). They moved all this to the closed session!

Silly me... Here is my take on the hearings. As I suspected - sanitized questions. Stay with me, I'll explain. But before that, one thing got my goat. Cynthia McKinney asking questions? How in the hell does that moonbat get on such an important committee? Anyway, I didn't hear anything today (although some minor points others have noted I find 'difficult' at this point), I haven't heard up to this point. Although I do have privy to some information I can't get into yet (there is a reason I'm anonymouse...). But what I did hear seemed disjointed a bit, and...

Audio of the today's entire Able Danger hearing is posted here.

Rep. Curt Weldon: I've learned some additional things that are new. You saw the Arlen Specter hearing in Judiciary that occurred in September. It's very troubling to me that it appears as though the DOD witness did not tell the truth. We had testimony that all of the Able Danger data-mining material was destroyed. I now know that that's not the case. In fact, I now know there's data still available. And I am in contact with people who are still able to data mining runs on pre-9/11 data. In those data runs that are now being done today, in...

The Able Danger portions of the House whistleblower hearings is posted here.

I am now liveblogging the US House Subcommittee hearing on national security whistle blowers. Lt. Col. Shaffer just finished his opening statement. He will be questioned during this hearing. You can listen now on C-Span Radio. The permalink to this post is here.

WASHINGTON — An active-duty military intelligence analyst has told congressional investigators that 9/11 pilot Mohamed Atta surfaced 13 times in a controversial Pentagon computer program before he executed the attacks, The Post has learned. Congressional sources said last night that an officer in the Pentagon's secretive Land Information Warfare Center told the staff of Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) about the computer hits.

It's looking like the Able Danger story (which the 9-11 Ommission Commission totally disregarded) may be about to take off. I'm told that this Wednesday's House Armed Service joint subcommittee hearing on Able Danger will have some surprises.

Local grad to testify that hijackers were identified before attackWright State University graduate Anthony "Tony" Shaffer, an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel and veteran intelligence operative, will be allowed to testify before the House Armed Services Committee next week about the controversial, once-secret operation, Able Danger. Shaffer, 43, and others involved with the former data-mining operation, claim Able Danger had identified Mohamed Atta and three other Sept. 11 hijackers a year before the terrorist attacks. They have been under a gag order.

Everything you always wanted to know (but were afraid to ask, or the answers were classified…) about the controversial Able Danger data mining project, which identified four 9/11 hijackers a year before the terror attacks. 1. Did Anthony Shaffer, or anyone on the Able Danger team, obtain a photo of Mohamed Atta from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), as Shaffer’s interview with Government Security News (GSN) states? The photo of Atta came from an information broker who provided it and others. Shaffer’s comments were made to GSN based on his knowledge at the time, which came from his knowledge...

A report commissioned in mid-1999 by Rep. Curt Weldon (R) looks into possible Chinese front companies in the US seeking technology for the Chinese military. Dr. Eileen Preisser and Michael Maloof are commissioned to make the report. Dr. Preisser, who runs the Information Dominance Center at the US Army's Land Information Warfare Activity (LIWA) and will later become closely tied to Able Danger, uses LIWA's data mining capabilities to search unclassified information. According to Maloof, their results show Chinese front companies in the US posing as US corporations that acquire technology from US defense contractors. When the study is completed...

WHAT DID the 9/11 Commission know and when did they know it? That's what I want somebody with subpoena power to ask about Operation Able Danger. Or, as ex-FBI Director Louis Freeh said to me this week, "Why is the 9/11 Commission talking about hurricanes and tunnels and all these other things when it looks like they may have missed the single most important fact with respect to Sept. 11?" Freeh was answering my request for a response to comments made by Lee Hamilton and Tom Kean on "Meet the Press" last weekend. Operation Able Danger was an intelligence data-mining...

