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October 01, 2005
Burton confirms chart was given to Hadley
A second Republican member of Congress has said that Stephen Hadley, who was then the deputy national security adviser, was given a chart shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks that showed information collected about Al Qaeda before the attacks by a secret military intelligence program called Able Danger.The account was provided by Representative Dan Burton of Indiana, who said in an interview that on Sept. 25, 2001, he attended a meeting with Mr. Hadley in the White House along with Representative Curt Weldon, Republican of Pennsylvania. Mr. Weldon has said that he gave Mr. Hadley such a chart at the meeting, but the White House had refused to comment on Mr. Weldon's account.
Told about Mr. Burton's account, a spokesman for Mr. Hadley, who is now the national security adviser, confirmed for the first time last week that Mr. Hadley recalled seeing such a chart in that time period. But the spokesman, Frederick Jones, said that Mr. Hadley did not recall whether he saw it during a meeting with Mr. Weldon, and that a search of National Security Council files had failed to produce such a chart.
It's not that Hadley didn't receive such a chart, he just doesn't recall it. It's not that Atta was not on the chart, he just doesn't recall it. It sounds like Hadley is definitely hedging his bets.
You might recall from the Post story:
But in the White House response, Mr. Jones said: "Mr. Hadley did in fact meet with Congressman Weldon on Sept. 25, 2001. He recalls in that same time period receiving a briefing on link analysis as a counterterrorism tool, and being shown a chart that was an example of link analysis. But he does not recall whether he was shown that chart in the meeting with Mr. Weldon or in some other meeting. Either way, Mr. Hadley does not recall seeing a chart bearing the name or photo of Mohammed Atta."Mr. Jones said that security council staff members reviewed the files of Mr. Hadley and others who attended or might have attended such a meeting, but no chart was found.
Via QT Monster, here are some more details heard on Fox News Saturday:
LTC Shaffer was just on Fox with his lawyer, being interviewed by Catherine Herridge - (Sat am - 12:40 ET) His lawyer did ALL the talking. He is now no longer able to speak to the media or to Congress openly, or behind closed doors. Nada. He also does NOT fall under whistle blower protection because he is a member of the intelligence community. Also, Congressman Burton was there by telephone and said that he himself witnessed this 'chart' that has dissapeared, and would like to know where the wherabouts of the contents of many boxes of info that was subpeoned that had been stored in Crystal City (Arlington, VA.) The saga continues....Burton reiterated, even after the interview was over, that we needed to find those boxes!
Here is a video of the segment. Shaffer is apparently not even allowed to talk to members of Congress about Able Danger now.
Laura Rozen also has this update, which I hope will be good news:
A reader suggests that the NYT is going to have a big Able Danger story on Sunday.
Posted by Mike at October 1, 2005 07:10 PM
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