Raspberry pie alert! Arkin debunks Able Danger

Able Danger was a danger to the Republic In April 2000, Able Danger, only months old, was abruptly shut down. Caught violating Reagan administration Executive Orders and Defense Department and Army regulations restricting intelligence agencies from collecting information on United States "persons," the highly compartmented cell within the Army's Land Information Warfare Activity (LIWA) was halted in its effort to use data mining and link analysis to characterize the worldwide nature of the al Qaeda terrorist network. ...According to military sources familiar with the Able Danger legal side, the effort stepped over the line when LIWA contractors purchased photographic collections of people entering and exiting mosques in the United States and overseas. One source says that LIWA contractors dealt with a questionable source of photographs in California, either a white supremacy group or some other anti-Islamic organization. Able Danger was ineffectual First, to debunk the myths: * As best as I can determine, having spent tens of hours talking to military sources involved with the issue, intelligence analysts did not identify anyone prior to 9/11, Mohammed Atta included, as a suspect in any upcoming terrorist attack. * It is not even clear that a "Mohammed Atta" was identified, let alone that it is the same Atta who died on 9/11. * No military lawyers prevented intelligence sleuths from passing useful information to the FBI. * Able Danger itself was not an intelligence program.