Alex Shaffer

Alex Jones Interviews Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer - 030512

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• published: 06 Mar 2012
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March 5, 2012 - Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer: In 2001, just after the 9/11 attacks, he was returned to active duty for a 30 month period , during which he commanded a DIA operating base (OB Alpha) and had two successful combat tours to Afghanistan. During his two successful, undercover, combat tours he participated in the search for senior Al Qaeda leadership in Afghanistan. These operations provide him with a unique viewpoint on terrorism and its roots in southwest Asia. Operation Dark Heart provides an unprecedented look at intelligence operations during a period in the war where a small number of operators were able to effectively control this large country. In recognition of successful high risk/high gain operations Tony received the Bronze Star Medal (BSM) for performance as an Operations Officer of the HUMINT Support Detachment in Afghanistan supporting CJTF 180 and CJTF 121. http://www.operationdarkheart.com/ A data mining program called Able Danger was set up by US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in late 1998. It had been collecting data mostly on Bosnia and China (see Late December 1998). But at this time, it begins collecting data on al-Qaeda. (Goodwin 9/2005) At least some of the data is collected on behalf of Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Lambert, the J3 at US Special Operations Command. (US Congress. Senate. Committee on Judiciary 9/21/2005) Eleven intelligence employees are directly involved in Able Danger's work. Six are with SOCOM's Able Danger unit. Four more, including Dr. Eileen Preisser and Maj. Eric Kleinsmith, are with the US Army's Land Information Warfare Activity (LIWA), which joins the effort in December 1999. LIWA had been conducing data mining already on a wide variety of topics, including international drug cartels, corruption in Russia and Serbia, terrorist linkages in the Far East, and the proliferation of sensitive military technology to China (see April 2000). (Phucas 6/19/2005; Goodwin 8/2005; Jehl 8/9/2005; Garza 8/10/2005; Kelly 8/14/2005; Goodwin 9/2005; US Congress 9/21/2005; US Congress. Senate. Committee on Judiciary 9/21/2005) Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, running a military unit called Stratus Ivy in the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), will also take part in the effort. According to Shaffer, Stratus Ivy is tasked "to take on 'out of the box' ideas, and develop them into real intelligence operations." So the goal is to use the information gathered by Able Danger to conduct real operations against al-Qaeda targets. (US Congress 2/15/2006) Using computers, the unit collects huge amounts of data in a technique called "data mining." They get information from such sources as al-Qaeda Internet chat rooms, news accounts, web sites, and financial records. Using sophisticated software, they compare this with government records such as visa applications by foreign tourists, to find any correlations and depict these visually. (Kelly 8/14/2005; Goodwin 9/2005) The program will be shut down early in 2001 (see January-March 2001). http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=anthony_shaffer&printerfriendly;=true