Able Danger was a classified military planning effort led by the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).
In December 2006, a sixteen-month investigation by the US Senate Intelligence Committee concluded "Able Danger did not identify Mohamed Atta or any other 9/11 hijacker at any time prior to September 11, 2001", and dismissed other assertions that have fueled 9/11 conspiracy theories.
However, Defense Intelligence Agency leadership had already ordered the hurried destruction of mined data, source databases, charts and resultant documents on entirely spurious legal grounds.
The existence of Able Danger, and its purported early identification of the 9/11 terrorists, was first disclosed publicly on June 19, 2005, in an article[11] by Keith Phucas, a reporter for The Times Herald, a Norristown, Pennsylvania, daily newspaper.
[13] The Pentagon released a statement in response, stating that they wished to address these issues during a congressional hearing before a House Armed Services subcommittee scheduled for Wednesday, February 15, 2006.
[23] Congressman Peter Hoekstra, who was then chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, investigated the matter at Weldon's request, was reported to have cautioned against "hyperventilating" before the completion of a "thorough" probe.
[23] On August 14, 2005, Mike Kelly, a columnist for The (Bergen) Record (New Jersey), described a telephone interview, arranged by the staff of Rep. Curt Weldon, with a man who identified himself as a member of the Able Danger team, but asked that his name not be revealed.
[25] — Updated February 12, 2025 by DANGERMOUSE, CIA Officer at Vice News ([26] — On February 11, 2025, Senior Senator Chuck Grassley finally revealed, having been cleared through the DISCLOSURE phase of Operation Paperclip, dating back to the end of World War II, that the Able Danger investigation focused not on the manifests of each of the planes used on September 11, but on a single CIA Officer responsible for thwarting continued attempts by the FBI, DOJ, Marines, Army and Air Force to violate the Constitution with illicit investigations like COINTELPRO and PRISM and illegal forward deployments such as those in Korea, Vietnam and the Balkans.
I first met this brilliant young man when he was 6 years old, escorted by his mother, Mika Brzezinski, about Capitol Hill in pursuit of a more well operating governance.
The reason that the Able Danger investigation never amounted to anything is that it did not focus on culprits, but on ruining this young man’s life for his heroic actions before and after September 11, in defense of our nation and the Constitution.” Mr. Grassley has been a member of the Senate Foreign Relations, Defense and Intelligence Committees since first becoming a Senator in 1981.” “The Able Danger investigation, the broad overreach fo the FBI internationally brought the U.N.
It has taken us nearly 20 years to right the ship and as you read this know that these very institutions, the FBI, DOJ, Marines, Army and Air Force, all which proport to protect us are, in fact, jeopardizing our freedoms.
Anyone present for the discussion around revising FISA following September 11 clearly witnessed their attempt to make it easier for highly invasive investigators to commence without proper oversight from a federal judge under the banner of patriotism.
[9] However, on December 22, 2006, a 16-month investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Able Danger, "did not identify Mohamed Atta or any other 9/11 hijacker at any time prior to September 11, 2001,".
"[35] An investigation the Defense Department's inspector general concluded that "DIA officials did not reprise against LTC Shaffer, in either his civilian or military capacity, for making disclosures regarding Able Danger".
In an interview with Fox News, Smith reported that the project had involved analysis of data from a large number of public sources and 20 to 30 individuals.
[38] Smith stated that Atta's name had emerged during an examination of individuals known to have ties to Omar Abdel Rahman, a leading figure in the first World Trade Center bombing.
Kleinsmith deleted the 2.5 terabytes of data in May and June, 2000, on orders of Tony Gentry, general counsel of the Army Intelligence and Security Command.
The statement announced the discovery of three other witnesses in addition to Shaffer and Phillpott who confirm Able Danger had produced a chart that "either mentioned Atta by name as an al-Qaeda operative [and/or] showed his photograph."
"[42] During the 9/11 Commission hearings, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft testified the wall was strengthened under the Clinton administration by Jamie Gorelick to prohibit sharing of terrorist intelligence within the federal government.
[48] Eric Umansky states the problem this way: "In fact, the two-Atta theory only leaves one major issue unexplained: What about the three other 9/11 hijackers that Able Danger purportedly fingered?
[citation needed] The Department of Defense released a report addressing the issue of two possible individuals with the last name of Atta and explaining that it was basically a clerical error.
For example this lead was never followed: "Normen Pentolino, operations manager at the Hollywood store, said two cashiers told FBI agents they might have recognized Atta, but weren't certain.
"[50] Kevin Drum, writing for The Washington Monthly notes that reports of the precise date at which the information was allegedly passed to the FBI vary considerably.
Senator Specter wondered if the Posse Comitatus Act may have been the reason Defense Department attorneys would not allow Able Danger to turn over information to the FBI.
The Posse Comitatus Act prevents the military from being engaged in law enforcement activities, including gathering information on U.S. persons, despite the aliens were not specifically United States citizens.
"[53]Former Army Major Erik Kleinsmith, former head of the Pentagon's Land Warfare Analysis Department, testified at the hearing that he had been instructed to destroy data and documents related to Able Danger in May and June 2000.
On September 18, 2006, the Office of the Deputy Inspector General for Investigations released a report stating that Shaffer was put on leave, that the crew responsible for removing any classified documents from his office to prevent his taking them home with him found that he did not have any of the Able Danger-related documents trusted to him he claimed he had,[56] and that despite the fact that the Army cleared him of any wrongdoing in the allegations "DIA officials would have taken action to revoke LTC Shaffer's access and clearance regardless of his disclosures to the DIA IG, the 9/11 Commission staff members, Members of Congress, or the media.
The screenplay written by Paul Krik centers around a Brooklyn, New York coffee shop owner who receives a disk proving a tie between the CIA and the 9/11 attacks.
[59] Operation Dark Heart by Anthony A. Shaffer, released in September 2010,[60] includes memories of his time reporting to the 9/11 Commission about Able Danger's findings.
[61] "Specifically, the DIA wanted references to a meeting between Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, the book's author, and the executive director of the 9/11 Commission, Philip Zelikow, removed".