Honorable Robert Mueller
Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D. C. 20535-0001
Dear Director Mueller,
It has been reported in the news media and directly to my
staff that Army Lt. Colonel Anthony Shaffer was the operations officer
for a secret military program referred to as Able Danger. The mission
of Able Danger was to use a sophisticated data mining program in
conjunction with more traditional military intelligence methods to
identify and track al Qaida terrorists oversees.
In connection with this mission, Shaffer reports that he
and his associates discovered the names and U.S. locations of three of
the four 9-11 pilots a year prior to 9-11. Because the suspected al
Qaida terrorists were located in the U.S., Shaffer reports that he made
repeated requests of Defense Intelligence Agency (“DIA”) officials to
schedule a meeting with FBI officials in order to present this
intelligence to the FBI for further investigation. Shaffer further
contacted FBI agent Xanthig Mangum and asked her to schedule such a
meeting within FBI. Shaffer states that he made this request both
verbally and by email to Agent Mangum. Shaffer claims that the DIA
decided not to share this information with the FBI on the advice of
legal counsel and that certain meetings that had been scheduled on this
issue were cancelled as a result.
This is an official request that your office provide to the Judiciary
Committee all information and documents it has in connection with Able
Danger, Lt. Colonel Anthony Shaffer, Captain Scott Phillipot or any
other persons having any connections with Project Able Danger,
including, but not limited to, email communication, notes, phone message
slips, memos or any other supporting documentation.
I would appreciate it if you would provide Agent Mangum for an interview
with my staff at your earliest convenience. Also, please provide
information concerning any and all requests made to the FBI by any other
entity, agency, branch or commission in connection with Agent Mangum, Lt
Colonel Shaffer, Project Able Danger or any related matters, including,
but not limited to, requests for interviews or documents.
Thank you for your attention to this important question about cross
agency information sharing.
Sincerely,
Arlen Specter
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