Able Danger:KGB::Guantanamo:GULAG.

First, Arkin has sources that he chooses not to name. The reader, of course, is welcome not to believe unnamed sources; indeed, I challenged Jehl’s story in part because his sources were initially anonymous. Since Arkin has an exceptional record of inside sources, though, those who know the record are likely to believe him.

Arkin has made a good case that a) Able Danger did not achieve what Schaffer and Philpott have been quoted as claiming, b) at least part of what Able Danger was doing was illegal, c) there is a connection between the illegality and the destruction of records of AD, perhaps even the Pentagon’s sudden amnesia.

In stories like this, there is evidence on both sides. Evidence will continue to come in for years or decades. It’s a judgment call. But Arkin has pegged exactly what I saw as the mindset of Schaffer from the beginning. He seems like a guy with a dream of the magical properties of a technique but not enough experience for how it can go wrong. In this case, we know where the unsupervised monitoring of citizens by the military or other all-but-unaccountable agencies leads. It leads to nightmare states like the Soviet Union.

There were plenty of legal ways to have caught the 911 plotters. Senator Bob Graham lists about a dozen in his book, Intelligence Matters. The 911 plotters slipped through because people were not doing their jobs. If the choice is between competence in law enforcement with little risk to liberty, and the KGB under a different name, it wouldn’t take paranormal psychic powers to guess my choice.

Man, do we need a carnival of the Chillin’ or what? Roberts sailed through. Far cry from Thomas.

Of course this is my week to host the RINo’s. BTW, where is your submission????

tsk, tsk.