Pentagon Hides From Able Danger Hearings.
By: AJStrata · Section: Diaries
In what has to be one of the dumbest PR moves in recent memory, the Pentagon has barred its people from testifying in the Senate Able Danger hearings tomorrow. The move basically guts any chance Americans have of learning the truth about Able Danger, whether they did ID the 9-11 terrorists in the US, and who was responsible for not allowing the FBI to be alerted to the presence of terrorists in the US.
Here are some snippets from my latest post here.
The Pentagon pulled a really bad stunt today stopping all the military witnesses to Able Danger from testifying to the Senate:
The Pentagon said today that it had blocked a group of military officers and intelligence analysts from testifying at an open Congressional hearing about a highly classified military intelligence program that, the officers have said, identified a ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks as a potential terrorist more than a year before the attacks.
The announcement came a day before the officers and intelligence analysts had been scheduled to testify about the program, known as Able Danger, at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Bryan Whitman, a Defense Department spokesman, said in a statement that open testimony about the program "would not be appropriate - we have expressed our security concerns and believe it is simply not possible to discuss Able Danger in any great detail in an open public forum." He offered no other detail on the Pentagon's reasoning in blocking the testimony.
There are ways to handle this without exposing classified information. This looks like some kind of cover up or something. I doubt it is - but it will be played that way. How come they couldn't work out rules for discussing the matter without compromising intel? The big questions are policy and responsibility - not intel.
That would explain why the posted witness list is a bit sparse as well. From the NY Times article referrenced above Specter is planning to go ahead - but with what? Weldon? We know his story.
Mr. Specter said in a telephone interview that he intended to go ahead with the hearing on Wednesday and hoped that it "may produce a change of heart by the Department of Defense in answering some very basic questions."
Specter and his staff were evidently convinced there was something to the claims:
Mr. Specter said his staff had talked to all five of the potential witnesses and found that "credibility has been established" for all of them.
"There are quite a few credible people who are prepared to testify that Mohamed Atta was identified long before 9/11," he said. "Now maybe there's more than one Mohamed Atta. Or maybe there's some mistake. But that's what we're trying to find out."
This is only going to feed the conspiracy theorists and cause a PR nightmare. Why can't we find out what happened?
Sep 20th, 2005: 23:28:14
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judiciary.senate.gov
The Chairman Committee Information Committee Rules Online Library Document Request
HOME > HEARINGS > SEPTEMBER 21, 2005
"Able Danger and Intelligence Information Sharing "
Senate Judiciary Committee
Full Committee
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DATE: September 21, 2005
TIME: 09:30 AM
ROOM: 226 Dirksen
OFFICIAL HEARING NOTICE / WITNESS LIST:
September 8, 2005
NOTICE OF COMMITTEE HEARING
RESCHEDULED -- Wed., September 21, 2005 at 9:30 a.m.
The hearing on “Able Danger and Intelligence Information Sharing” scheduled by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary for Wednesday, September 14, 2005 at 9:30 a.m. in Room 226 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building has been rescheduled to take place on Wednesday, September 21, 2005 at 9:30 a.m.
By order of the Chairman
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Tentative Witness List
Hearing before the
Senate Judiciary Committee
on
“Able Danger and Intelligence Information Sharing”
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
9:30 a.m. Senate Dirksen Building, Room 226
PANEL I
The Honorable Curt Weldon
United States Representative [R-PA, 7th District]
PANEL II
Mark Zaid, Esq.
Attorney at Law
Washington, DC
Erik Kleinsmith
former Army Major and
Chief of Intelligence of the Land Infomration Warfare Analysis LIWA
Project Manager for Intelligence Analytical Training
Lockheed Martin
Newington, VA
PANEL III
Gary Bald
Executive Assistant Director
Counter Terrorism/Counter Intelligence
Federal Bureau of Investigation
United States Department of Justice
Washington, DC
William Dugan
Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Oversight
United States Department of Defense
Washington, DC
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