En'Able'ing Danger

It would appear that the military was using data mining techniques to evaluate open sources for potential terrorist threats. In the course of those activities, the group, known as Able Danger, unearthed the names of one Mohammad Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Khalid al-Mihdar, and and Nawaf al-Hazmi as members of a cell the unit code-named "Brooklyn" because of some loose connections to New York City.

This program pulled those names in 1999 and 2000. Yet, that information was not passed on to the FBI because of rules set in place by the Clinton Administration.

The 9/11 Commission may reconvene because of this newly reported information.

Weldon told FOX News on Wednesday that staff members of the Sept. 11 commission were briefed at least once by officials with Able Danger but that he does not believe the message was sent to the commissioners themselves. He also said some phone calls made by military officials with Able Danger to the commission staff went unreturned.

"Why weren't they briefed? Was there some deliberate attempt at the staff level of the 9/11 commission to steer the commissioners away of Able Danger because of where it might lead?" Weldon asked. "Why was there no mention of Able Danger?"

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the Sept. 11 commission looked into the matter during its investigation of government missteps leading to the attacks and chose not to include it in the final report.

The commission's report on the terrorist attacks, released last year, traced government mistakes that allowed the hijackers to succeed. Among the problems the commission cited was a lack of coordination across intelligence agencies.

It makes you wonder what else was not provided to the 9/11 Commission when they were putting together their report.

In any event, this does not look good for the Clinton Administration, whose Deputy Attorney General, Jaime Gorelick (who also happens to be a member of the 9/11 Commission) wrote those rules prohibiting the sharing of information with law enforcement.

There are also questions over how Weldon came to know this information, and why the 9/11 Commission did not include this information in its report, if Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman is correct.

It would appear that this specific program (Able Danger) was pretty good in picking out the terrroists before they struck (precrime). Is a similar program currently in operation, and if so, is the ACLU readying a lawsuit to prohibit its further use?