And oh yeah, for exposing how operation Able Danger was ignored by nearly everyone they reported to.
Shaffer is being fired from his DIA position since he can't work without a clearance. His military job is also in jeopardy, due to the 'charges'. Look in the dictionary beside the words "trumped" and "up" and you might see these charges listed.
On the face this makes no sense, for one reason because Shaffer was recently promoted to a LTC. Shaffer:
On Tuesday, Shaffer called the allegations "bogus," noting that the Army promoted him to lieutenant colonel in October 2004.
That promotion would not have occurred, he said, if the Army had concerns with his job performance or personal integrity.
Unless he got the position under false pretenses. But it's funny, they had no trouble finding such charges after Weldon made him famous, yet the same people couldn't find anything before promoting him last year. In the least the security investigation was a joke. At the most I'm seeing some smoke wafting off the end of this gun.
Perhaps this has something to do with it?
U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican who has championed Able Danger and other data-mining projects, told reporters on Wednesday that Able Danger also uncovered evidence of a threat to U.S. interests in Yemen two days before the 2000 bombing of the Navy destroyer Cole, which killed 17 sailors.
Weldon, who attributed his information to Phillpott, said the Able Danger team passed along the warning through proper channels but no word of danger ever reached the Cole.
"They sent it up but they don't know what happened," Weldon said. "That's part of what needs to be investigated."
I've previously admitted to being non-plussed by the allegations from AD so far, waiting for more independent corroboration. It also seemed the data mining operation itself might have ventured out too far and wide, grabbing info on folks they shouldn't have. There were some valid reasons for doubting the story.
But now I'm trying to analyze the why's of this story. Why did Shaffer come forth? Why did his co-workers join him? Why did Curt Weldon stick his neck out? Why would ANY of them risk their careers if this was just a stunt for money or an outright lie?
I've got nothing.
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