The Sept. 11 commission will look into a claim that US defense intelligence officials identified the ringleader and three other hijackers as probable members of an al-Qaeda cell more than a year before the hijackings but didn't tell law enforcers.
The commission investigated the performance of security and intelligence services before the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings of four airplanes and attacks against New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon outside Washington. In a report last year, the panel outlined numerous mistakes that allowed the attackers to succeed, including failure to share intelligence within and among agencies.
Republican Representative Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania said Tuesday the men were identified in 1999 by a classified military intelligence unit known as "Able Danger." If true, that's an earlier link to al-Qaeda than any previously disclosed intelligence about Mohammed Atta, the attackers' leader.
Sept. 11 commission co-chairman Lee Hamilton said Tuesday that Weldon's information, which the congressman said came from multiple intelligence sources, warrants a review.
"The 9/11 commission did not learn of any US government knowledge prior to 9/11 of surveillance of Mohammed Atta or of his cell," said Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana. "Had we learned of it, obviously it would've been a major focus of our investigation."
According to Weldon, Able Danger identified Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Khalid al-Mihdar and Nawaf al-Hazmi as members of a cell the unit code-named "Brooklyn" because of some loose connections to New York City.
Weldon said that in September 2000 Able Danger 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 Pentagon lawyers rejected the recommendation because they said Atta and the others were in the country legally so information on them could not be shared with law enforcers.
Weldon did not provide details of how the intelligence officials identified the future hijackers and determined they might be part of a terror cell.
Defense Department documents shown to a reporter Tuesday said the Able Danger team was set up in 1999 to identify potential al-Qaeda operatives for the US Special Operations Command. Information provided to the team by the Army's Information Dominance Center pointed to a possible al-Qaeda cell in Brooklyn, the documents said.
However, because of worries about pursuing information on "US persons" -- a legal term that includes US citizens as well as foreigners admitted to the country for permanent residence -- Special Operations Command did not provide the Army information to the FBI. It was unclear whether the Army provided the information to anyone else.
The command instead turned its focus to overseas threats.
The documents provided no information on whether the team identified anyone connected to the Sept. 11 attacks.
If the team identified Atta and the others, it's unclear why the information wasn't forwarded. The prohibition against sharing intelligence on "US persons" should not have applied since they were in the country on visas -- they did not have permanent resident status.
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