dxAce wrote:


Couldn't. Remember, thanks to the Liberal assholes, the various agencies were not
allowed to share info.


September 2000: Chart with Hijacker Atta’s Photo Presented by Able
Danger at SOCOM Headquarters; Meetings with FBI Cancelled
Edit event

Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Lambert.Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Lambert. [Source: Special
Forces Command]Members of a US Army intelligence unit tasked with
assembling information about al-Qaeda have prepared a chart that
includes the names and photographs of four future hijackers, who they
have identified as members of an al-Qaeda cell based in Brooklyn, New
York. The four hijackers in the cell are Mohamed Atta, Marwan Alshehhi,
Khalid Almihdhar, and Nawaf Alhazmi. The members of the intelligence
unit, called Able Danger, present their chart at the headquarters of the
US military’s Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in Tampa, Florida, with
the recommendation that the FBI should be called in to take out the
al-Qaeda cell. Lawyers working for SOCOM argue that anyone with a green
card has to be granted the same legal protections as any US citizen, so
the information about the al-Qaeda cell cannot be shared with the FBI.
The legal team directs them to put yellow stickers over the photographs
of Mohamed Atta and the other cell members, to symbolize that they are
off limits. [Norristown Times Herald, 6/19/2005; Government Security
News, 8/2005; New York Times, 8/9/2005; St. Petersburg Times, 8/10/2005;
New York Times, 8/17/2005; Government Security News, 9/2005] Lt. Col.
Anthony Shaffer later says that an unnamed two-star general above him is
“very adamant” about not looking further at Atta. “I was directed
several times [to ignore Atta], to the point where he had to remind me
he was a general and I was not… [and] I would essentially be fired.”
[Fox News, 8/19/2005] Military leaders at the meeting take the side of
the lawyers and prohibit any sharing of information about the al-Qaeda
cell. Shaffer believes that the decision to side with the lawyers is
made by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Lambert (who had previously expressed
distress when Able Danger data was destroyed without his prior
notification (see May-June 2000)). He also believes that Gen. Peter
Schoomaker, head of SOCOM, is not aware of the decision. [Government
Security News, 9/2005]

Entity Tags: Mohamed Atta, Special Operations Command, Marwan Alshehhi,
Al-Qaeda, Nawaf Alhazmi, Peter J. Schoomaker, Khalid Almihdhar, Anthony
Shaffer, Able Danger, Geoffrey Lambert

Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline

Category Tags: Alhazmi and Almihdhar, Marwan Alshehhi, Mohamed Atta,
Able Danger, Key Hijacker Events