‘No Evidence’ That Hijackers Were Identified Before Sept. 11
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WASHINGTON — A lengthy Senate investigation has debunked charges by a Republican congressman that military analysts identified Mohamed Atta and other September 11 hijackers before the attacks, according to a committee aide familiar with the report.
In a letter to members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senators Roberts and Rockefeller dismissed suggestions by Rep. Curt Weldon, a Republican of Pennsylvania, that defense analysts ignored analysis that could have prevented the attacks. Mr. Roberts, a Republican of Kansas, is outgoing chairman and Mr. Rockefeller, of West Virginia, is the senior Democrat who will assume the chairmanship next month.
They concluded “there was no evidence Mohamed Atta or any hijackers were identified prior to 9/11,” said the committee aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the aide was not authorized to speak publicly on the subject.
An internal Pentagon assessment already had dismissed Mr. Weldon’s charges as unfounded. But the letter from Messrs. Roberts and Rockefeller is the first rejection from Capitol Hill. The letter was obtained and first reported yesterday by the Los Angeles Times.
Mr. Weldon, a 10-term Republican who lost his seat in the November 7 election, repeatedly contended a secret military unit called “Able Danger” searched large amounts of data to link four September 11 hijackers to Al Qaeda more than a year before the attacks.