Welcome to DouglasDeBono.Com, the Cyberspace Home of author Douglas De Bono

Welcome to DouglasDeBono.Com, the Cyberspace Home of
author Douglas De Bono.

Head in the Sand

ABLE-DANGER was an intelligence group operating under the aegis of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Not much has been made of their findings in the main stream media, but recent revelations suggest that this group provided actionable intelligence prior to the bombing of the USS Cole and the September 11th attacks.

Actionable intelligence is credible information that has sufficient specificity to enable a pre-emptive response.

In the case of the USS Cole, explicit warnings were issued two weeks and two days prior to the bombing that claimed seventeen lives and incurred $1 billion in damages. The Navy chose to ignore the warnings—this in itself is incredible. The purpose of the DIA is to act as an independent intelligence service dedicated to the armed forces. In other words, ABLE-DANGER did exactly what it was supposed to do and nobody listened.

ABLE-DANGER identified Mohammed Atta and company in January 2000—twenty months prior to the World Trade Center attacks. No doubt ABLE-DANGER reported their findings through the chain-of-command. So what happened?

The vaunted 9-11 Commission chose to not hear from ABLE-DANGER. Were the Commission members still operating per Jamie Gorelick’s ill-conceived wall of separation between intelligence and law enforcement agencies? Regardless, there was a conflict of interest with the commission and opportunity to suppress ABLE-DANGER testimony.

But why does the cover up continue?

As of October 2005, the Defense Department has issued a gag order, muzzling ABLE-DANGER’s seven members.

The current situation does not pass the smell test, and this stinks of a cover up.

ABLE-DANGER proved its credibility with its warning regarding the Cole. Perhaps Admiral sized egos got in the way. Perhaps someone did not believe the intelligence.

However, we now know ABLE-DANGER exists. We know they are no longer active. So why does the current administration stonewall the truth? Who is the Bush Administration protecting?

If actionable intelligence existed prior to September 11th, then why wasn’t it used?