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September 30, 2005

Shaffer accused of stealing pens

What is it with these DoD higher ups about their lines and their pens?

Voice of the Taciturn does a good job batting away every single one of the ridiculous charges against Shaffer, as do Mac at Mac's Mind - who had just sworn the story off for the tenth time - and Ed at Captain's Quarters, too. I think the obvious point is that this story is not just going to fade away like AJ was worried it might. The Pentagon has made sure of that now. So much for a dead story.

Interestingly enough, the Pentagon has told Shaffer not to talk about Able Danger, but they can't keep him from going on every cable news and talk radio show in America in order to defend his own good name.

From the AP:

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.

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 five witnesses the Pentagon ordered not to appear Sept. 21 before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the unit's findings.

The military revoked Shaffer's top security clearance this month, a day before he was supposed to testify to a congressional committee.

Could the Pentagon restore his clearance to try to make the story go away? Sure. Would it work? I doubt it. I think they've gone too far and said too much against him for Shaffer to just back down now.

Anyway, I'm updating this to add a very insightful comment left in the comments section over at Voice of the Taciturn:

I just processed $28K in travel for 2 high level people today, three weeks after their trips. You think they're going to take away the Assistant Secretary's Top Secret Clearance because he was behind on his credit card? Oh yeah, I'm taking home some staples tonight, and maybe some paperclips. Good lord, Halliburton steals us blind and they ding this guy over this petty crap!!!!

Lowly Government Worker

Posted by Mike at September 30, 2005 10:31 AM

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» Able Danger, Pentagon Coverup, 09/30/05 from The Strata-Sphere
Up until today I was fairly sure the current Pentagon leadership would weather the Able Danger storm with style and finesse. I have had long admired Rumsfeld and others on their dealings with that behemoth of a bureaucracy. But today my respect an... [Read More]

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