For those still following Able Danger, Rory O'Connor
has the post of the year:
14. When did Shaffer's last conversation with Scott Phillpott before 9/11 take place, when Phillpott was "desperately" trying to preserve the data so that someone could use it, even though Able Danger was being shut down?
The conversation occurred in the May 2001 timeframe.... Phillpott called Shaffer on his mobile phone to ask if he (Phillpott) could move the data to a clandestine facility in the area - one of four under Shaffer's control. This one in particular was used for other highly classified intelligence operations and Phillpott had toured it before. Shaffer had already been directed by Major General Rod Isler to "cease all support to Able Danger. " Shaffer said that he'd love to let Phillpott "use the facility" but felt that his leadership would say no. When Shaffer asked his boss, Colonel Mary Moffitt, she not only said no but also began the process of moving Shaffer from his leadership position to a "desk job" on the Latin America desk of DIA.
More excerpts below:
15. When were Phillpott and his team members reassigned to other work? Were they each reassigned to different projects or was their unit assigned a new task?
Everyone went back to his "normal" job as Able Danger was disbanded - Able Danger was a form of standing "Task Force". There was some DIA leadership retaliation against the DIA members of Able Danger, but that cannot be fully addressed until the DOD Inspector general completes his current investigation.
16. Raytheon's Robert Johnson has told Congressman Curt Weldon that data was transferred to SOCOM, including data the Garland unit used to identify Mohamed Atta, separate from the LIWA effort. When was this transferred and how much data was involved?
A new open Internet data run was conducted from about July to September 2000 - this consisted of "spiders" doing whole searches and downloading of web based information, as well as the integration of all available open sources of data. In addition, copies of the full DIA and NSA data bases were moved by STRATUS IVY (Shaffer's unit) to Garland, Texas - in essence the entire LIWA capability was re-created from scratch and began to function in earnest in early September 2000.
Oh, and there's this, too:
9. After the attack on the USS Cole, was there any attempt to use the information Able Danger had based its prediction on - either to investigate the attack, or to determine how they had been so accurate - in order to replicate their efforts?
Yes - there was an "after action" forensic investigation and briefing of the Able Danger data, which is still extant but highly classified.