Earlier today, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced that it had an agreement with the Pentagon to allow the five witnesses to testify in open hearings on the Able Danger project and its identification of the four lead hijackers of the 9/11 attacks. Now the AP reports that the Pentagon may yet block that testimony again, and that the only certainty at this point is continued uncertainty:

On Friday, the Senate committee announced the Pentagon had reversed its position and would allow the five witnesses to testify at a new public hearing scheduled for October 5.

The Pentagon denied anything had changed, despite behind-the-scenes negotiations to reach a solution agreeable to both sides.

"Our position has not changed," Defense spokesman Bryan Whitman told Reuters. "This is a classified program and there are still aspects of it that are not appropriate for an open hearing. And that's what we have told the committee."

Not so, responded William Reynolds, the judiciary committee's director of communications.

"The Pentagon has agreed to make five witnesses available. Although there was no talk at the time when they made that offer, the assumption was that it would be in an open committee hearing," Reynolds said in an interview.

"If the Pentagon has issues with that, they need to let us know," he added.

Arlen Specter has hinted at bringing charges against Pentagon personnel for obstruction of a Congressional investigation, and others in the Senate have talked openly of a DoD cover-up on 9/11. It seems better for the Pentagon to act now to demonstrate openness and cooperation before Specter starts issuing subpoenas not just for the five witnesses he wants, but for people like Shelton and Schoomaker as well.

Several CQ readers point out in comments and e-mail that the Pentagon represents many entities, some of them competing with each other. Of course this is true, but the political leadership handles the relationship with Congress. That starts with Rumsfeld and works its way through his staff. This constant back-and-forth with Congresss shows that the indecision exists in the political section of the DoD. No doubt they have received contradictory data from other factions, but the lack of consistency has to be laid at the feet of the Secretary.

He'd better correct this soon, too. The dance routine has started to look more like a burlesque stall tactic.

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry is

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Able Danger Foxtrot VI: The Pentagon Backstep Redux:

» Schumer, Able Danger, Koba and Betsy from The Anchoress
All day I meant to link to these things, and all day I got distracted. Michelle Malkin on Schumer: She’s great. Go here and here Hugh Hewitt on Schumer: Funny/Clever/Sarcastic here Betsy on Schumer: Observing Podhoretz here Ed Morrissey o... [Read More]

Tracked on September 24, 2005 2:08 AM

» Able Danger Ping-Pong from bRight & Early
Yesterday both AJ (The Strata-Sphere) and Ed (Captain's Quarters) were reporting on the news that the DoD had reversed itself and would allow five witnesses to testify before the Judiciary Committee. This morning I read at Captain's Quarters that the... [Read More]

Tracked on September 24, 2005 6:10 AM

» Able Danger - The Continuing Story from Abracadabrah
There's a fascinating series of posts spread around the blogosphere speculating on the reason for the current standstill in the Able Danger story - [Read More]

Tracked on September 24, 2005 6:43 PM

» Let Them Testify - Able Danger from Balance Sheet
It troubles me that the Pentagon is refusing to allow people with some knowledge of Able Danger operations to testify before a Senate committee. This refusal would seem to be based on the desire to not be embarrassed. Do they think we are stupid? ... [Read More]

Tracked on September 25, 2005 8:05 AM