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September 19, 2005

Able Danger details reported in 2003?

Dan Verton, the Vice President and Executive Editor of Homeland Defense Journal and a former senior writer with Computerworld Magazine, is somewhat understandably pissed that he got scooped by Government Security News on the Able Danger story. On his personal web site, he says he actually broke the Able Danger story way back in 2003:

Recent news about the findings of the Able Danger military intelligence unit is not news at all. Your humble correspondent reported on the findings of the unit and the fact that the unit had briefed senior Defense Department officials during the transition phase between the Clinton and Bush administrations more than two years ago.

Well, actually there are a lot of new details about the story. One, the fact that the first four intended pilots had been identified by the SOCOM effort. Two, the fact that the program was shut down four months before 9/11 and apparently never restarted after the attacks. Three, members of the Able Danger team are coming forward to talk. Four, they spoke to the 9/11 Commission staff, repeatedly, but were ignored. Five, the Pentagon still seems to have a lot to hide. Six, the issues of intelligence sharing and collection have still not been resolved. Seven, people are still afraid of retribution for talking.

I don't think Dan really reported anything Weldon had not said in the speeches he made in 2002. I think Dan simply fails to realize that a lot more details have come out now - and a lot of important ones, too.

Anyway, here are some more expects from the piece on Dan's web site:

According to the story Weldon told me during that interview, the U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., had approached LIWA in 2000 for information on its commercial data mining capabilities that it had built with the assistance of a former CIA profiler who was employed as a contractor. With LIWA’s help, the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) built a scaled-down version of the data mining system. It then produced an entire profile of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Through that profile, SOCOM made detailed recommendations to the Clinton administration in January 2001 — only weeks before the inauguration of President George W. Bush. Those recommendations, according to Weldon, included guidance on which individual al-Qaeda cells to direct military and law enforcement action against to cripple the terror organization.

During our interview, Weldon stated categorically that a detailed briefing had been scheduled with then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Hugh Shelton. However, what was at first scheduled to be a three hour briefing was reduced at the last moment to one hour. And, tragically, the recommendations passed on to the leadership at the Defense Department were never acted upon, said Weldon. He also said that he had briefed then Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge on the findings and the urgent need to improve information sharing.

This is basically the same thing Weldon said in his speech at the Heritage Foundation back in 2002, and other speeches at the time. Here is a direct link to the Heritage Foundation video for Real Player.

Anyway, here is an excerpt from the Computerworld Magazine article Dan is citing:

The U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., also tapped into LIWA’s data mining capabilities and with that agency’s help built a small version of the LIWA system. It then produced an entire profile of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Through that profile, the Special Operations Command made detailed recommendations to the Clinton administration in January 2001 about which individual cells to direct action against to cripple the organization. Those recommendations were never acted upon.

“All of that activity could have prevented or helped to prevent 9/11 from ever occurring,” said Weldon, speaking in May in the House of Representatives.

"I briefed our Homeland Security director, Tom Ridge. He agreed with us, but he has not yet been able to achieve this new interagency collaborative center,” Weldon said in May. “And that is an indictment of our government that the American people deserve to be outraged over."

Dan wonders why this is only coming up now. I think the 9/11 Commission and the Pentagon share the blame, but the truth is that befor - no one even imagined that 9/11 could have been prevented.

If the facts don't fit the frame, the facts bounce off.

Posted by Mike at September 19, 2005 03:23 PM

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