What's behind the TSA's witness tampering?

[villager]

from the latest "Practical Nomad" travel newsletter...

<snip>

The government has alleged, but Moussaoui has not conceded, that
Moussaoui's lies to the FBI when he was arrested in August 2001 caused
(and were intended to cause) more deaths on 11 September 2001 that
would have been prevented had Moussaoui confessed to the FBI and fully
informed on his co-conspirators. Under current Federal law, Moussaoui can only
be executed if the government can prove this to the judge beyond
reasonable doubt.

That's the purpose of the current "sentencing trial". It's an
evidentiary, fact-finding hearing, before a Federal judge, under the Federal rules
of criminal procedure and evidence, on essentially the sole question of
whether the measures the FAA claims they would have taken in the name
of "aviation security" if they had gotten Moussaoui's full confession in
August 2001 -- and which are among essentially the same measures the
FAA and its successor the TSA actually have taken since 11 September 2001
would actually have helped prevent the September 11th attacks or saved
any lives if they had been done sooner.

That's what panicked Ms. Martin into into illegally coaching the
witnesses from her agency and its predecessor: the prospect of a fair hearing and
a judicial verdict on the likely efficacy for safety, security, and
reduction of loss of life to terrorism of her agency's so-called
"security" measures. According to news reports, she told the witnesses
in her e-mail messages that she feared the judge might find that
Moussaoui's lies didn't lead to any deaths, since the things the FAA would have
done if they had known more about the attackers' plans wouldn't have
prevented them.

Presumably she knew she might be caught violating the witness
sequestration order. If she was (as, indeed, she has been), the result
would be that the "death notice" would be dismissed, and Moussaoui
would live out his life in prison. But she took that risk anyway, a decision
that makes sense only if she was more eager to avoid a verdict that the
FAA and TSA tactics wouldn't have made us any more secure than she was
eager to avoid having the death notice dismissed and Mousaoui live.
The real worst-case scenario for Martin, which she and and the TSA
apparently have now succeeded in averting, was a judicial verdict that
as the TSA's own advisory committee, Congressional auditors from the
GAO, and every independent airline security expert I've ever spoken with
have have already concluded -- the TSA has failed to make a case for its
airline passenger surveillance measures as being justified on grounds
of safety, security, prevention of terrorism, or saving of lives.

Which, of course, brings us to the real question below the surface of
this case: If these aren't really measures that will make us safer, why is
the TSA compelling things like the conversion of airline reservations and
operational systems into an infrastructure of surveillance ? It's hard
to avoid the conclusion that surveillance, not security, is the real goal
that justifies -- at least to some three-letter agencies of the
government -- the dollar expense (billions) and political cost of these programs.


----------------
Edward Hasbrouck
<http://hasbrouck.org>

[seemslikeadream]

1. STOP THE TRIAL NO MORE TESTIMONY

CAN'T LET WELDON TESTIFY

BUDDY BUDDY
http://www.gsnmagazine.com.nyud.net:8090/images/aug_05/atta.jpg
DO THE MATH

24 MINUTES

THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A MILITARY ORDER WATCH THIS VIDEO

http://www.bushflash.com/buddy.html


http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/8/24/124834/678


DIA Agents were ordered to put yellow Post-its over Atta's face and the face's of 3 other 9/11 terrorists

"We were directed to take those 3M yellow stickers and place them over the faces of Atta and the other terrorists and pretend they didn't exist," the intelligence officer told GSN."

Intel agents Michael Shaffer and Scott Philpott have confirmed Rep. Weldon's claims that a chart with Atta's face, soon the photos of 3 other members of the 9-11 terror team, were known to DIA team Able Danger by early 2000.

This diary will show that Pete Schoomaker and Philip Zelikow are two of the main Perpetraitors in this scandal, that they deliberately withheld information from the President of the United States that would have prevented 9/11, that they and their neo-con rulers Let It Happen On Purpose.

Of this there can no longer be any doubt.



MUST READ - RE: ABLE DANGER INFO
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4447706

Hopsicker: Able Danger Intel Exposed "Protected" Heroin Trafficking
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x149481


Able Danger: Short Time-line
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4441903

Was Able Danger Shut Down After It Detected Condi-PRC Spy Ring?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4494524



Senate May Hold Hearings on Able Danger, Info Sharing
Thursday, August 25, 2005


Able Danger (search) is the code name for a military-intelligence unit that apparently learned a year before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that lead hijacker Mohamed Atta (search) and other terrorists were already in the United States.

One of the central Able Danger claims — that military lawyers blocked the sharing of the Atta information from the FBI in the late summer and early fall of 2000 — will be a focus of the committee's if a hearing takes place, FOX News has confirmed.

Some analysts involved with Able Danger have recently gone public with their findings, saying they were discouraged from looking further into Atta, and their attempts to share their information with the FBI were thwarted, because Atta was a legal foreign visitor at the time.

"This story needs to be told. The American people need to be told what could have been done to prevent 3,000 people from losing their lives," said Rep. Curt Weldon (search), R-Pa.

Weldon drew attention to Able Danger by speaking about it on the House floor and publicly calling for the Sept. 11 commission to explain why the intelligence information wasn't detailed in its final report.

Some Able Danger analysts, including Army Reserve Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer (search) and Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott (search), claim that in October 2003, they told commission staffers of the presence of Al Qaeda operatives in the United States in 2000.


more
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166800,00.html


Senate May Hold Hearings on Able Danger, Info Sharing
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1727804&mesg_id=1727804




Condi in Middle of Able Danger ‘Cover Up’"

Weldon is now saying that the Pentagon cover up of able danger “will shake the country to its roots."

