Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer
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Anthony Shaffer (born 1962) is a former U.S. Army Reserve
lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...
who became known for his 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 and graduated from Officer Candidate School in 1982. Following a Defense Intelligence Agency investigation into Shaffer, his access to classified information was revoked in September 2005 and his security clearance was revoked in February 2006.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 Shaffer's career as an intelligence officer, both at DIA and in the Army Reserve. Shaffer is currently the president of the
London Center for Policy Research Herbert Ira London (March 6, 1939 – November 10, 2018) was an American conservative activist, commentator, author, and academic. London was the president of the Hudson Institute from 1997 to 2011. He was a frequent columnist for ''The Washing ...
.


9/11 hijacker claims

While deployed as a staff officer in Afghanistan in 2003, Shaffer came under investigation over an alleged pattern of misconduct including obtaining a service medal under false pretenses, improperly flashing military identification while drunk, theft, and falsely claiming reimbursement for mileage and personal mobile phone charges. 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 Able Danger was a classified military planning effort led by the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). It was created as a result of a directive from the Joint Chiefs of Staff in early October 1999 by Ch ...
controversy. In October 2003 Shaffer told the
9/11 Commission The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks", includin ...
staff director,
Philip D. Zelikow Philip David Zelikow (; born September 21, 1954) is an American diplomat, academic and author. He has worked as the executive director of the 9/11 Commission, director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, and Coun ...
, 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 The director of central intelligence (DCI) was the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency from 1946 to 2005, acting as the principal intelligence advisor to the president of the United States and the United States National Security C ...
George Tenet George John Tenet (born January 5, 1953) is an American intelligence official and academic who served as the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, as well as a Distinguished Professor in the P ...
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. A '' Time'' magazine article dated August 14, 2005, reported that Weldon was 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 Stephen John Hadley (born February 13, 1947) is an American attorney and senior government official who served as the 20th United States National Security Advisor from 2005 to 2009. He served under President George W. Bush during the second term ...
in 2001, days after the 9/11 attacks. 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". The Defense Department's inspector general (DoD OIG) came to a similar conclusion. While Shaffer was stripped of his security clearance, and placed on indefinite unpaid suspension, the investigation of 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". Investigations by both the Defense Department's inspector general and the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Able Danger did not identify any 9/11 hijacker before September 11, 2001.


Censored memoirs

With the help of ghostwriter and researcher Jacqueline Salmon, Shaffer published memoirs of his time as a reports officer in Afghanistan in book titled '' Operation Dark Heart''. The Defense Department bought and destroyed 10,000 copies of the book's first, uncensored run, before allowing the release of a second, censored printing with redactions on approximately 250 pages.


Later career

Shaffer was appointed in the summer of 2013 as a senior fellow to the London Center for Policy Research. He co-wrote a novel with
William H. Keith William H. Keith (born August 8, 1950) is an American author mainly contributing to military science fiction and military fiction and related game design, who writes also under several pen names, such as Ian Douglas, Robert Cain and H. Jay Ri ...
, ''The Last Line'', which was released in June 2013. Shaffer was a member of Donald Trump's 2020 campaign advisory board.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaffer, Anthony 1962 births Living people Criticism of the official accounts of the September 11 attacks Wright State University alumni American intelligence analysts United States Army colonels People of the Defense Intelligence Agency