Press Advisory — September 9, 2005
Contact: John Judge 202-225-1605/
*THE 9/11 OMISSION: DID THE COMMISSION GET IT WRONG?*
*BRAIN TRUST PANELS AT CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS CONFERENCE*
On September 23 and 24, Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus will host two “brain trust” panels at their annual legislative conference to be held at the Washington Convention Center, 801 Mr. Vernon Avenue, NW, Washington, DC on the topic of what was omitted from the 9/11 Commission’s Final Report, unanswered questions that remain and their inadequate recommendations which have failed to make the country safer, to address the true sponsors and causes of the attacks and to properly balance civil liberties and secrecy, security and war. The event is free and open to the public.
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By DOUGLAS JEHL — The New York Times — September 22, 2005
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 – Senators from both parties accused the Defense Department on Wednesday of obstructing an investigation into whether a highly classified intelligence program known as Able Danger did indeed identify Mohamed Atta and other future hijackers as potential threats well before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The complaints came after the Pentagon blocked several witnesses from testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee at a public hearing on Wednesday. The only testimony provided by the Defense Department came from a senior official who would say only that he did not know whether the claims were true.
But members of the panel, led by Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, said they regarded as credible assertions by current and former officers in the program. The officers have said they were prevented by the Pentagon from sharing information about Mr. Atta and others with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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Already, this hearing is the #1 streaming video downloaded off the C-SPAN website. Please pass the word and forward this news. See also all the new stories up at http://www.911citizenswatch.org
C-SPAN
11:31 PM EDT
Also to air early AM tomorrow on both CSPAN and CSPAN2
[see schedule at http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/schedule.csp]
2hr:19min
Senate Committee
Able Danger and Intelligence Sharing Judiciary
Arlen Specter , R-PA
Curt Weldon , R-PA
http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/cspan.csp?command=dprogram&record=187366496
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[snip]
“The DoD never conducted an active investigation” into Able Danger once the program became known, Weldon said. “No oaths were given [and] no subpoenas issued.” Instead, there has been “denial, deception, threats to DoD employees, character assassination, and now silence,” he added
[snip]
By Patience Wait — GCN Staff — 09/21/05
If officials at the Defense Department thought that the controversy over “Able Danger” would die down, today’s hearing conducted by the Senate Judiciary Committee before an overflow audience may change their minds.
Able Danger was an Army data mining program run in 1999 and 2000 under the auspices of the Special Operations Command and the Land Information Warfare Center (LIWC). The program conducted research into numerous sensitive issues, such as Russian corruption and Chinese weapons proliferation, and included terrorism as one topic.
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[snip]
Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who is chairman of the committee, said he was surprised by the Pentagon’s decision because “so much of this has already been in the public domain, and I think that the American people need to know what happened here.”
[snip]
The Pentagon has said that it has interviewed three other people who were involved with Able Danger and who said that they, too, recalled the identification of Mr. Atta as a terrorist suspect.
[snip]
By PHILIP SHENON — The New York Times — September 20, 2005
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 – The Pentagon said today that it had blocked a group of military officers and intelligence analysts from testifying at an open Congressional hearing about a highly classified military intelligence program that, the officers have said, identified a ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks as a potential terrorist more than a year before the attacks.
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Wednesday September 21, 2005 1:46 PM
By KIMBERLY HEFLING — Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Department of Defense forbade a military intelligence officer to testify Wednesday about the work of a secret military unit that identified four 9/11 hijackers more than a year before the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks, according to the man’s attorney.
In written testimony prepared for the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, attorney Mark Zaid, who represents Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, said the Pentagon also refused to permit testimony there by a defense contractor that he also represents.
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[PLEASE CONTACT THE MEMBERS OF THE JUDICIARY AND URGE THEM TO ISSUE SUBPEONAS and INSIST THEY CARRY OUT THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY OF OVERSIGHT. -Ed.]
For Immediate Release — 9/21/05
September 11th Advocates Statement
Regarding Today’s Open Able Danger Hearing
September 21, 2005
It is with great dissatisfaction that we find ourselves not attending today’s “open” hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee that was to investigate the Able Danger operation.
Rather than “closing” the Able Danger hearing to the public, it is our opinion that the Pentagon simply barred, persuaded or suggested to the previously named and confirmed Pentagon witnesses who were slated to attend said hearing, that they simply not attend. The key witnesses who we believe were formerly scheduled to testify at today’s hearing included, but were not limited to the following: Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott, Defense Contractor JD Smith, an individual with the last name Wentworth, and an individual with the last name Pricer.
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BY JAMES GORDON MEEK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU — Wednesday, September 21st, 2005
New York Daily News – http://www.nydailynews.com
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon yesterday ordered military officials not to testify before a Senate panel probing their claims that several 9/11 hijackers had been identified as terrorists long before the attacks, government sources said.
The officials, including at least two uniformed officers and several civilian Defense Department workers and defense contractors, were all expected to appear today at a hearing looking into the “Able Danger” program – a session the Pentagon wanted closed to the public, the sources told the Daily News.
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They react to reported Defense Dept. bid to close Senate hearing on pre-attack identification of hijacker
Staten Island Advance –0 Tuesday, September 20, 2005 — By TERENCE J. KIVLAN
WASHINGTON — Sept. 11 family members are protesting a reported Pentagon attempt to close this week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on a claim that military intelligence had lead hijacker Mohammed Atta in its sights as early as 1999.
“They want to sweep it under the rug,” said Joan Molinaro, a former Eltingville resident, whose firefighter son was killed at Ground Zero.
“They have been denying this Atta thing up, down and sideways for weeks,” she said. “And now they want to cover it up.”
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OMB Watch — Published on 09/19/2005
http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/3093/1/390
In a victory for First Amendment advocates, a federal judge lifted a gag order on a Connecticut library from whom the FBI demanded patrons’ records, allowing them to discuss openly their experience and participate in the broader debate about the PATRIOT Act. The judge issued a preliminary injunction against the government, barring it from enforcing gag orders on recipients of certain orders called National Security Letters (NSL), created under the PATRIOT Act.
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