Able danger coverup.(THE LAST WORD)(investigations)

This past summer news began to break out about a super-secret Pentagon "data mining" operation that had identified the lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta as a terrorist threat long before the deadly attacks of September 11, 2001. The operation, code named "Able Danger," was a joint effort spearheaded by Army intelligence and the Special Operations Command. According to Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), Able Danger was in operation from 1998 to 2001 and was an effort "to map out Al Qaeda." Reportedly, the Able Danger staff had linked Atta and three other men (who turned out to be 9/11 hijackers) from al-Qaeda's Hamburg, Germany, operation to a cell in Brooklyn. They wanted to notify the FBI about the danger, but Pentagon officials scotched that idea. That was more than a year before the 9/11 attacks.

Rep. Weldon, who is vice chairman of the Armed Services Committee and the Homeland Security Committee, says that two weeks after 9/11 he was provided with data from Able Danger that included "an extensive analysis chart of Al Qaeda, which I immediately took to the White House and personally delivered to then-Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley. Mr. Hadley was extremely interested in the chart and said that he would take it to the President."

But the chart appears to have gone down the memory hole, along with a lot of other data concerning 9/11--from Able Danger and many other sources. There is no mention of Able Danger in The 9/11 Commission Report, the 565-page tome produced by the high-profile National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, although the report does mention Stephen Hadley 91 times. Able Danger team member Army Lt. Col. Anthony Schaffer briefed the 9/11 Commission, but no mention of Schaffer or the briefings are in the commission's best-selling report.

On June 27 of this year, Rep. Weldon took to the floor of the House to outline the Able Danger story. In the ensuing months, the story has gradually gained traction and headline space, but official stonewalling and coverup continue to thwart efforts to get to the heart of the matter. On September 21, Department of Defense officials blocked several Able Danger witnesses from testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Two of the witnesses, Army Lt. Col. Anthony Schaffer and Defense contractor James D. Smith, both of whom worked on Able Danger, showed up at the hearing but were not allowed to testify.

Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and other committee members accused the Pentagon of obstructing their investigation. Rep. Weldon, who testified at the Senate hearing, was ...