A respected Naval intelligence officer stepped forward last night to confirm that a secret Pentagon program raised alarm bells about the 9/11 ringleader more than a year before the attacks.
Capt. Scott Phillpott, a former manager of the controversial unit code named Able Danger, issued a brief statement saying the data-mining program identified hijacker Mohamed Atta as a possible threat.
"My story is consistent. Atta was identified in January/February 2000. I have nothing else to say," Phillpott said in the statement issued through the office of Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.).
You would think that with all the digging and investigating that the 9/11 Commission did, they might have included this among all the innocuous information and minor details, but
A recent statement from the 9/11 Commission acknowledged that Phillpott told staff about the Atta link last year only 10 days before it issued its final report but deemed his information was not "sufficiently reliable," because he had no documentary proof.
There is that big pentagon shaped building in Virginia, where records are kept. Coulda asked, ya know? Yup.
BTW, if you want to see a really good, if somewhat superficial, program on 9/11, watch the National Geographic special. They pretty much took most of the politics out of it, just showed what happened.
More: Speaking of the National Geographic special, "Inside 9/11," Captain Ed links to Jim Geraghty at TKS who has an interesting transcript from the program:
“AT THIS AIR FORCE BASE IN TAMPA (Picture of Entrance Gate to MacDill Air Force Base), MEMBERS OF THE U.S. ARMY SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND ARE REVIEWING AN UNUSUAL CHART THAT REPORTEDLY IDENTIFIES BOTH ATTA (picture ID of Atta shown) AND AL-SHEHHI (picture ID of Al-Shehhi shown) AS LIKELY MEMBERS OF AN AL-QAEDA TERROR CELL OPERATING WITHIN THE U.S. THE OFFICIALS DECIDE THEY CANNOT PASS THIS INFORMATION ALONG TO THE FBI, IN PART BECAUSE THE MEN ARE HOLDING VALID U.S. VISAS AND MAY BE OFF LIMITS FROM INTELLIGENCE GATHERING BY THE MILITARY.†The next segment discussed terrorist training camps in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Could that have referred to Able Danger?
Jeez, I used to be stationed in Tampa at Macdill. Great info, thanks.
Lunch: 8/23/2005
Try one of these specials with your lunch: Smash gets some bad news and could use some help. The Nose On Your Face looks at stereotypes. ScrappleFace reports Sharon has taken the next step in Gaza. Iowahawk does some housekeeping.
Sweey Jeebus…just the “New School” shit should have got FootieBoy shot.
Off subject Teach, but Geewhiz; how many blogs are you maintaining right now?
Lazy LAT Reporting Abetting DOD’s Desire to Bury Able Danger
This is how the Los Angeles Times reported on Able Danger in their 8/23 article “No Evidence Atta Was Identified, Official Says“:
The Pentagon has been unable to validate claims that a secret intelligence unit identified Sept. 11 hijack…
4 blogs. Though the American Flag League doesn’t take much. And I almost tried out for the NJ Devils blog at NJ.com, but just do not have the time.