Able Danger Explained: Twenty Questions

This post puts together many of the key issues and questions relating to Able Danger. (Hat Tip: Vodkapundit) Considering that many people are questioning whether why we couldn't put together the dots before 9/11 and the Administration notes that the current NSA eavesdropping programs were being used to make sure that dots are being connected to thwart future attacks.

In fact, Porter Goss has asserted that the leaks to the New York Times and James Risen have undermined US national security.

"The damage has been very severe to our capabilities to carry out our mission," Goss told the Senate Intelligence Committee. He said a federal grand jury should be empaneled to determine "who is leaking this information."

His testimony came after National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, who directs all intelligence activities, strongly defended the program, calling it crucial for protecting the nation against its most menacing threat.

"This was not about domestic surveillance," Negroponte said.

Leaders of the nation's intelligence agencies appeared before the panel in a rare public session to give a rundown on threats facing the world.

Negroponte called al-Qaida and associated terror groups the "top concern" of the U.S. intelligence community, followed closely by the nuclear activities of Iran and North Korea.

Committee Democrats sought to change the focus to the president's decision to authorize the National Security Agency to eavesdrop - without first obtaining warrants - on communications to and from those in the United States and terror suspects abroad.

"The president has not only confirmed the existence of the program, he has spoken at length about it repeatedly," while keeping Congress in the dark, said Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the panel's senior Democrat.

"The administration wants to have it both ways," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.

Rockefeller and Levin don't make any sense whatsoever. The program was secret until Risen and the Times published their news exclusive and book. The Administration was forced to defend its actions in the media. It took the leaks to the Times and Risen to get us to this point. Illegal links at that.

Technorati: Able Danger, weldon, and 9/11, shaffer.