Able Danger: Stuck in the Middle With You

Captain Ed continues to follow the Able Danger story, and while both the 9/11 Commission and Rep. Weldon's credibility get strained with each passing day, the Bergen Record appears to have scooped the New York Times and everyone else. That's right, the Bergen Record's Mike Kelly, appears to have gotten in contact with one of the Able Danger team members to independently confirm some details (though it is just as possible that the team member's recollections are just as hazy as everyone else):

A former member of the military intelligence team told me in an interview that it had enough data to raise suspicions. "But we were blocked from passing it to the FBI."

The connect-the-dots tracking by the team was so good that it even knew Atta conducted meetings with the three future hijackers. One of those meetings took place at the Wayne Inn. That's how close all this was - to us and to being solved, if only the information had been passed up the line to FBI agents or even to local cops.

This new piece of 9/11 history, revealed only last week by a Pennsylvania congressman and confirmed by two former members of the intelligence team, could turn out to be one of the most explosive revelations since the publication last summer of the 9/11 commission report.

The information not only undermines key commission findings that Atta and others were undetected, but it again raises a question that continues to haunt the 9/11 tragedy:

Why is our government so incompetent?

To understand that question, it's important to understand how close counter-terror officials came to finding Mohammed Atta. And once you understand the closeness, you have to wonder how anyone could mess up so badly with information that was so tangible?

Now, I would argue that this mess is not incompetence, but bureaucratic inertia coupled with misguided policies.

Let us suppose for the moment that Rep. Weldon is a barking moonbat, a stark raving loony with an agenda of selling books. His accusations are inflammatory and claim that the 9/11 Commission left out crucial details that would influence the resulting report.

Well, even if Able Danger is proven to be less than what Weldon claims, he is on the right track in this respect - it would appear crucial details were left out of the report - namely the origination and implementation of the wall of separation policy. And who would know best about that policy and have reason to keep it quiet? Jaime Gorelick, who happened to be seated on the Panel, much to the chagrin of many who thought she should have testified before panel instead of sitting on it.

Congress ought to be doing a better job looking over this matter, but there too is a lesson to be learned. Congressional oversight is a duty and an obligation that Congress has abdicated far too often, though when it does attend to overseeing its obligations, it does so political motivation that may skew the results.

Jim Geraghty has more (thanks to Ace of Spaces).

UPDATE:
Technorati: Able Danger, weldon, and 9/11

UPDATE II:
David Frum has some interesting observations:

Isn't it odd how little zeal there seems to be to get to the bottom of this story? And no, I'm not complaining here about the Liberal Media. The Republicans in Congress are hardly roaring either. If true, Able Danger is a national security scandal, but not precisely a political scandal - that is, while it would certainly reflect very badly on the Clinton administration, it does not reflect all that well on the Bush administration either. (See Michael Ledeen's fascinating deconstruction of the story.

There is a great and devouring appetite in America for stories that suggest that the Clinton Democrats were feckless legalists who disregarded a grave threat to the nation. There is also a great and devouring appetite for stories that represent George W. Bush as deceitfully misleading the nation into unnecessary wars. But stories that expose deep failures in American national-security institutions - failures that continued across time and under both parties - these don't excite the same attention. And yet they are the most important stories of all....

It is indeed curious as to why the politicians are so unwilling to look at this issue more closely. What is it about this program and story that is so adverse to closer examination.