August 22, 2005
Navy Officer Affirms Assertions About Pre-9/11 Data on Atta
By PHILIP SHENON
WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 – An active-duty Navy captain has become the
second military officer to come forward publicly to say that a secret
defense intelligence program tagged the ringleader of the Sept. 11
attacks as a possible terrorist more than a year before the attacks.
The officer, Scott J. Phillpott, said in a statement today that he
could not discuss details of the military program, which was called
Able Danger, but confirmed that its analysts had identified the Sept.
11 ringleader, Mohamed Atta, by name by early 2000. “My story is
consistent,” said Captain Phillpott, who managed the program for the
Pentagon’s Special Operations Command. “Atta was identified by Able
Danger by January-February of 2000.”