Jersey Girls & NORAD

The Jersey Girls have issued a statement re the NORAD tapes (et al):

"Statement Regarding Pentagon’s Alleged Deception

August 4, 2006

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Mandate of the 9/11 Commission

The 9/11 Independent Commission was established by law to “... ascertain, evaluate, and report on the evidence developed by all relevant governmental agencies regarding the facts and circumstances surrounding the attacks;...“make a full and complete accounting of the circumstances surrounding the attacks, and the extent of the United States' preparedness for, and immediate response to, the attacks...”

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Recent stories in the Washington Post, the New York Times, as well as the release of the transcripts of the NORAD tapes in Vanity Fair, clearly show that the 9/11 Commission failed in its duties.

According to current reports, the Commission knew that it had been deceived by NORAD. In May 2003, representatives of NORAD testified, in full regalia, before the 9/11 Commission equipped with an easel and visual aids to highlight NORAD’s timeline for the day of 9/11. In June 2004, NORAD testified again, changing its previous testimony. The new timeline blamed the lack of military response on late notification by the FAA.

The Commissioners never determined or explained why there was a discrepancy between the two sets of testimonies. Governor Kean is quoted in the Washington Post article as saying "we, to this day don't know why NORAD told us what they told us, it was just so far from the truth ... It's one of those loose ends that never got tied".

The fact that the Commission did not see fit to tie up all loose ends in their final report or to hold those who came before them accountable for lying and/or making misleading statements puts into question the veracity of the entire Commission’s report. Individuals who came before the Commission to testify, after NORAD’s appearance, had no reason to state the truth. It was abundantly clear that there would be no repercussions for any misrepresentations.

Furthermore, the lack of tenacity and curiosity, by the Commissioners themselves, to determine why NORAD had deceived them is unconscionable. Knowing full well that the lack of military response was such a critical failure, begs the question of whether that same lack of tenacity and curiosity was applied to other critical areas of the 9/11 investigation.

We fought to establish the 9/11 Independent Commission because we believed that American citizens would be better served if our nation’s vulnerabilities were uncovered and then fixed.

Unfortunately, once again the failure to fully and properly investigate all areas, not follow all leads and not address the need for accountability, whether it be bureaucrats lying at a hearing or personnel with questionable performance of assigned duties, continues to leave this Nation and its citizens vulnerable and at risk.

The 9/11 Commission was derelict in its duties. What we needed from them was a thorough investigation into the events of September 11th.

Inexcusably, five years later, we still do."

Ron has a story up about it at RAW

* via Sibel: (from aug05)
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The Following National Security Whistleblowers were turned away, refused, or ignored by the 9/11 Commission, even though they had direct & relevant information related to the Commission’s investigation:

John M. Cole (Senior Counterintelligence Operations Manager-FBI) – He notified the 9/11 Commission during its investigation and never received response; also his name & contact information were provided to the Commission as key witness (Program manager for Pakistan & Afghanistan; has relevant information to 9/11 terrorist attack) by others, but he was not contacted.
Bio: John M. Cole, Former Veteran Intelligence Operations Specialist, worked for 18 years in the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division as an Intelligence Operations specialist. Beginning in 1999, he discovered and began reporting serious issues of mismanagement, gross negligence, waste of government funds, security breaches, cover-ups, and intentional blocking of intelligence that had national security implications. He wrote these issues in several letters to FBI management, to include Director Mueller to no avail. After he reported these acts to FBI management, he was retaliated against, suspended and ultimately left the FBI in March 2004.

Bogdan Dzakovic (Former Red Team Leader-FAA)- His testimony to the Commission was completely omitted from the final report.
Bio: Bogdan Dzakovic is a former Coast Guard Officer, Federal Criminal Investigator and has a graduate degree in Security Administration. He has worked for the Security Division of the Federal Aviation Administration since 1987 as a Special Agent, as a Team Leader in the Federal Air Marshals, and from 1995 until September 11, 2001 was a Team Leader of the Red Team (terrorist team). He tried for several years prior to the 9-11 attacks to improve aviation security in the face of the ever-increasing terrorist threat. This included working through the established chain of command, with the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General, with the General Accountability Office, and with members of both the House and Senate of the Congress of the United States. He filed a Whistleblower Case against the Federal Aviation Administration and testified at the 9-11 Commission.

Sibel Edmonds (Language Specialist-FBI) - She was refused twice; was given interview only after the Jersey Moms intervened directly; however, her testimony was censored by the Commission.
Bio:Sibel Edmonds worked as a language specialist for the FBI’s Washington Field Office. During her work with the bureau, she discovered and reported serious acts of security breaches, cover-ups, and intentional blocking of intelligence that had national security implications. After she reported these acts to FBI management, she was retaliated against by the FBI and ultimately fired in March 2002. Since that time, court proceedings on her issues have been blocked by the assertion of “State Secret Privilege” by Attorney General Ashcroft; the Congress of the United States has been gagged and prevented from any discussion of her case through retroactive re-classification by the Department of Justice. Ms. Edmonds is fluent in Turkish, Farsi and Azerbaijani; and has a MA in Public Policy and International Commerce from George Mason University, and a BA in Criminal Justice and Psychology from George Washington University. (www.justacitizen.com )

Behrooz Sarshar (Language Specialist-FBI) - He was refused twice; was given interview only after the Jersey Moms intervened directly; however, his testimony was completely removed from the commission’s final report.