A petition has been posted here to demonstrate support for a congressional investigation into Able Danger. If you support seeing an investigation please sign the petition. And then you can spread the word here: http://www.petitiononline.com/cgi-bin/mailpage.cgi?weldon/petition.html

Roger Hedgecock was the substitute host on Rush's show yesterday. Close to the end of the second hour Roger had a few words to say about Able Danger. The audio file is up at QT Monster's Place.

That used to be the primary question of Able Danger, but now that we have seen what the DIA has done to the primary whistleblower, the questions have to run deeper than the incompetence of the Omission Commission. The Defense Intelligence Agency stripped Lt. Colonel Tony Shaffer of his clearances over a series of old and bogus charges relating to the use of pens and pads of paper from more than twenty years ago. That effectively ended his career in civilian intelligence work, although it doesn't affect his status in the Army Reserve. The DIA's attack on Shaffer on transparently...

This dismissive and apparently unsupported conclusion would have us believe that a key piece of evidence was summarily rejected in less than 10 days without serious investigation. The commission, at the very least, should have interviewed the 80 members of Able Danger, as the Pentagon did, five of whom say they saw "the chart." But this would have required admitting that the late-breaking news was inconveniently raised. So it was grossly neglected and branded as insignificant. Such a half-baked conclusion, drawn in only 10 days without any real investigation, simply ignores what looks like substantial direct evidence to the contrary...

A completely unexpected interview tonight on the JerryDoyle Show. Jerry Doyle questioned Mr. David Hawkins about Able Danger, the financing of Al Qaeda, John Deutsch, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Gen.Wesley Clark, the destruction of Lt. Col. Shaffer, the marginalizing of Rep. Curt Weldon and something called the French-American Foundation. Really strange stuff. The audio (mp3) is below.

<p>The Army Reserve officer who went public with details about a secret military unit called Able Danger is being fired from his post at the Defense Intelligence Agency, a move that also could end his military career.</p>

Direct link to video: rtsp://video.c-span.org/15days/e110905_weldon.rm (14:59 into video; Requires Real Player) "But we have something new..... Dr. Bob Johnson is a professor and IT expert. Dr. Bob Johnson was the manager and operator of the Garland Unit of Data Mining separate from the Army's [leeway?]. Dr. Bob Johnson has not talked to any of the Able Danger players since the efforts that were taking place in '99 and 2000 and Dr. Bob Johnson told me that his unit also identified Mohammed Atta not by photo but by name before 9/11.." Other points: -Garland's Data was sent to SOCOM. -Able DAnger's...

Weldon is asking for a criminal investigation of the Able Danger coverup.

Ed, in record breaking speed that to me clearly denotes selective retaliatory attention, the DIA's SAB has affirmed the revocation of Tony's security clearance. Unfortunately DIA has seen fit to completely disregard our submissions, and Cong Weldon and Hunters' formal requests to refrain from acting against Tony. This was the final stage of the process. There are no more administrative appeals left with respect to the clearance. A response to the indefinite suspension will be filed tomorrow. I expect that Tony will receive a notice of termination also in record breaking speed. That will take effect no sooner than thirty...

WASHINGTON, Oct 20Last night, Congressman Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), Vice Chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, gave a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives decrying efforts within the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to smear the reputation and career of 23-year defense intelligence officer, LTC Anthony Shaffer. Congressman Weldon also brought forth new information on the destruction of data and findings of the Able Danger planning effort. Below, is the full text of the floor speech as recorded in the Congressional Record.Page: H8979 "The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Reichert). Under the Speaker's announced policy...

After the DIA has decided to run a smear campaign on LTC Tony Shaffer and to destroy his credibility, apparently for his revelations about Able Danger, the credibility of the agency itself has come under serious question. A CQ reader wishing to remain anonymous but with personal knowledge of the situation the Defense Intelligence Agency sends this description of the senior leadership at the agency: Deputy Director of DIA is Mark Ewing. He won't be in that position for very long, seeing as how he recently put in his paperwork to resign. This action comes after he had a spat...

