Partial Transcript of Weldon's news conference from CSPAN about Able Danger

This is not a complete transcript...most of the good comments, the scathing ones. Some details of the names of the Able Danger operatives were omitted. I had to do some editing, but for the vast majorty, its accurate to what he detailed. I didn't cover all the USS Cole linkages, nor the data mining operations, or the attempted set-ups by DIA and their smear campaign...just the good quotables made it here. Please feel free to copy - and add or correct if you have a copy of the news conference.

Begins here:

Reluctantly I stand to provide further information on the Able Danger situation. When I first started this effort back in June when the full Able Danger (AD) story came to my attention, I said it could be anything from gross incompetence to a coverup bigger than Watergate. I today tell you after months of looking at this issue that there is a coverup that’s taken place, and continues to take place and therefore I am asking for a criminal investigation…this whole story is bizarre, it’s outrageous and the truth needs to be told. And now I can tell you publicly, that the 9/11 Commission has nothing but hide this information. They have been unwilling to come forward to investigate. There is a coverup here, it is clear, it is unequivocal. Arguable the most important story relative to the run-up to 9/11 is going to be buried by a staffer [to the 9/11 Commission] who never briefs the 9/11 Commission itself? And for the 9/11 Commission to come out and say that Able Danger: one, didn’t exist, and two, was “historically insignificant” is absolutely outrageous.

Apparently this information was brought to the 9/11 Commission prior to their report. There’s no reference to it. That’s the kind of tactical intelligence that would make a difference in stopping a hijacking. We’re very interested in what the 9/11 Commission didn’t do with respect to Able Danger. It’s my contention that there was a deliberate attempt to not have this story told to the American people. There is no reference to Able Danger in the entire 9/11 Commission Report. There has been nothing but denial and spin since this story broke in the first week of August. Denial and spin.

You know, Richard Nixon had to resign from office because he tried to cover up a third rate burglary. No one was injured, no money was stolen, no one was killed. Here we have a coverup of the single largest incident in the history of our Nation. Where 3000 people died at the Trade Center and 17 sailors died on the [USS] Cole. There are people in both Administrations that do not want this story to come out. This whole story needs this country to scream and shout to investigate. There are just too many unanswered questions. This is not a third-rate burglary. This is a cover-up, of the largest attack against our country. People don’t want to be embarrassed. People don’t want to have the facts come out. Well that’s not the way this country operates.

No 9/11 Commissioner has ever talked to Scott Philpot. No 9/11 Commissioner has ever talked to Tony Schaeffer. I know there is going to be egg on the face of the 9/11 Commission. I know there is going to be egg on the face of intelligence officials, and Clinton administration officials, and Bush administration officials, but the American people deserve to know what happened. 3,000 people were killed, including several of my friends. Yeah this is uncomfortable, yeah this is stirring things up, but if we don’t do this, then why are we here? I might as well resign my position in Congress if we’re going to have a massive coverup because people are going to be embarrassed. There are just too many unanswered questions. Lee Hamilton’s answers yesterday were absolutely ridiculous. More spin. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want a Commission to investigate a Commission.

They refused to talk to Tony Schaeffer. He would have given them all this information. Which obviously someone within the Commission did not want to know about [Able Danger]. These people are good people, Scott Philpot, Tony Schaeffer, the others involved, and there are six that we know of already that the Pentagon has acknowledged have identified Mohamed Atta and will state that on the record. They take the words duty, honor, country seriously. If we let Tony Schaeffer to have his life ruined, then that sends a signal to everyone that wears the uniform all over this world. You’re expendable. Even if you tell the truth you’re expendable. Because we’ve gotta protect the one’s higher than you. We got to make sure they’re not embarrassed. We got to make sure the story’s not told. The problem in this administration, the previous administration, and the bureaucrats that were held over between the two is, they know what the American people will say when they hear the story that I’ve heard. When they hear the unblemished story of the hard work, the significant work that Able Danger was involved with, that in fact identified the Brooklyn cell as one of five cells with Mohamed and three terrorists before 9/11 and tried to transfer it. Remember now, the 9/11 Commission called this “historically insignificant.”

