Specter Wades Into Able Danger

Se. Arlen Specter, in his role as Senate Judiciary Chairman, has involved himself in the Able Danger dispute.  Fox has the most coverage; the NY Times and the WaPo run the AP story; K Lo provides the full text of Specter's letter.

So, why Specter and the Judiciary Committee?  Wouldn't an Intel or Armed Services venue make more sense?

Well.  Shaffer's claim is that military lawyers advised him to cancel his meetings with the FBI.  If the obstacle was that FBI lawyers were advising their military counterparts that the topic of the meeting was verboten, then, Specter might argue, this was an FBI problem which falls into his oversight area.

However, other than knowledge of an outline of the project and of a few cancelled meetings, the FBI ought not to know much about Able Danger.  Still, every little bit helps.

Bonus observation - this ties into the notion that Gorelick's Wall, built at the Justice Dept., was impeding this Defense Dept. project.

Of course, another notion is that Weldon and Specter are both from Pennsylvania, so there may be a local connection or deal at work.

Or, Specter may be throwing a bone to placate the right-wing crazies.  Well, I'm not placated!

But placated or not, I am pleased that the "Able Danger" crew have resumed playing "Googler's Delight" - the FBI contact cited in Specter's letter is "Xanthig Mangum", a name which represents a huge upgrade from the previous entry, "James D. Smith".

Comments

[Am I A Pundit Now?]

Heh, is that an admission that you are a right-wing crazy?

Well, call me unplacated too!

[kim]

Well, I'm implacable, so there.
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[Am I A Pundit Now?]

Er, yeah, what Kim said.

[AcademicElephant]

What's with Specter these days? He's firing off letters and sticking his nose in everywhere--first Rumsfeld and Chavez, now this. Doesn't he have enough to do with the Bolton appointment?

I trust him about as far as I could throw him, which is not very far.

[AcademicElephant]

Not Bolton, Roberts. You know what I mean.

[j.foster]

i can't belive that the counter to digging for the truth is that only wingers are interested in this. thats why old media and some in washington don't get it. this is not a right left issue. and if spector gets bogged down he can always rely on scottish law.

[Jim O'Sullivan]

It's a way for Spector to grow himself some national security chops without alienating anybody important. Hey, once that "I could be president" bug bites, it's worse than Lyme disease. I think it takes more than cancer to get rid of it. And let's not forget, he was bitten

[AcademicElephant]

I think he wants to be Biden's SecDef in an alternate universe in which Biden becomes president.

[Ambiorix]

By the way, civilian contractor James D. Smith was shown on Fox News Special Report, answering questions and corroborating the AD affair.

Again, this is an issue of national security and not a left/right issue. So let's look at it as Americans!