Senate Panel to Investigate Secret Intelligence Unit
The Senate Judiciary Committee begins investigating claims about the secret intelligence unit "Able Danger." NPR's Mary Louise Kelly looks at what's known about the unit, the credibility of its claims and what we may expect to learn from the hearing.
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Tomorrow the Senate Judiciary Committee begins hearings on the Able Danger controversy. It's the latest attempt to get to the bottom of what Able Danger, the now disbanded military intelligence unit, knew about the ringleader of the 9/11 attacks. Former members of the unit say they identified Mohammed Atta and other 9/11 hijackers before the attacks, but were prevented from sharing what they knew with the FBI. Others dispute that account. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly reports.
MARY LOUISE KELLY reporting:
Everyone with a stake in this story agrees on one point: If the Able Danger allegations are true, they are significant. They would mark another dramatic example of government agencies failing to share information. And they would mean that US officials had identified Mohammed Atta as a would-be terrorist before 9/11, potentially demanding a substantial rewrite of the history of the attacks. But these are big ifs. And two investigations, one by the Pentagon, one by former members and staff of the 9-11 Commission, have found no evidence to back the claims.
Former Senator SLADE GORTON (Republican; Washington; Former 9-11 Commission Member): Bluntly, it just didn't happen. Now that's the conclusion of all 10 of us.
KELLY: That's Slade Gorton, a former Republican senator and member of the 9-11 Commission. Since the Able Danger story broke last month, the commission and Pentagon investigators say they've gone back over thousands of documents, interviewed dozens of witnesses and found nothing. Gorton and several Pentagon officials suggest it's a case of mistaken identity; that Able Danger perhaps identified someone named, say, Mohammed Atef, and people are now misremembering the name as Mohammed Atta.
Another factor casting doubt is that Anthony Shafer, one of two military officers who've come forward to support the Able Danger claims, has conceded many of his allegations are based on other people's recollections, not his own. Slade Gorton.
Mr. GORTON: This story has more lives than a cat. You know, whenever one part of it is squelched, another part comes up. It's only one of many theories, at this point, that lack any basis in fact.
KELLY: That said, a total of five people with links to Able Danger now say they recall seeing a chart that names Atta. That chart has since disappeared. Curt Weldon, a Republican congressman who has sought to promote the Able Danger allegations, says, in fact, a massive number of computer documents have been destroyed. And he accuses the Pentagon and the 9-11 Commission of, quote, "going out of their way not to want to know the details of what happened."
Representative CURT WELDON (Republican, Pennsylvania): For them to say, as they did initially, that it was historically insignificant--2.5 terabytes of data about Mohammed Atta and al-Qaeda is historically insignificant? I don't think so. The American people deserve to have answers.
KELLY: Thomas Kean, who chaired the 9-11 panel, insists he is interested in learning the full story. If anything, he says, the Able Danger claims could bolster the account set forward in the commission's final report.
Mr. THOMAS KEAN (Former Chairman, 9-11 Commission): If those claims turn out in any way to be true, they reinforce our conclusions because this is yet again another example--would be another example of agencies not communicating with each other before 9/11. So we would love to say, `Here's another example of what we mean.'
KELLY: It's unclear yet what, if any, new evidence may emerge from tomorrow's Senate hearing. Congressman Weldon will testify, along with a lawyer for Anthony Shafer and officials from the Pentagon and the FBI. Mary Louise Kelly, NPR News, Washington.
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