I honestly don't know the answer. But I have this awful gnawing feeling in my gut that in some small way, it might have been a factor.

Let's hope I'm wrong.

To recap - an unidentified intelligence officer filed a complaint with the Department of Defense Inspector General for Intelligence alleging that the Joint Forces Intelligence Command withheld information from Congress during its investigation of intelligence failures on 9/11.

In his May 8, 2006, Formal Complaint to DoD Inspector General [1], the unidentified intelligence officer known only as IRON MAN wrote:

(U) Contrary to JFIC's formal report to the JCS staff, JFIC had a direct and assigned purview on international terrorism against the U.S., to include the operations of al-Qa'ida and the 9/11 attackers. JFIC was directly responsible to both Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) and its subordinate, Joint Task Force-Civil Support (JTF-CS) for all-source intelligence analysis of internationai terrorism against the U.S. To ensure the quality of such analysis,  JFlC's commanding officer [redacted] established the Asymmetric Threat Branch (DO5), charged with reporting on asymmetric threats, especially terrorism. [redacted] was subsequently promoted to JFCOM J2. As a RADM and PACOM J2, she established another Asymmetric Threat branch at PACOM.)

It is my belief that the commanding officer described above is Rear Admiral (retired) Rosanne M. LeVitre, US Navy.

Cross posted at the Missing Man

Reviewing the two recent articles over at Truth Out about the shut down on an intelligence program within Joint Forces Intelligence Command and withholding information to Congress about 9/11.

Thinking a bit out loud here and feeling my way around it all. I'm trying to figure out where the pressure was coming from.

Review of Joint Forces Intelligence Command Response to 9/11 Commission PDF
Deputy Inspector General for Intelligence
September 23, 2008

(U) JFIC's Asymmetric Threat Division (DO5)

 

(U) In 1999, the [Joint Forces Intelligence Command]created the Asymmetric Threat Division (DO5) to take a non-traditional approach to analysis. The Director of Operations recruited JFIC personnel from the command based upon their counterintelligence and counterterrorism expertise. The DO5 provided current intelligence briefings and produced the Worldwide Terrorist Threat Summary in support of the USJFCOM Intelligence staff. The DO5 also provided support to the Joint Task Force-Civil Support (JTF-CS). The JTF-CS assisted civil authorities with disaster assistance. The DO5 supported the JTF-CS exercises by establishing fictional terrorist organizations that would mimic real world terrorist groups.

Anyway, what I am trying to understand is this: why were commanding officers so opposed to the Asymmetric Threat Division's intelligence analysis regarding al Qaeda? Just what the heck was going on over there - was it a Navy thing or was there more to it than that?

Jeffrey Kaye continues lifting the veil on 9-11 intelligence failures with a new article at Truthout. The Unclassified FOIA Response attached to the article is an absolute must read. The FOIA Response was the result of a 2006 complaint to the DoD Inspector General filed by a former intelligence officer known only as IRONMAN.

EXCLUSIVE: New Documents Claim Intelligence on Bin Laden, al-Qaeda Targets Withheld From Congress' 9/11 Probe
By Jeffrey Kaye and Jason Leopold, Truthout, June 13, 2011
Attachments - Unclassified FOIA Response

The last page of the FOIA Response holds particular interest for me.

(U) [unclassified] My motivation for this complaint is multi-faceted. I do believe that knowledge of the work done by DO5 would add to DoD's understanding of its role in the events leading up to 9/11 and how to avoid future attacks. For this reason, and other more personal reasons, I believe that DO5's work, when I am certain that that information is not and has not been classified since 9/11, and I do want to see myself cleared of that false accusation. In addition, I and the deputy of that team, [redacted] especially carried the burden of knowledge of how close DoD came to bin Laden and perhaps being able to reduce the number of lives lost on 9/11. I do not want that burden any longer. [redacted] [redacted] and I discussed this issue the last time we spoke. He remains the longest missing man in Iraq in this war, and I want, one day, to be able to explain to his children what their father foresaw.

The former deputy of the Asymmetric threat Division and still the longest missing man in Iraq is Kirk von Ackermann. The complicated and contentious history of the company he worked for in Iraq, Ultra Services, was featured in a 2006 article at ePluribus Media.

Today's news via CNN:

  Missing man in Iraq identified as Army civilian employee

(CNN) -- An Army civilian employee missing in Baghdad, Iraq, since January has been identified as a 60-year-old man from California, the U.S. military said.

Issa T. Salomi of El Cajon was last seen in the Iraqi capital and has been unaccounted for since January 23, the Department of Defense said Friday.

Salomi was working with U.S. Forces-Iraq in the country. Search efforts are under way, the military said. No more information was available.

This is not "new" news -- civilian contractors in Iran have been having a rough go of things throughout this whole debacle. For more information, check out these recent stories by Susie Dow related to civilian contractors in Iraq:

  Thank You - A Sliver of Justice

and

  Americans Missing in Iraq as of June 2008

You may also find the following Journal articles of use, interest and relevance:

• Missing Contractor: US Military Mechanics may Hold the Keys

  Missing Contractor: U.S. Military Mechanics May Hold the Keys

  Both Kirk von Ackermann and Ryan Manelick worked for Ultra Services of Istanbul, Turkey.

  October 9, 2003 -- Kirk von Ackermann left a meeting at FOB Pacesetter, a small and isolated...

  http://thejournal.epluribusmedia.net/index.php/features/42-the-world/71-missing-contractor-us-military-mechanics-may-hold-the-keys

• Defense Base Act Conference - Part I
  

  In cooperation with the Department of Labor, Office of Workers' Compensation, the Loyola Law School of New Orleans held a two-day conference in Washington D.C. on October 23 and 24, 2008. The conference coincided with the publication of a unique...

  http://thejournal.epluribusmedia.net/index.php/features/1-latest-news/195-defense-base-act-conference-part-i

• Iraq Contractors - Raw Data From CENTCOM - Pt II

  Susie Dow and ePluribus Media issued a FOIA request in August of 2007 for Central Command (CENTCOM) for data on civilian contractors in Iraq.   New contractor census data addressing that request was recently received by ePluribus Media this October,...

  http://thejournal.epluribusmedia.net/index.php/features/1-latest-news/203-iraq-contractors-raw-data-from-centcom-pt-ii