...

If the claims made by the Able Danger participants and Rep. Weldon are confirmed, former National Security Adviser Rice and other Bush Administration officials will face a barrage of questions. First would likely be an inquiry into why the administration unceremoniously axed the Able Danger project in May of 2001.

During an August 20th interview on C-Span’s Washington Journal, Able Danger member Lt. Col. Schaffer posed a question of his own:

"The American public should ask themselves: Why would the leadership of DoD shut down, terminate, a project which was aimed at targeting al-Qaeda offensively? ...

"Why would they shut that down, four months before 9/11? That’s the big question right now, we have to ask that. I don’t know the answer to that question because I know my side of the story, I know that when a 2 star general got in my face and said, “I’m a 2 star general and you are not. You are to stop your support of Able Danger.” That’s what I know personally. But the question has to be: Who told him to do that? ...

"And why did the rest of the project, I’m talking about Special Operations Command and the Army portion of this, why was that terminated?

"Those are the questions that need to be asked."


more...

http://www.theinternationalpost.com/z30082005.html

Congressman Weldon -- Why now? Why ever?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4500623

Three more assert Pentagon knew of 9/11 ringleader By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three more people associated with a secret U.S. military intelligence team have asserted that the program identified September 11 ringleader Mohammed Atta as an Al Qaeda suspect inside the United States more than a year before the 2001 attacks, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

The Pentagon said a three-week review had turned up no documents to back up the assertion, but did not rule out that such documents relating to the classified operation had been destroyed.

Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott and Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer last month came forward with statements that a secret intelligence program code-named "Able Danger" had identified Atta, the lead hijacker in the attacks that killed 3,000 people, in early 2000. Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Curt Weldon (news, bio, voting record), vice chairman of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, also went public with the allegations.

Pat Downs, a senior policy analyst in the office of the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, told reporters that as part of the review, the Pentagon interviewed 80 people.

Downs said that three more people, as well as Phillpott and Shaffer, recalled the existence of an intelligence chart identifying Atta by name. Four of the five recalled a photo of Atta accompanying the chart, Downs said.

Pentagon officials declined to identify the three by name, but said they were an analyst with the military's Special Operations Command, an analyst with the Land Information Warfare Assessment Center and a contractor who supported the center.

Downs said all five were considered "credible people."

But officials said an exhaustive search of tens of thousands of documents and electronic files related to Able Danger failed to find the chart or other documents corroborating the identification of Atta. Phillpott has said Atta was identified by Able Danger by January or February of 2000.

"We have not discovered that chart," Downs said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050901/pl_nm/security_attacks_pentagon_dc


Three more assert Pentagon knew of 9/11 ringleader
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1744982&mesg_id=1744982

Specter Wants Answers About 'Able Danger'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1796658&mesg_id=1796658


NYT/Reuters: Pentagon Blocks Testimony at Senate Hearing on Terrorist
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1795221&mesg_id=1795221

NOW - ON CAPITOL HILL - Able Danger Inquiry CSPAN3 9:30am et
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4836496

Able Danger ties Condi Rice to Chinese espionage! (really!)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4846388&mesg_id=4846388

VIDEO-the Senate Judicial Committee ABLE DANGER saga
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?

Official: (Curt Weldon) Attack on Cole foreseen (ABLE DANGER)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1915365&mesg_id=1915365

New 9/11 Timeline update, with new Able Danger page
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?

Weldon seeks Defense testimony on al-Qaida
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1931300

Weldon rips 9/11 commission over intelligence failures
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1959226

General gave OK for Able Danger (confirms al-Qaida mission prior to 9/11)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1973724

[villager]

5. thanks for this info!

n/t

[Little Star]

8. Weldon hadn't thought of that.

Was he going to be called? You could just be right.:shrug:

[seemslikeadream]

9. yes he had a subpoena

and he was fighting it

[Little Star]

10. Able Danger

Would have been nice to have some light shed on Able Danger. I wonder if the mistake made by Ms Martin was really a mistake.

[JDPriestly]

2. Been Wonderin''

Why do we have to endure so much scrutiny, so many long lines, so much inconvenience at airport terminals on ordinary flights -- even extremely short ones if we trust the Dubai government and its agents to take over responsibility for the security of our ports? I see two standards there. Extremely paranoid surveillance of ordinary citizens at airports and extremely lax, permissive standards at the ports. Does the extreme amount of surveillance at the airports serve some purpose other than to prevent terrorism? Mind you I don't travel that much so the airport security is not a big problem to me personally. It's just that there seems to be a lot of inconsistency about security standards here. Why?

[villager]

6. conditioning? The illusion of "something being done?"

n/t

[EFerrari]

7. If you want to control perception, don't you have to be

in control of information? So, you shroud your behavior in secrecy and put everyone else under surveillance.

That's what it looks like, anyway.

[Neil Lisst]

3. It's the continuing deceit of prosecutors to get convictions.

My God, when did we become a nation with prosecutors who will do and say anything to get a case convicted?!

Whatever it takes, that's what they do.

It's an epidemic, too.

[leveymg]

4. If Bush had ordered the CIA to divulge what it knew, 9/11 would never have

happened.

Why are we laying it on Moussaoui to tell what little he knew? The White House and CIA were well aware of the UBL cells were inside the US, who most of them were, and what their plan of attack was. Why didn't Bush order the network rolled up, as Tenet, Clarke, and John O'Neill were urging? See, http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0310/S00257.htm