Pentagon blocks Able Danger testimony to Judiciary Committee News
Pentagon blocks Able Danger testimony to Judiciary Committee

[JURIST] The US Defense Department [official website] said Tuesday that it has banned military officers and intelligence analysts from testifying on "Able Danger" [Wikipedia profile; JURIST report], the highly classified US Army intelligence program alleged to have identified Mohammed Atta [Wikipedia profile] and three other 9/11 hijackers as suspected al-Qaeda terrorists prior to the 9/11 attacks [JURIST news archive]. The personnel were scheduled to testify at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing [witness list] Wednesday. This news follows a report that an unnamed Pentagon employee had been ordered to destroy Able Danger documents [JURIST report] prior to the hearing. A Defense Department spokesperson said that it is not possible to discuss Able Danger in an open public forum. Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) expressed surprise at the decision and said that the American people had a right to know about the program's findings, thought to have been ignored by the 9/11 Commission [official website]. The Defense Intelligence Agency's liason officer to Able Danger, Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, said that he was told that the hearing would be classified [NewsMax report]. The New York Times has more. A live webcast of the committee hearing is available beginning Wednesday at 9:30 AM ET.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.