A second member of an elite military intelligence team has come forward to corroborate claims that the group, code named Able Danger, identified lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta more than a year before the 9/11 attacks.
"Atta was identified by Able Danger in January-February of 2000," Navy Capt. Scott J. Phillpott told Fox News and the New York Times.
"I will not discuss the issues outside of my chain of command and the Department of Defense," he insisted. "But my story is consistent . . . I have nothing else to say."
Phillpott's brief but emphatic comments back the statements of Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, who came forward last week to confirm claims by Rep. Curt Weldon that the Able Danger group had identified Atta.
Updating reporters on the Pentagon's own investigation of Able Danger, spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said that material turned over by Phillpott contained no evidence to support the Atta claim.
But additional corroboration for Shaffer and Phillpott's accounts was provided by James D. Smith, a former Defense Department contractor who said he worked on a chart for Able Danger before the 9/11 attacks.
Smith told the New York Times that he kept a copy of the chart, including a photo of Mohamed Atta, on his office wall at Andrews Air Force Base.