Melvin A. Goodman (Former Senior Analyst/ Division Manager-CIA)- He Contacted the Commission but was not interviewed.
Bio: Melvin Goodman is senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC and adjunct professor of international relations at Johns Hopkins University. He served at the CIA as senior Soviet analyst from 1966-1990 and as professor of international security at the National War College from 1986-2004. He resigned from the CIA in 1990 to protest the politicization of intelligence on the Soviet Union and testified to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in 1991 against the confirmation of Robert M. Gates as director of central intelligence. At the time of his resignation, Goodman was a member of the Senior Intelligence Staff. He is the author and co-author of five books on international relations including "The Wars of Eduard Shevardnadze," "The Phantom Defense: America's Pursuit of the Star Wars Illusion," and "Bush League Diplomacy: How the Neoconservatives are Putting the World at Risk."

Gilbert Graham (Retired Special Agent, Counterintelligence-FBI) – His name & contact information were provided to the Commission as key witness in February 2004, although he was willing to provide the Commission with information he was never contacted

Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer, DIA-

Tony Shaffer is a combat-hardened, bronze star recipient who is a CIA trained senior operations officer and Army reserve lieutenant colonel with 22 years of experience in intelligence and special operations. While at DIA, as director of Task Force STRATUS IVY, he lead this unit in the conduct of some of the most complex, daring and innovative HUMINT collection and Information Operations projects ever undertaken by DoD, including ABLE DANGER – SOCOM’s effort to target Al Qaeda pre-9-11. Tony has served in a multitude of critical leadership positions that include commanding a joint DIA/CIA operating base focused on targeting terrorist hard targets; serving as the operations officer overseeing all DIA operational activities in Afghanistan; serving as the chief of the HUMINT support element assigned to the task force searching for Al Qaeda and Taliban Leadership in Afghanistan; and serving as the chief of Army INSCOM’s global HUMINT Operations program.

Coleen Rowley (Retired Division Counsel- FBI) – The commission chose to only rely upon transcripts from the Joint Senate-House Intel Inquiry. FBI Minneapolis Field office – As far as Ms. Rowley is aware, no one from the FBI Minneapolis (3-4 Agents with direct information) was asked to provide testimony/info to the 9/11 Commission

John Vincent (Retired Special Agent, Counterterrorism-FBI) – He was granted an interview but the commissioners’ investigators refused to ask questions Re: info. Related to his case & 9/11 and insisted on asking only administrative and irrelevant questions.

Bio: John Vincent is a graduate of law school. He spent two years in the US Army, one year
working for a US Congressman, and two years working in state government lawmaking. He joined the FBI in 1975 and worked there for 27 1/2 years before retiring in 2002. He worked his last 8 years in counter terrorism.
Mr. Vincent, along with Robert Wright exposed the inefficiencies within the FBI in working counter terrorism cases.

Robert Wright (Veteran Special Agent, Counterterrorism-FB) - FBI refused to allow Wright to testify, but the Commission did not insist or attempted to subpoena Wright; despite the fact that it was given subpoena power.

Mark Burton (Senior Analyst- NSA) – Provided dozens of pages of information/testimony to the 9/11 Commission, but was completely ignored and never asked to testify.

Bio: Mark Burton served as an all-source threat analyst in NSA’s Information Assurance Directorate (IAD) for most of his 16-year career. He was the editor of IAD’s premier threat document; the 300+ page ISSO Global Threat Summary, and was an adjunct faculty member at NSA’s National Cryptologic School. During a three-year ICAP tour at the Army’s National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC), he was treated so poorly that he chose to resign from public service. He later provided dozens of pages of draft testimony to the 9/11 Commission, but the Commission ignored him. He has since been blacklisted from Federal employment, apparently via the insertion of slanderous information into his official records. He has an MA in national security studies from Georgetown University.

Mike German (Special Agent, Counterterrorism-FBI) - Contacted the Commission in spring 2004, but did not receive any response from them. Had direct information Re: Ties between certain domestic terrorist group & Al Qaeda.

Bio:Mike German served sixteen years as an FBI Special Agent and is one of the rare agents credited with actually having prevented acts of terrorism before it became the FBI's number one priority. In the early 1990s, Mike successfully infiltrated a Los Angeles white supremacist group that was engaged in a bombing campaign against racial minorities. In the late 1990's, after the Oklahoma City bombing, he again went undercover against right-wing militia groups that were conspiring to harm federal agents. Both cases disrupted multiple terrorist cells and led to criminal convictions that prevented terrorist acts. In 2002 Mike reported gross mismanagement in a post 9/11 counterterrorism investigation, which included serious violations of FBI policy and federal law. Despite his record Mike was prevented from working on other terrorism investigations in retaliation. Mike chose to resign from the FBI rather than remain silent about continuing failures in the FBI counterterrorism program.

Dick Stoltz (Retired Special Agent, ATF & FBI)

Joe Mansour (Federal Bureau of Prison)

Larry Cruse (Veteran Analyst, NGIC)

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Ummm. Had Enough?