Pentagon denies data program gave Sept. 11 clues ("Able Danger")

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N15324510.htm

Pentagon denies data program gave Sept. 11 clues


WASHINGTON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Wednesday said it found no evidence that a computer data-mining program it operated before the Sept. 11 attacks uncovered information that could have thwarted the attacks if it had been acted on.

But a defense intelligence officer and two contractors who worked on the secret program told a congressional committee the secret data-mining operation called "Able Danger" revealed intelligence on Sept. 11 mastermind Mohammed Atta and others that should have been a tip-off of the attacks.

Rep. Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican who has spearheaded a probe of whether intelligence from Able Danger was wrongly brushed aside, blasted the Pentagon's review as incomplete.

"It's the fact that people are going to have egg on their face" over what should have been done with the intelligence, Weldon said at a House of Representatives Armed Services subcommittee hearing.