Able Danger - Hadley Speaks!

National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, through a spokesperson, contradicts Congressman Curt Weldon:

National security adviser Stephen J. Hadley yesterday denied receiving a Defense Department chart that allegedly identified lead terrorist Mohamed Atta before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, dealing a blow to claims by a Republican congressman that have caused a political uproar in recent weeks.

If this is an orchestrated cover-up, it is sounding like one large orchestra.

We have earlier coverage of Hadley's role here - as best we can summarize Weldon's version, the chart he gave Hadley may or may not have ID'ed Atta.  (For example, Weldon recounts the story of giving a chart to Hadley in his May 2002 speech, but does *not* mention the seemingly headline-grabbing detail that the chart ID'ed Atta.)

Meanwhile, let's establish a bit of context and then present the "Keep Hope Alive" absurd spin du jour - shortly after 9/11, Weldon allegedly handed Hadley a chart that may or may not have ID'ed Mohamed Atta, lead hijacker.  Now Hadley doesn't remember getting such a chart.  The prizewinner:

Weldon's chief of staff, Russ Caso, said that "the congressman sticks by his account" of the meeting, adding that it was understandable Hadley may have forgotten or misplaced the chart, given the demands of his job.

Sure - if someone told me that a secret intelligence unit had identified Atta prior to the attack, I would have forgotten that, too. 

In related news, the Pentagon may or may not have agreed to cooperate with Specter's next hearing.

TOO CUTE?  Let's review Hadley's denial for "parsability":

But a spokesman for Hadley, who has previously declined to comment on Weldon's claims, said yesterday that a search of National Security Council files produced no such documents identifying Atta and that Hadley was not given such a chart by Weldon.

"Mr. Hadley does not recall any chart bearing the name or photo of Mohamed Atta," said the spokesman, Frederick L. Jones II. "NSC staff reviewed the files of Mr. Hadley as well as of all NSC personnel" who might have received such a chart.

"That search has turned up no chart," he said.

Hadley does recall seeing a chart used as an example of "link analysis" -- the technique used by the Able Danger program -- as a counterterrorism tool, but is not sure whether it happened during a Sept. 25, 2001, meeting with Weldon or at another session, Jones said.

"Name" could be ambiguous - maybe the chart had another of Atta's names.  But photo?

Well, did Hadley's people find a chart with no photo and an earlier name used by Atta?  They say they found no chart at all.

OK, the "Weldon is a kook" theory had plenty of oxygen even before today.

STILL MORE:  At the Pentagon press briefing, we were told that the Pentagon had found some charts similar to that described by Weldon, prompting an "Arrgh!  Where were the follow-ups?" from yours truly.

Well, the WaPo has followed up:

While Pentagon investigators never found such a chart, they did uncover two other interesting diagrams: One from 1999 included the name and photograph of Mohammed Atef -- not Atta -- a well-known al Qaeda lieutenant. Another included the photo of a convicted terrorist named Eyad Ismoil, an Egyptian who bears a resemblance to Atta -- and who, unlike Atta, was part of the Brooklyn cell tied to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Investigators and experts say those two charts could explain how a handful of military officers and civilians may have come to mistakenly believe they identified Atta. Atta's Florida driver's license photo from the summer of 2000 has become an icon of the attacks, and the lead hijacker has been the subject of many dubious claims and sightings.

OK - could someone please show these charts to Hadley, Weldon and Shaffer to see if they look strangely familiar?

MORE:  AJ Strata, with the stale, overused headline, articulates the full cover-up theory, and has more on the burial of this story here.  Good job.

Abracadabrah has a useful summary of recent developments; the Captain tells us about Eileen Preisser; and here is Erik Kleinsmith's testimony, in which Ms. Pressier is identified - she has appeared earlier in the Able Danger story as an unidentified female whiz kid.

Comments

[Rodney A Stanton]

Hadley sounds a lot like Sandy Berger. In more ways than one. Which only proves there lying liberals in *both* of the major parties. The Dems do not have the market for liberals cornered.

[kim]

When I grow up, Mommy, I wanta be a Plausible Denier.
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[Pat Joy]

I side with Hadley. Remember Weldon said he handed the chart and never saw it again, but used a chart at a national press brieffing in 2002 with Atta on it and said it was the chart. Then in 2005 said he forgot all about the chart from 2001 until in came up in a hearing and he writes a book at the dsame time. Weldon seems all over the place.

[kim]

Datamining by our government must be done by identifiable public servants. If the 'insisders' are not identified, how can one be sure their information is being used legitimately? There also should be some mechanisms by which private dataminers can be identified and limits placed on what and where, probably why too, they can search.

Good luck regulating that or even understanding. Ostensibly, our government gave up on trying to keep the process aboveboard. So where are we now? Spied on secretly by our government or spied on secretly by others from whom our government can't keep us safe?
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