In an e-mailed response to a couple of quick questions I sent last night, Mark Zaid confirmed what Rep. Curt Weldon alleged in a floor speech and multiple media appearances last night about the DIA's treatment of LTC Tony Shaffer. Zaid, who has represented Shaffer during the Able Danger controversy, wrote the following (emphases mine):

CQ: Have you heard that the DIA intends on firing Col. Shaffer?

MZ: Of course Ed, I'm handling his security clearance issues. They have moved for his indefinite suspension without pay even before we have concluded his appeal. I have had other DIA clients facing the same appeal circumstances but DIA did not suspend them without pay, at least to the best of my recollection.

CQ: Did they [DIA] send him classified documents mixed in with his personal effects?

MZ: They did send him classified documents and govt property. In fact, they sent the boxes to my office!

CQ: Have they accused him of adultery with a staff member of Weldon's?

MZ: Early on DoD (or possibly DIA, we don't know) was spreading unfounded gossip about an alleged romance. That died fast.

Zaid didn't elaborate further, but I think we can expect more fireworks soon from the Able Danger issue. Hopefully, the focus will return to the more substantive issues about what the program found and who kept it buried. Based on the desperate and incompetent manner in which the DIA has attempted to smear and discredit Tony Shaffer, there seems to be quite a story that the American people should know.

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