Able Danger: Not Just a Wall Anymore

Geraghty has some tasty nuggets this morning, including some information from an Ashcroft DoJ'er who believes that the wall of separation between intel and law enforcement was, in part, a PR decision because of the perception that the United States was engaging in operations against foreign nationals living in the United States. Frankly, I'm disappointed in everyone at DoJ and the DoD on this, we're talking about national security and the overriding concern was bad press? When will these people ever learn?

Meanwhile, Geraghty gets to the crux of the matter:

[T]hese are terrorists we’re talking about, not garden-variety bank robbers or mobsters. The objective shouldn’t be airtight prosecutions after the attack; the objective should be catching these guys before they attack.

The message of the Gorelick memo, and Reno’s concurring memo months later, and the kiss-off to Mary Jo White’s objections, all indicate that the attitude during the Clinton years was not, “do whatever it takes, communicate with whoever you have to, in order to prevent attacks.” The attitude was, “don’t botch our prosecutions by doing anything that might even appear to be a violation of FISA.”

And, oh, by the way… 9/11 Commission, you guys stink for not even mentioning Mary Jo White’s objections to the wall in a footnote. It’s stuff like this that makes people start chanting, “White-wash! White-wash!”

Curious why the White memos were not included or even mentioned in an off-handed way in the 9/11 Report. Did they not get the memo? Actually, Andrew McCarthy has the goods on that front. The Commission gets around this by stating in the final report:

In July 1995, Attorney General Reno issued formal procedures aimed at managing information sharing between Justice Department prosecutors and the FBI. They were developed in a working group led by the Justice Department’s Executive Office of National Security, overseen by Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick. [The commission here drops a footnote, which reads as follows:] The group included representatives from the FBI, OIPR [i.e., Justice’s Office of Intelligence & Policy Review, which oversees applications for national security wiretaps], and the Criminal Division. In addition, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York [i.e., Mary Jo White] was given an opportunity to comment on the procedures. The procedures that were eventually issued were agreed to by all involved in the drafting process. As a member of the Commission, Gorelick has recused herself from participation in this aspect of our work. [Final Report at pp. 79 & 473 n.33 (italics mine)]

So, there you have it folks. The Commission had the White memos but chose not to share what they stated. And Gorelick recused herself from this portion from the report. Thank goodness. I was starting to get worried that there might be a conflict of interests or something about Gorelick participating.

When is Congress going to take the Commission to task for this huge gaffe (or should I say cluster$@^#)?

Meanwhile, there are more signs that the Clinton Administration dropped the ball about al Qaeda in 1996. Apparently the State Department warned President Clinton of the grave and gathering threat of OBL moving to Afghanistan where he could export his brand of international terrorism without interference.

And, I have a few more questions, but let's start with this:
Lt. Col. Shaffer and Rep. Weldon have stories that snych up. Shaffer may be Weldon's source, or could be the independent confirmation that we've been waiting for. If he's the confirmation, then we've got a huge mess on our hands, and that appears to be the case. If he was the source, then all we have is another version of the same details without advancing the story except to include the origin of Weldon's claims. If that is the case, then we still need to get to the bottom of the story. In either case, much more investigation must be done.

BTW, if any Freepers come this way, and you know who you are, welcome. FYI, I'm not a center-right kinda guy who would like to see the right thing done. If that means perpwalking Bush Administration or Clinton Administration guys and gals because of their actions in this matter, so be it. I'm an equal opportunity offender in this case. You see, I was in NYC on 9/11, and saw the horrors first hand. I smelled the smells. I saw the sights. I walked through the dust and smoke clouds for weeks thereafter. That is what the results of a failure of the US government looks like.

I don't want to see it happen again, especially if there were ways that could have prevented it from happening in the first place, but for some legal mumbo jumbo that should never have been applied in the first place.

UPDATE:
Captain Ed sets sail and fires broadside after broadside against the 9/11 Commission. He shoots. He scores! Just keep scrolling. Lots of bloggy goodness there.

UPDATE II:
Powerline discusses the pitfalls of anonymous sources for stories, even ones that may confirm your predisposed beliefs.

UPDATE III:
Transcript of Shaffer appearing on CNN has been released. Also, check out The Corner for continued updates, plus pithy commentary from the likes of Mark Steyn. He quips about folks who question Weldon and Shaffer's memories, yet give the 9/11 Commission a pass on why they forgot about being informed of Able Danger, the Mary Jo White memos, or even the 1996 State Department memo to President Clinton warning of OBL's move to Afghanistan.