Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer

No, no, no. I'll get to Eric. I'll get to Eric. Eric had no idea. As a matter of fact, he's never been in Reddit and everything we did. So I'm right into the project, and my job is to develop access for purposes of weaponized technology. Again, think offensively. This is before 9-11, and we're tasked to go kill al-Qaeda before 9-11.

No, no, no. I'll get to Eric. I'll get to Eric. Eric had no idea. As a matter of fact, he's never been in Reddit and everything we did. So I'm right into the project, and my job is to develop access for purposes of weaponized technology. Again, think offensively. This is before 9-11, and we're tasked to go kill al-Qaeda before 9-11.

Think about the... Now, this is the problem with the whole thing we're talking about.

Think about the... Now, this is the problem with the whole thing we're talking about.

Bingo. Yes. This is why they want to distract with the chart constantly, Pat. We... This is why they were upset with me testifying. You remember the Israeli op, the pager op, Pat? Of course. They weren't the first ones to think about that. Just saying. I have to be careful about where I'm going because I'm still trying to get permission from the Pentagon to talk about my role.

Bingo. Yes. This is why they want to distract with the chart constantly, Pat. We... This is why they were upset with me testifying. You remember the Israeli op, the pager op, Pat? Of course. They weren't the first ones to think about that. Just saying. I have to be careful about where I'm going because I'm still trying to get permission from the Pentagon to talk about my role.

My role in Able Danger, to this day... It's never been disclosed. I've been said to be the coordinator. I've been a reservist. My role was so highly classified, he probably remembers this, I was waived in closed hearings with Kurt. I was waived off by the staff director of the House Armed Services Committee because I couldn't talk about my role.

My role in Able Danger, to this day... It's never been disclosed. I've been said to be the coordinator. I've been a reservist. My role was so highly classified, he probably remembers this, I was waived in closed hearings with Kurt. I was waived off by the staff director of the House Armed Services Committee because I couldn't talk about my role.

He was literally in the back of the room saying, don't say that. You can't say that. So to this day, we have never talked about, and I'm still trying to get permission to talk about it. Anyway, suffice it to say, that what I was doing in my civilian job was what we wanted to introduce to the Able Danger Operation as one of the offensive options. And this is the key.

He was literally in the back of the room saying, don't say that. You can't say that. So to this day, we have never talked about, and I'm still trying to get permission to talk about it. Anyway, suffice it to say, that what I was doing in my civilian job was what we wanted to introduce to the Able Danger Operation as one of the offensive options. And this is the key.

This wasn't about waiting until something happened. This was about us, Pete Schumacher, putting together a team, the best and the brightest, to put together options for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Hugh Shelton, to go do something before 9-11. And that was the whole project. That was the concept. The idea was, Pat, we knew they were coming.

This wasn't about waiting until something happened. This was about us, Pete Schumacher, putting together a team, the best and the brightest, to put together options for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Hugh Shelton, to go do something before 9-11. And that was the whole project. That was the concept. The idea was, Pat, we knew they were coming.

We put together a team that would be invested in doing things that have never been done before. And oh, by the way, how do you target something that's never been targeted? How do you do something relating to a non-geographic target, a transnational target? Data mining. At the time, nobody knew about it. Remember, this is before anybody understood the power of the internet.

We put together a team that would be invested in doing things that have never been done before. And oh, by the way, how do you target something that's never been targeted? How do you do something relating to a non-geographic target, a transnational target? Data mining. At the time, nobody knew about it. Remember, this is before anybody understood the power of the internet.

So when I'm tasked to help them figure out how do we go about targeting all the ranch, Pete Schumacher called it the ranch, the Special Operations Command ranch. That includes the Secret Army of Northern Virginia, Delta, you know, Rangers. It's the options that were available for us to do something.

So when I'm tasked to help them figure out how do we go about targeting all the ranch, Pete Schumacher called it the ranch, the Special Operations Command ranch. That includes the Secret Army of Northern Virginia, Delta, you know, Rangers. It's the options that were available for us to do something.

And, oh, by the way, the other thing key about this, this was – Able Danger was the first time Special Operations Command was ever the supported SYNC. This is important because that means they were the lead. They were the ones asking the other regional syncs to help them. It was huge. This was groundbreaking.

And, oh, by the way, the other thing key about this, this was – Able Danger was the first time Special Operations Command was ever the supported SYNC. This is important because that means they were the lead. They were the ones asking the other regional syncs to help them. It was huge. This was groundbreaking.

That's it. So I got this task, and it's like, what do I do? I knew Lewa was experimenting with data mining. And I'll let Eric Tocque take over here because we had no way to map al-Qaeda. So this is a long way to answering your question, I know, Pat, but— You need to understand the picture of what got us into the room.

That's it. So I got this task, and it's like, what do I do? I knew Lewa was experimenting with data mining. And I'll let Eric Tocque take over here because we had no way to map al-Qaeda. So this is a long way to answering your question, I know, Pat, but— You need to understand the picture of what got us into the room.