Walking the Cat Back: Able Danger, Sandy Berger and Jamie Gorelick

Those who have done even an iota of research know that the Clinton administration's approach to national security was, at best, bumbling. Buzz Patterson, a guardian of the "nuclear football" for President Clinton, even wrote the best-selling book entitled, "Dereliction of Duty." It spelled out some egregious security gaffes. China and the Loral-ICBM debacle. Vernon Jordan and the golf game that interrupted a major military attack. And the time when Clinton lost the nuclear launch codes (yep, you heard that right - the only time they've been irretrievably lost).

Patterson, of course, was viciously attacked by the Left, who questioned his honesty and integrity. Problem for them, however, is that anyone with a "Yankee White" security clearance, which Patterson had, can't be called a liar. And, furthermore, his allegations are so serious that the Clintons surely would have sued Patterson had his statements been false. But, insofar as I know, they haven't.

The latest chapter in this tragic saga came earlier this week. News broke that a highly classified data-mining team, code-named "Able Danger," had identified Mohammed Atta and several other of the 9/11 terrorists... in 1999.

Congressman Curt Weldon (R-PA), speaking to CNN, described why the "Able Danger" team was rebuffed when they attempted to have the FBI take Atta's cell out.

...we now know... lawyers within the administration, we don't know whether they were DOD lawyers or White House lawyers, lawyers within the [Clinton] administration told the Special Forces folks three times, you cannot share this information with the FBI. They even put stickies over top of the faces of Mohammed Atta saying they're here legally... That stopped it dead in its tracks.

Several enterprising bloggers have "walked the cat back" and wondered aloud regarding Sandy Berger's bizarre theft and destruction of classified documents. Jawa answers the critical question: which lawyer in the administration might have prevented the FBI takedown?

One name comes immediately to mind because he was the point man for the military -- and a trained lawyer. Sandy Berger.

Bill at From the Swamp then asks the next question in the logical progression: what in the world was in those documents that Sandy Berger was caught stuffing down his pants? Remember, in April of this year, Sandy Berger -- Clinton's National Security Advisor -- pled guilty to illegally removing and retaining classified documents.

Dr. Sanity notes another interesting coincidence:

Berger's sentencing after he pleaded guilty was postponed from this July to September. Isn't it interesting that this new information is coming out in August?

Coincidence? Perhaps. But Captain Ed hammers the 9/11 Commission's Report along a related line:

...American [military intelligence never] gets mentioned... in the analysis of how the US failed to detect the 9/11 plot... In retrospect, that gaping hole in analysis seems highly odd, almost as if the 9/11 Commission never bothered to ask the Pentagon about its intelligence missions -- or [, if it did,] simply disregarded evidence...

Disregarded? The Commission was presented with the findings of the "Able Danger" team and completely ignored them. Was it stupidity, election-year politics, or something more insidious?

Could it have been related to the outrageous conflict-of-interest lying within the commission itself?

...Why didn't the Commission press harder for military intelligence...? It would emphasize that the... biggest problem was the enforced separation between law enforcement and intelligence operations upon which the Clinton Department of Justice insisted. The hatchet person for that policy sat on the Commission itself: Jamie S. Gorelick.

How could members of the 9/11 Commission adequately... investigate themselves? The answer, of course, is they could -- and did -- not.

Congress needs to flush and refill the bowl. The American people must demand a complete and thorough reinvestigation of 9/11 as soon as possible. And this time, hopefully we can remove the spectre of partisan, election-year gamesmanship that occurred the last time.

And one final postscript: Sandy Berger would have been Secretary of State in a *cough* Kerry administration.