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Not to be confused with Anthony Shaffer (writer).
Anthony Shaffer
Anthony Shaffer by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Born1962 (age 58–59)
EducationOfficer Candidate School (1982)
Wright State University (1986)
Known forAble Danger controversy
Operation Dark Heart (Book)

Anthony Shaffer (born 1962) is a former U.S. Army Reserve lieutenant colonel who gained fame for claims about mishandled intelligence before the September 11 attacks, and for the censoring of his ghost written book Operation Dark Heart. Shaffer enlisted in the Ohio Army National Guard in 1980[citation needed] and graduated from Officer Candidate School in 1982[citation needed].

Following a Defense Intelligence Agency investigation into Shaffer, his access to classified information was revoked in September 2005 and his security clearance was revoked in February 2006. That revocation essentially ended LTC Shaffer's career as an intelligence officer, both at DIA and in the Army Reserve.[1] Shaffer is currently the president of the London Center for Policy Research[2]

9/11 hijacker claims[edit]

While deployed as a staff officer in Afghanistan Shaffer came under investigation over an alleged pattern of misconduct including obtaining a service medal under false pretenses,[3] improperly flashing military identification while drunk, theft, and falsely claiming reimbursement for mileage and personal mobile phone charges.[4] Shaffer responded by alleging that the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) failed to properly pass on intelligence on 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta. Shaffer's allegations subsequently became known as the Able Danger controversy. On December 22, 2006, a 16-month investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Able Danger, "did not identify Mohamed Atta or any other 9/11 hijacker at any time prior to September 11, 2001,"[5]. The Defense Department's inspector general (DoD OIG) made a similar conclusion.[1][6]

In October 2003 Shaffer told the 9/11 Commission staff director, Dr. Philip D. Zelikow, that in 2000, a DIA data-mining program known as Able Danger had uncovered two of the three terrorist cells which the FBI determined committed 9/11. Shaffer reportedly told Zelikow that DIA leadership declined to share this information with the FBI because military lawyers expressed concerns about the legality of doing so. Shaffer also asserted that he briefed Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet on three separate occasions regarding his unit's activities. The 9/11 Commission Report did not mention Shaffer's allegations, but in 2005 and 2006, the chairman of the House Select Intelligence Committee, Rep. Curt Weldon, publicized Shaffer's allegations in public statements and hearings.[7] A Time magazine article dated August 14, 2005, reports that Weldon admitted he is no longer sure that Atta's name was on the chart created by Able Danger that he had handed to then-Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley in 2001, days after the 9/11 attacks.[8]

Prior to the conclusion of investigations by the Defense Department's inspector general and the Senate Intelligence Committee, US Congressman Weldon, delivered a speech to Congress, saying that the Pentagon took the actions of stripping Shaffer of his security clearance, putting him on indefinite suspension without pay, taking away his pension and medical coverage as punishment for Shaffer's repeatedly bringing forward of the above Able Danger facts.[9] While Shaffer was stripped of his security clearance,[4] and placed on indefinite unpaid suspension, the investigation the Defense Department's inspector general concluded that "DIA officials did not reprise against LTC Shaffer, in either his civilian or military capacity, for making disclosures regarding Able Danger".[1] Investigations by both the Defense Department's inspector general and the Senate Intelligence Committee found that Able Danger did not identified any 9/11 hijacker before September 11, 2001.[6]

Censored memoirs[edit]

With the help of ghostwriter and researcher Jacqueline Salmon,[10] Shaffer published memoirs of his time as a reports officer in Afghanistan in book titled Operation Dark Heart. Shaffer claims that the Defense Department attempted to preserve secrecy of revelations made by the book, by buying up and destroying all 10,000 copies of the book's first, uncensored run, before allowing for the release of a second, censored printing.[11][12]

Current work[edit]

Shaffer was appointed in the summer of 2013 as a senior fellow to the London Center for Policy Research.[13] With William H. Keith, he has written a novel, The Last Line, that was released in hardback in June 2013, and is due out as a paperback in October 2014.[14][15] Shaffer is a frequent guest on The Epoch Times' American Thought Leaders, where he's pushed theories about voter fraud in the 2020 United States presidential election. Including the provably false claim[16] that of "video in Atlanta where the woman’s pulling out containers of ballots which then were run through the tabulation two and three times". [17]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT OF INVESTIGATION CASE NUMBER H05L97905217" (PDF). United States Department of Defense.
  2. ^ "London Center For Policy Research". londoncenter.org. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  3. ^ "Pentagon Revokes 'Able Danger' Officer's Clearance". Associated Press. 2015-03-25. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  4. ^ a b "Able-Danger Officer Disciplined". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  5. ^ "Senate Intelligence Committee Letter on ABLE DANGER" (PDF). Federation of American Scientists.
  6. ^ a b "Trump's team is considering Anthony Shaffer, a controversial former Army officer, for a senior defense role". Newsweek. 2016-12-14. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  7. ^ "Able Danger and the 9/11 Attacks." Unclassified Draft Statement by Anthony A. Shaffer, Lt. Col., U.S. Army, House Armed Services Committee, February 15, 2006.
  8. ^ Bennett, Brian; Burger, Timothy J.; Waller, Douglas (2005-08-14). "Was Mohammed Atta Overlooked?". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
  9. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI5H3Ctlmsc
  10. ^ Vlahos, Kelley B. (2011-01-14). "Lt. Col Shaffer vs. the Pentagon". Antiwar.com Original. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
  11. ^ Shane, Scott (2010-09-10). "Pentagon Plan: Buying Books to Keep Secrets". The New York Times. p. A16. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2010-09-26. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  12. ^ Shane, Scott (2010-09-18). "Secrets in Plain Sight in Censored Book's Reprint". The New York Times. p. A9. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2010-09-26. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  13. ^ "LtCol Anthony Shaffer - London Center for Policy Research - National Security, Energy, and Risk Analysis". 3 July 2014.
  14. ^ Shaffer, Anthony; Keith, William H. (4 June 2013). "The Last Line: A Novel". Thomas Dunne Books – via Amazon.
  15. ^ Shaffer, Anthony, and William H. Keith. The Last Line. New York, NY: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2014. ISBN 1250048508 OCLC 852658420
  16. ^ Brown, Matthew. "Fact check: Georgia 'suitcase' video is missing context". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
  17. ^ NTD (2020-12-10), VIDEO: Tony Shaffer on Election Anomalies: Late Night Spikes for Biden; Curated Ballots; USPS Whistleblower, retrieved 2021-04-03