Reply #6: Officer Says Military Blocked Sharing of Files on Terrorists

[Chicago Democrat]

August 17, 2005
Officer Says Military Blocked Sharing of Files on Terrorists
By PHILIP SHENON
WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 - A military intelligence team repeatedly contacted the F.B.I. in 2000 to warn about the existence of an American-based terrorist cell that included the ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a veteran Army intelligence officer who said he had now decided to risk his career by discussing the information publicly.

The officer, Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, said military lawyers later blocked the team from sharing any of its information with the bureau.

Colonel Shaffer said in an interview that the small, highly classified intelligence program known as Able Danger had identified the terrorist ringleader, Mohammed Atta, as well as three other future hijackers by name by mid-2000, and tried to arrange a meeting that summer with agents of the Washington field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to share its information.

But he said military lawyers forced members of the intelligence program to cancel three scheduled meetings with the F.B.I. at the last minute, which left the bureau without information that Colonel Shaffer said might have led to Mr. Atta and the other terrorists while the Sept. 11 attacks were still being planned.

http://nytimes.com/2005/08/17/politics/17intel.html?hp&ex=1124251200&en=55bd2891c82760c6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Posted 8:35PM ET on NYTIMES