And as Slade Gorton (R-WA) said, “it never happened.” We know publicly on the record that 2.5 terabytes of data was purposely destroyed. 2.5 terabytes of data is equal to all the printed material in the Library of Congress. None of it should have been destroyed. We know that there was a three hour briefing prepared for the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff in December of 00 and January of 01. How could you have a three hour briefing on Able Danger for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and have the 9/11 Commission refer to it as “historically insignificant?” I am sick of it folks, I am sick of it. Former FBI Director Louis Freeh in October 16th stated in the quote earlier: “this information could have stopped the hijackings” That’s not me saying that, that’s not some guy off the street, that’s not some political pundit, that’s the former FBI Director saying it.

I have no other recourse. The 9/11 Commission has lost any credibility whatsoever. They have not made any effort to get the facts of this case. And therefore there needs to be a criminal investigation of why its being covered up. We cannot let Lee Hamilton and Kean get away with saying “Oh we all we want is the chart.” It’s not about a chart. These aren’t people who came off the street and work in supermarkets, or some other job, these are dedicated military intelligence officers. And they all have the same story, what you think they all got together? No. None of them talked before this all came together. These dedicated military intelligence officers all coincidentally have the same story. What’s wrong with the truth. There’s nothing about classified status here. The bulk of what they did was open source. They wont even let the Able Danger people talk to Congress now, they totally gagged them, then how can we improve?

This story has been about intimidation, its about harassment, its about ruining the career of a professional military officer, its about denying the American people the basic facts of what happened to 3000 human beings and 17 sailors. It is unacceptable, it is outrageous, its un-American, its undemocratic, its not what our country stands for. If we can hold a President accountable for hiding facts about a burglary, then we certainly can have the American people understand that we need to know what happened this team. The 9/11 Commission missed the boat. They flubbed it. They have no credibility on this issue whatsoever, even though I supported most of their recommendations. There is nothing to hide here. They showed up in their uniform to testify, they were gagged. Gagged. And we were told, Oh, sensitive information, it’s not sensitive information, sensitive to the people who are going to be embarrassed, but not sensitive to the American people’s understanding of what happened here.

To me, this is the most important story of my lifetime. It’s important to me cause I lost good friends, and its important to me because we lost 343 firefighters, that I represent nationwide, it’s important to me because we lost 17 sailors. We talked a good game. DIA has on its website, “we want truth” to the American people. Well where the hell is the truth DIA? That’s an agency I have no confidence in right now. The number one priority of the DIA from a source inside the conference in Tampa, is to kill the Able Danger story. It’s only a matter of time this story is going to come out.


I can’t believe the mainstream media turns its head and does nothing to investigate this, yet they’ll worry about whatever her name is, Plume [sic] or something.



I’m not here to sniff at cocktails and go along to get along. If you’re not here to do the job of Oversight, then you shouldn’t be here. I don’t care what happens. Some say, well it’ll cost you the chair of the Chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee, So be it! Life goes on. Is that what this is about? Is it about me worry what someone else is going to think about me? I can’t understand why the mainstream media doesn’t get it. Again, this is not the coverup of a burglary. It’s a coverup of the biggest story in the country’s history. I can only do so much. I’ve got one staffer work on this for three months, the 9/11 Commission had 80 staffers, $15 million and they never mentioned Able Danger once. And when they are caught by the New York Times in a gross series of lies, three days in row, and changing their story each day about what they knew about Able Danger, they then come out on the final day and say well it was “historically insignificant.”

Well that’s not what Louis Freeh said, and that’s obviously not what the commanding General of the Joint Chiefs thought in January 01 when he was briefed. It wasn’t historically insignificant then.