Able Danger

What was in Sandy Berger's Pants? Inquiring minds want to know.

It is an undisputed fact that former President Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger removed documents with the highest possible security classification from the National Archives, hid those documents in his clothing, took them home with him, and destroyed some of those documents. It will never be known exactly what information was destroyed, but we can be sure it was something that Sandy Berger did not want the 9/11 Commission to include in its report. What do you suppose was in those papers that could have been worth risking a jail sentence and sacrificing his career? Who was Berger protecting? Bill Clinton? Richard Clarke? As Dr. Sanity notes, it sure would be interesting to know what Berger knew about Able Danger and if he wrote a memo, or signed off on one, that specifically related to Able Danger, and whether he and Clark wrote notes that ultimately prevented the distribution of information that would have led to the arrest of the 9/11 hijackers in 2000. Hmmmm.... turns out we could've arrested Mohammed Atta and three of the other 9/11 hijakers back in 2000 and possibly stopped 9/11 from happening. Well that kinda changes everything, don't it? I wonder what was scribbled in the margins that had to be burned - something like, "What? Me worry?"

Adding insult to injury, it turns out that the "bi-partisan" 9/11 Commission was briefed by military intelligence about the Able Danger project, twice, but chose to ignore it - like Able Danger didn't exist. It certainly disn't exist in their report. As Ed Morrissey notes:

After over 24 hours of denying that anyone had told the Commission about the secret project, their spokesman now says that commission officials met with a uniformed officer who told them about the identification of Mohammed Atta and three other 9/11 hijackers in 2000, over a year prior to the attacks.
...
What does that mean for the Commission's findings? It meant that the cornerstone of their conclusions no longer fit the facts. Able Danger showed that the US had enough intelligence to take action -- if the government had allowed law enforcement and intelligence operations to cooperate with each other.

...[Wall? What wall?]...

So what did the Commission do? It ignored those facts which did not fit within its predetermined conclusions.

The 9/11 Commission has some 'splainin' to do. And why the hell isn't Sandy Berger in jail yet?