Atta Know Better

Lt. Colonel Anthony Shaffer may not be given his day to testify before Congress about Able Danger and what the Pentagon knew pre-9/11 about Mohamed Atta. According to an unconfirmed source, yesterday the Pentagon revoked Shaffer’s security clearance to prevent him from testifying at a hearing schedule today in Senate Judiciary Committee. Now, the New York Times reports that the Pentagon has shut down the whole hearing by refusing to allow “military officers and intelligence analysts” to testify. Thankfully, Chairman Arlen Specter is standing up this illegal block and will have the hearing anyway. The show down is sure to get juices flowing…as Congress has, inappropriately and for too long, given the Executive Branch carte blanche to decide what information the legislative branch is allowed to see.

The announcement came on the heels of news that one of the witnesses “will testify that he was ordered to destroy 2.5 terabytes of information Able Danger had compiled, which is roughly equivalent to one-fourth of all the printed material in the Library of Congress,” according to a Washington Times editorial. Oops. If this is a coverup, one can only admire how, in Washington, DC bureaucratic actions taken to cover up the scandal are so often far worse than the actual wrongdoing being covered up.

Lt. Shaffer’s security clearance revocation is the latest in a string of retaliatory attacks on him and others involved in the Able Danger scandal that fits to a tee the classic whistleblower retaliation. One thread of the debate rightfully chastises the 9/11 Commission for failing to follow up on the Able Danger allegations. Those of us traveling these circles know that Commission closed its doors to many whistleblowers, refusing to hear their testimony despite a promise to the 9/11 families to hear everyone.

Yet another thread is the untenable position that Congress has put intelligence agency whistleblowers in by refusing to provide them whistleblower protections. If any of the witnesses do testify, they may find themselves jobless with no future prospects, and cheated of their retirement – that was the result for Richard Barlow who refused to lie to Congress about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program and later paid the price. Congress can not do its job of overseeing the Executive Branch if employees are not safe bringing forward evidence of corruption.

Tomorrow in the Government Reform Committee, Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA) plans a (kabuki dance) markup of whistleblower legislation where, once again, the Congress will probably take a pass on protecting intelligence whistleblowers from the kind of retaliation we are seeing in the case of Able Danger. As a result, POGO and National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, as well as Republican and Democratic members of the Committee are critical of the legislation.