The military intelligence official who recently disclosed that a secret Pentagon computer unit was blocked from alerting the FBI to the presence of the 9/11 hijackers in the United States has met with Senate investigators, in advance of possible hearings this fall.
Mark Zaid, a lawyer for Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, confirmed to The Post his client briefed the staff of Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) about Able Danger, the Pentagon unit set up to look for terror threats within the states.
Shaffer's claims that Able Danger detected the presence of 9/11 lead hijacker Mohamed Atta and three other hijackers has created an uproar.
The 9/11 commission and the Pentagon say they've seen no documentary evidence to support Shaffer's claims.
But Republicans in Congress are interested in probing Shaffer's claim that Able Danger managers were blocked by the Clinton administration from disclosing their evidence to the FBI.
The information was supposedly blocked for fear of violating laws barring the military from domestic spying.
Able Danger — whose work remains classified — was run out of the Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., in 2000. It was shut down after nine months.
Well, this appears to be new information. Able Danger was shut down after nine months. Why? Was the program's results inconclusive, which would undercut Shaffer's and Weldon's assertions? Or, was something else going on in reorganizing the program?
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