Able Danger: Why Wasn't the FBI Told About Mohammad Atta Before the 9-11 Attacks?

Preface: I am on a mission of liberation. Yes, I am determined to free all of the eye popping information that is now locked up in 1 1/2 hours of audio (give or take a minute or five) that I captured of the Able Danger hearing so more folks realize that we, the people of America, still do not know the truth of 9-11 no matter what the 9-11 Commission is currently claiming (they do change their story you know).

An Able Danger hearing was conducted in the US House of Representatives by the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities in joint session with the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces on February 15, 2006 .  To facilitate the understanding Able Danger which is a vitally important national security story, I have broken much of the audio of this hearing into down into subject areas. The subject of this post:

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  probably every working day of the year..." (the mp3 file is here)

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2. Dr. Cambone's colleague explains the Dept. of Defense procedures for the collection, retention and dissemination of information, "...and it's only after it's been reviewed by a number of people at every level of command including the lawyer that's attached to it that they make a decision on whether or not to retain it..." (the mp3 file is here)

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3. Dr. Cambone's colleague claims that the 90 day rule is the reason that the Able Danger data (the same data that had identified at least 3 or the 9-11 hijackers) was destroyed, "...the decision was made to go ahead and destroy the data because of the 90 day rule..." (the mp3 file is here) You will hear this claim thoroughly debunked below by Congressman Curt Weldon.

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4. Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) reveals the truth that, in fact, the 90 day rule has not been followed, "...there is data that's still being data mined today that's pre-9-11 data, and obviously some of that's going to have data about US persons...the lawyer for DoD, and this meeting took place in my office  with my chief of staff and I think one other person with me as witnesses, Dr. Bob Johnson said that his lawyer consulting him on the information data mining collecting at Garland  was in fact Richard Shiffren. And Richard Shiffren told him, don't worry about how long you keep the data. You fill a form out, you sign it, you put it in the bin, you keep it as long as you want. That's not exactly what we were told by Bill Dugan in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. In fact it flies directly in the face of that, that there was a cavalier attitude. And so the question that we ask is then, why was the data destroyed? And now we find out that it wasn't all destroyed..." (the mp3 file is here)

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5. In his response to Curt Weldon's statement above, Dr. Cambone admits, "...it's undoubtedly the case that not everything gets destroyed, not everything is covered, not all the rules apply to all the data..." (the mp3 file is here)

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6. We were told that all of the Able Danger data had been destroyed, but Curt Weldon has learned that libraries of data have survived, "...the data runs that I'm talking about, which were done by a professional employee, were done within the last 2 months and they were done on data that was collected prior to 9-11 but after the attack on the Cole. And in that data set the name Atta, prior to 9-11 came up over 800 times. The name Mohammad Atta with an o came up 5 times, the name Mohammad Atta with a u came up 3 times, the name Mohammad Attif  came up 5 times." (the mp3 file is here)

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7. And as if that weren't enough, Curt Weldon reveals that very recently employees within the DoD have told him that they have found Able Danger information, "...are you aware that on February 3rd General Depritus (sp?), Anthony Porterri (sp?), Mr. Howard Taylor (inaudible) and another individual walked  into the intelligence section of the First ID Command and went to a file cabinet and identified a bunch of Able Danger material..." (the mp3 file is here)

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8. Here's more from Congressman Weldon's opening statement (addressing Dr. Cambone), "...one of your under secretaries, and testified that he was aware that all the information from Able Danger in fact had been destroyed, and that it was done legitimately. You are today acknowledging that there was additional information at the Garland facility...it was equal to or more than what was available at LIWA..." (the mp3 file is here)

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9. The experts running Able Danger tried to warn the FBI, they tried to schedule meetings but each time the attempts to meet with and alert the FBI failed. Again, here's Curt Weldon, "...we will have testimony that there were meetings that were attempted to be setup to transfer the data in September of 2000. Contrary to what the current FBI says today, those FBI employees, that Senator Specter knows full well the identity of, will in fact be asked to give statements..." (the mp3 file is here)

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10. Louis Freeh was the FBI Director at the time. On Meet the Press he said, "..if he had had the Able Danger information, that that was the type of actionable intelligence that may have allowed the FBI to  prevent 9-11 from ever occurring..." (the mp3 file is here)

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For an excellent summary of the entire Able Danger Hearing in the US Congress, be sure to read this AJ Strata's post. Here's the audio of the entire hearing. My post listing the best information sources for Able Danger is here. Flopping Aces has a searchable .pdf file of the transcript of the Able Danger hearing.

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