Mohammed Atta and Berger's Pants

Congressman Curt Weldon has ignited a firestorm with revelations that the Clinton adminstration knew of an al-Qaeda cell in 1999. An excerpt:

Hamilton said members of the commission could issue a statement by the end of the week after reviewing claims that more than a year before the 2001 attacks defense intelligence officials had identified ringleader Mohammed Atta (search) and three other hijackers who were inside the United States.

"The Sept. 11 commission (search) did not learn of any U.S. government knowledge prior to 9/11 of surveillance of Mohammed Atta or of his cell," said Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana. "Had we learned of it obviously it would've been a major focus of our investigation."

Hamilton's remarks Tuesday came after the findings of Rep. Curt Weldon (search), a Pennsylvania Republican who serves as vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, made front-page news.

In June, Weldon displayed charts on the floor of the U.S. Senate showing that a classified military intelligence unit known as "Able Danger (search)" identified the men in 1999. That unit repeatedly asked for the information to be forwarded to the FBI but apparently to no avail. Various news outlets picked up on the story this week.
Weldon told FOX News on Wednesday that staff members of the Sept. 11 commission were briefed at least once by officials with Able Danger but that he does not believe the message was sent to the commissioners themselves. He also said some phone calls made by military officials with Able Danger to the commission staff went unreturned.

"Why weren't they briefed? Was there some deliberate attempt at the staff level of the 9/11 commission to steer the commissioners away of Able Danger because of where it might lead?" Weldon asked. "Why was there no mention of Able Danger?"

Could this be the information that Sandy Berger removed from the National Archive and never returned? I fear we will never know unless the 9/11 Commission reconvenes and pointedly asks Berger just that question.

Other thoughts along this line here and comments also found here.