Congressman: Hijackers were monitored.

news.yahoo.com...

WASHINGTON - Sept. 11 ringleader Mohammed Atta and three other hijackers were identified by defense intelligence officials more than a year before the attacks, but information about possible al-Qaida connections never was sent to law enforcement, Rep. Curt Weldon (news, bio, voting record) said Tuesday

Weldon, R-Pa. and vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, said the hijackers were identified in 1999 by a classified military intelligence unit known as "Able Danger," which determined they could be members of an al-Qaida cell.

Weldon said that in September 2000 the unit recommended that its information on the hijackers be given to the FBI "so they could bring that cell in and take out the terrorists," Weldon said in an interview.

However, Weldon said Pentagon lawyers rejected the recommendation because they said Atta and the others were in the country legally.

"In fact, I'll tell you how stupid it was, they put stickies on the faces of Mohammed Atta on the chart that the military intelligence unit had completed and they said you can't talk to Atta because he's here" legally, Weldon said.

it looks like another intelligence failure, dis time by the military instead of the CIA. tsk tsk. "Able Danger" possibly the military unit of Intelligence Support Activity? former ISA sorry.

I think we need to see exactly what Weldon's referring to; the article is a little too "if" and "maybe" heavy, you know?

This one will be interesting to watch, absolutely.

sure sounds like they are being told to 'stand down' whenever a terrorist attack occurs.
it's pretty sad, that even after 9/11, agencies don't take every single terrorist attack possibility seriously. and once it's told to the public the failure, they are ok with it.

Of course who was in the oval office then? Mr. Bill. Sad when we can even prevent this sort of thing in our on counrty.