Rep. Kirt Weldon is on Michael Savage's radio program, and he is implying Rumsfeld is the one blocking further investigation into Able Danger. Weldon is fuming; says he personally (in a committee hearing) asked Rumsfeld about the investigation being blocked. Rumsfeld replied that he would 'get back to Weldon with a response.' Weldon says he still has gotten nothing from Rumsfeld. Weldon to give a speech in a few moments this evening on the floor of the House. It should be aired on CSPAN this evening.

WASHINGTON - An officer who has claimed that a classified military unit identified four Sept. 11 hijackers before the 2001 attacks is facing Pentagon accusations of breaking numerous rules, charges his lawyer says are aimed at hurting his credibility. The alleged infractions by Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, 42, include obtaining a service medal under false pretenses, improperly flashing military identification while drunk and stealing pens, according to paperwork from the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency shown by his attorney to The Associated Press. Shaffer was one of the first to publicly link Sept. 11 leader Mohamed Atta to the unit...

LTC Shaffer was just on Fox with his lawyer, being interviewed by Catherine Herridge - (Sat am - 12:40 ET) His lawyer did ALL the talking. He is now no longer able to speak to the media or to Congress openly, or behind closed doors. Nada. He also does NOT fall under whistle blower protection because he is a member of the intelligence community. Also, Congressman Burton was there by telephone and said that he himself witnessed this 'chart' that has dissapeared, and would like to know where the wherabouts of the contents of many boxes of info that was...

Col. Tony Shaffer has had his security clearances revoked by the DoD and have officially notified his attorney of the circumstances surrounding the revocation. Although it does not technically affect his membership in the Army reserve, the action effectively ends the career of the former DIA liaison to the Able Danger project. Shaffer cannot pursue his specialties within the Army or DoD without security clearances. So what led to the revocation of Shaffer's clearance -- his whistleblowing to Congress or his interviews with the press on Able Danger? No, that would look too direct. The Pentagon gave this list of...

An officer who has claimed that a classified military unit identified four Sept. 11 hijackers before the 2001 attacks is facing Pentagon accusations of breaking numerous rules, charges his lawyer suggests are aimed at undermining his credibility. The alleged infractions by Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, 42, include obtaining a service medal under false pretenses, improperly flashing military identification while drunk and stealing pens, according to military paperwork shown by his attorney to The Associated Press. Shaffer was one of the first to publicly link Sept. 11 leader Mohamed Atta to the unit code-named Able Danger. Shaffer was one of...

'Able Danger' Officer's Clearance Revoked By KIMBERLY HEFLING The Associated Press Friday, September 30, 2005; 4:13 AM WASHINGTON -- An officer who has claimed that a classified military unit identified four Sept. 11 hijackers before the 2001 attacks is facing Pentagon accusations of breaking numerous rules, allegations his lawyer suggests are aimed at undermining his credibility. The alleged infractions by Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, 42, include obtaining a service medal under false pretenses, improperly flashing military identification while drunk and stealing pens, according to military paperwork shown by his attorney to The Associated Press.

The Washington Post is challenging the credibility of five members of the Army's elite Able Danger intelligence unit, saying there's no evidence they ever produced a chart identifying lead hijacker Mohamed Atta as a terrorist threat. The paper declined, however, to dispute the authenticity of a videotape showing a copy of the Able Danger chart, which was displayed by Rep. Curt Weldon during a May 2002 speech to the Heritage Foundation. Launching the attack in Saturday editions, the Post insisted that investigators and counterterrorism experts find it "improbable -- if not impossible -- that an obscure Defense Department program that...

Posted: September 23, 2005 12:32 p.m. Eastern The Pentagon has barred a pair of intelligence operatives from testifying before a Senate committee about a military operation that allegedly identified a major figure in the 9-11 attacks before they occurred. Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and civilian contractor James Smith were not allowed to answer questions posed by members of the Senate Intelligence Committee regarding "Able Danger," a secret data-mining operation that allegedly named Mohammad Atta as an al-Qaida operative a year before Sept. 11, 2001.

