SwiftVets.com

[shawa]

If this is true, it is a big breakthrough. Pentagon had appeared to be stonewalling, saying they can't find any documentation on Able Danger. NOW saying there's no reason to doubt the TEAM MEMBER'S SPECIFIC RECOLLECTIONS!!

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?sid=558226&nid=251&pid=2
Intrigue Over Able Danger Grows
Updated: Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005 - 8:42 AM

WTOP's J.J. Green looks into how Able Danger altered careers.
J.J. Green, federalnewsradio.com

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon appears to have reversed its position on Able Danger, the Army intelligence collection team.

A Pentagon spokesman now says "there's no reason to doubt the specific recollections" of the growing number of team members. The team members say the project had pre-Sept. 11 intelligence on al Qaida, which Defense Department lawyers prohibited them from sharing with the FBI.

Members of the team say they identified the lead Sept. 11 terrorist Mohamed Atta as a cell leader more than a year before the attacks on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon.

"You could touch the picture and literally drill down and it would give you all the facts that we had from whatever source we had, we identified our sources and then why we had made a link," says defense contractor J.D. Smith, describing how Able Danger's computer software program worked.

The team collected and analyzed information gathered by the "deep" data mining operation.

Smith says data was gathered from a variety of sources, including about 30 or 40 individuals, but one day it all came to a grinding halt. So why did that happen?

[b]"The I.G. (inspector general) came in and shut down the operation because of a claim that we were collecting information on U.S citizens," says Smith.

It turned out to be more than just a claim.

"On some of my charts I had links to U.S citizens," he says.

Smith notes that it's illegal for the military to collect intelligence on U.S. citizens.

Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., has alleged a Pentagon coverup regarding Able Danger and is seeking congressional hearings on the matter. Weldon has said coverup will "shake the country to its roots."[/quote]
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776)

[kate]

speaking of major updates---this could be a major major upset

FreeRepublic

[FreeFall]

Thank God! This better come out and some politicians better get fired for incompetence.

[dcornutt]

IG for DOD in year 2000 was Donald Manusco. He was the one Clinton ordered in 1999 to go to inspect bases after Clinton complained that the "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy was not working as it was intended.


[14 DEC 99 Associated Press]

Pentagon Orders Review of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

WASHINGTON (AP) - Defense Secretary William Cohen has ordered a 90-day review of the military's "don't ask, don't tell'' policy toward homosexuals after President Clinton complained it was not working as intended.

"We are as determined as the president is to see that the policy is implemented fairly,'' Defense Department spokesman Kenneth Bacon said in announcing the review at a Pentagon briefing Monday.

Cohen ordered acting department Inspector General Donald Mancuso to undertake the review, which will consist of spot investigations at major military installations, Bacon said.

Mancuso will decide which bases to look at and send teams there to interview low-ranking soldiers, sailors, Marines and Air Force members as well as noncommissioned officers and commanders to determine "the human relations climate,'' Bacon said.

Gay-rights activists have called the policy, put in place in 1994, a tragic failure of the military's policy toward homosexuals.

Under the "don't ask, don't tell'' policy, gay members of the military can continue to serve - and their superiors cannot investigate and expel them - as long as they keep their sexual orientation to themselves.

However, soldiers who say they are gay may be discharged.

In an interview Saturday, Clinton said his policy had not been implemented as it was intended.

Clinton said the policy was never supposed to facilitate rooting out people who are gay or allow for harassment.

"It's out of whack now, and I don't think any serious person can say it's not,'' the president told CBS News. His criticism came a week after his wife, Hillary, who is campaigning in New York for a Senate seat, said the policy has not worked.

Opponents of the policy say the bludgeoning death of a gay soldier in a barracks at Fort Campbell, Ky., was only the latest evidence that it is a failure. Another Army private was sentenced last week to life in prison in the killing.

Vice President Al Gore said Monday that the Fort Campbell killing convinced him the policy should be eliminated. He said that if elected president, he would propose legislation to end "don't ask, don't tell.''

Cohen announced new guidelines in August that would require all troops to undergo periodic anti-harassment training and assign investigations of homosexual activity to more senior leaders.

Bacon said the new review would help the Pentagon better gauge whether the August guidelines were being followed.

AP-NY-12-14-99 0728EST

[15 DEC 99 Department of Defense Website]

IG Teams to Assess ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Climate

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON -- The DoD Inspector General will assess the atmosphere surrounding the military’s homosexual service policy, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen announced Dec. 13.

IG teams will visit representative military installations of all services to determine the extent that harassment of perceived homosexual service members occurs.

The military’s homosexual policy is known as "don’t ask, don’t tell." The policy grew out of a 1993 DoD proposal and was enshrined in law in 1994. The policy allows homosexuals to stay in the services so long as they do not reveal their sexual orientation. Conversely, supervisors are not to ask subordinates about their sexual orientation.

In 1997, Cohen ordered a review of the policy. DoD released the results of the review in August. One adopted recommendation of the review requires that DoD guidance on the homosexual policy be "effectively disseminated to all levels of command" and be made part of training programs for law enforcement personnel, commanders and supervisors.

Instruction must also be incorporated into recruit training and for service members to attend refresher training thereafter.

Another result of the review seeks to institute consistent and fair application of the policy. It recommends installation staff judge advocates consult with senior legal officers prior to the initiation of an investigation into alleged homosexual conduct.

The review and the recommendations received more prominence due to the murder July 5 of Army Pfc. Barry Winchell at Fort Campbell, Ky. Winchell was beaten to death with a baseball bat allegedly because he was gay.

Commanders at Fort Campbell announced earlier that they would institute a review of the "command climate" at the post. Cohen’s IG assessment will do the same thing at many other installations. DoD officials did not say which installations the IG team will visit. The DoD IG has 90 days to report back to Cohen.

The IG will "assess the human relations environment in the military services with respect to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy," said Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon during a press conference. "The extent to which disparaging speech or expression with respect to sexual orientation occurs or is tolerated by individuals in the chain of command will also be assessed."

Cohen has stressed since the beginning that commanders must understand the policy and enforce it fairly. Harassment of any kind is not acceptable in the U.S. military, he said.

"As I have previously indicated, I am determined that the policy on homosexual conduct in the military be clearly understood and fairly enforced," Cohen said in a written statement. "This is critically important, as the effectiveness of the Department's application and enforcement of the policy has a direct relationship to unit cohesion and readiness."