With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff For the story behind the story... Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005 12:55 a.m. EDTPentagon Blocks Able Danger Testimony Pentagon lawyers have ordered five members of the Able Danger intelligence team not to testify at an open Senate in hearing scheduled for Wednesday morning about information they developed on lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta a year before the 9/11 attacks. "We have been told I cannot testify tomorrow," Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer told ABC Radio host Sean Hannity. "We have been told to stand down." Lt. Col. Shaffer, who was the Defense Intelligence Agency's liaison...

Transcript of the Lt. Col. Shaffer interview on the Jerry Doyle show on 9/20/2005. Jerry Doyle: Lt. Col. welcome to the program. Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer: Thank you sir, good to be on with you. I appreciate it. JD: I know that the last time you had sent me some communiques that the Defense Intelligence Agency had actually had formally revoked your Top Secret security clearance. I thought that was highly coincidental in light of the fact that this testimony is supposed to start tomorrow. AS: Well it's interesting that you should mention that. Yes, I believe, as does my...

In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with GSN on August 23, Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, the military intelligence operative who collaborated with Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) to draw worldwide attention to the Able Danger intelligence unit, described Able Danger’s origins, explained how it tracked terrorists as they visited individual mosques around the world, discussed the CIA’s refusal to cooperate with the program, acknowledged the supporting technical role played by the Raytheon Company, and described Able Danger’s ultimate demise.

9-11: Officially, the government says it had no idea beforehand that people were plotting terror against the U.S. But recent comments from seemingly credible sources suggest that might not be true. Both the Pentagon and the 9-11 commission have now officially denied claims made by Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., that a U.S. military spy program dubbed Able Danger had identified leader Mohammed Atta and three other 9-11 attackers as members of an active al-Qaida cell operating in the U.S. First, Weldon's seemed like a wild story, and Weldon was roundly criticized for lacking proof. Though vice chairman of the House...

Fox and Friends announced that LTC Shaffer is scheduled to be on this morning, time unspecified. They also discussed the two new sources who have gone public, Congressman Weldon's criticism of the 9/11 Commission and his urging of DOD to continue the search for Able Danger documents.

House Republican leaders approved in advance plans by a military intelligence official to go public with details of a top-secret Pentagon project code-named Able Danger. Army Reserve Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer says the data-mining project identified Mohamed Atta and three of the other September 11 hijackers as members of an al Qaeda cell more than a year before the attacks. "I spoke personally to Denny Hastert and to Pete Hoekstra," Col. Shaffer said. Mr. Hastert, Illinois Republican, is speaker of the House, and Mr. Hoekstra, Michigan Republican, is chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. "I was given...

Documents detailing the work of a top secret military intelligence unit that identified lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta before the 9/11 attacks have disappeared, according to the Defense Intelligence Agency's liaison for the group, code named Able Danger. "There's some troubling things that have happened both to me and the way the [Able Danger] information [was handled]," Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer told C-Span's "Sunday Morning Journal." "Shortly after I talked to the 9/11 Commission, there was some issues going on about the documentation. Right now as it stands this minute, to my knowledge, the documentation I had . . ....

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 - An active-duty Navy captain has become the second military officer to come forward publicly to say that a secret defense intelligence program tagged the ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks as a possible terrorist more than a year before the attacks. The officer, Scott J. Phillpott, said in a statement today that he could not discuss details of the military program, which was called Able Danger, but confirmed that its analysts had identified the Sept. 11 ringleader, Mohamed Atta, by name by early 2000. "My story is consistent," said Captain Phillpott, who managed the program for...

"We Had Atta." Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer in-studio MONDAY - TODAY with the G-Man. As deep as possible into Able Danger without compromising National Security. Shaffer on HUMINT data mining, and pattern detection aspects of the hunt for Al-Qaeda and the brooklyn cell, the whitewater rafting meeting, "extralegal barriers" set up as a matter of policy, disappearance of his charts, and interdepartmental information sharing shutdowns lest special ops steal the "thunder" of the CIA.