The Darkened Hour

Seth Hettena is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and a freelance journalist. He reports on politics, organized crime, and international affairs. From 1997-2006, Hettena was a reporter and correspondent at The Associated Press in Detroit, Sacramento, Baltimore, and San Diego. Prior to that, he worked at two small newspapers in Iowa. He is the author of two books, Trump/Russia: A Definitive History and Feasting on the Spoils: The Life and Times of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, History's Most Corrupt Congressman. He is also runs a Weekly column at SpyTalk where we will discuss two of his articles at length involving the FBI investigation into Saudi government funding of two future 9/11 hijackers, Operation Encore, and the Canestraro documents revelations, as well as the current pre-hearings of four of the 9/11 defendants, at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Dan Christensen writes in his latest article that arguments are in and now it’s up to a federal judge in New York City to decide whether the momentous civil lawsuit pitting Saudi Arabia against the 9/11 wounded and families of the 2,977 dead lives or dies. I read the article and offer some additional thoughts.Gerald Shea Memorandum:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3_TRbjpy4x12TTCyK27dtyAmNHPKh-CFlorida Bulldog article:https://www.floridabulldog.org/2024/05/its-make-break-time-9-11-families-lawsuit-against-saudis/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Iran has vowed retaliation for what it called an Israeli strike on its Damascus consulate on April 1 that killed seven Revolutionary Guards officers including two senior commanders. I offer some insights as i read the latest news.Iran launches drone attack at Israel, expected to unfold 'over hours':https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/ukmto-receives-report-incident-50nm-northeast-uaes-fujairah-2024-04-13/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, i talk about the capture and eventual torture of the man alleged to have operated and planned the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Mohammed was captured while hiding in Rawalpindi, Pakistan on March 1st 2003. While in CIA custody, Mohammed underwent various torture methods, also known as, the enhanced interrogation techniques. Mohammed was subjected to punching to the face and stomach, sleep deprivation, rectal rehydration and waterboarding. He was transferred to various countries where secret CIA black sites were held including, Poland, Lithuania, Afghanistan and Romania. As of September 2006, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba where he currently awaits trial for conspiracy and other charges in facilitating the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks. However, because Mohammed was tortured, along with the 4 others charged in the conspiracy, his admission's cannot be used as evidence. What does the federal government and CIA have as evidence then?  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Cole M. Bunzel is a fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. A historian and Arabist, he studies the history and contemporary affairs of the Islamic Middle East, with a particular focus on violent Islamism and the Arabian Peninsula. He is the editor of the blog Jihadica and has written widely on the ideology of Sunni jihadism. His current book project, "Wahhabism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement" which draws on an array of rare manuscripts and other primary sources in Arabic, provides a new account of the history and doctrine of Wahhabism, the puritanical Islamic revivalist movement that arose in central Arabia in the 18th century, will be the main focus of our conversation today.Bunzel received his MA in international relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and his BA and PhD in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University. He has been a research fellow in Islamic law and civilization at the Yale Law School, and is a nonresident fellow at the George Washington University Program on Extremism. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, i conduct a detailed report on the two 9/11 congressional investigations, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9/11 Commission and the The Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001. I will be speaking in regards to the various failures of the state and federal levels of government and our domestic intelligence services between the Clinton and Bush administration. This will be a comprehensive breakdown of those failures and also i add some additional information in between making it clear that we still have not had an honest and open ended investigation into the 9/11 attacks. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

After the terrorist events of September 11th 2001, the Bush White House, led by its legal counsel, drafted memorandums that would not only infringe on the rights of detained foreign prisoners, but also deny them any protections afforded to them by the Geneva Conventions. The State Department also authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to implement a strategy at obtaining information "through any means necessary". So in 2002, the CIA would hire Mitchell, Jessen and Associates, to conduct a method on detainees entitled the SERE program where acts of torture would be implemented by captured prisoners to elicit information. Most of which would turn out to be false data.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

In this special episode of the Darkened Hour, i bring a very laid back attitude and offer some personal and direct thoughts on multiple facets of the 9/11 attacks before and after that i never entertained before! The conversation centers on various areas that include the intelligence services, radical arab fundamentalism, Israel and Saudi Arabia and the 9/11 truth movement. Who, What, When, Where, Why and How, i offer many differing thoughts on these questions while also explaining how i become involved with 9/11 and what we need in the future to open a new criminal investigation.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Ray Holcomb has over 30 years’ experience as a law enforcement and intelligence officer. He served for 23 years as an FBI Special Agent; 8 as a Strategic Planner with the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC); and 4 as a state Homeland Security Advisor. Ray’s FBI career included 15 years investigating foreign espionage, major drug trafficking organizations, organized crime and National Security matters. He also served as a member of the FBI’s New York office SWAT team and was appointed Commander of the team from 1998 to 2001. Under Ray’s leadership, the NY SWAT team assumed an expanded role, being involved in high risk domestic arrests and providing overseas security and enhanced investigative capability for FBI teams deploying internationally in response to terrorism.In 2003 Ray was promoted to Section Chief of the FBI’s Operational Response Section which managed the Fly Away Team, the FBI’s Military Liaison/Detainee Unit and the National Joint Terrorism Task Force, overseeing operations and budget of nearly 60 state-based terrorism task forces. In addition to overseeing Special Agents detailed worldwide to the various Unified Combatant Commands, the Military Liaison/Detainee Unit had oversight of the FBI’s interrogation of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The Operational Response Section comprised a full-time complement of 58 Special Agents and 12 analysts. He is the author of Endless Enemies: Inside FBI Counterterrorism. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, i cover the period of Afghanistan between, 1992-1996, and the Taliban's war against the Northern Alliance while giving refuge to Osama Bin Laden, and Al Qaeda which became a brewing cesspool that would later shape the Middle East for decades to come and the rest of the world forever. Were the CIA and Pakistan ISI partly responsible for facilitating the fundamnetlist problem while arming them against the Soviets ten years prior? Or was this a case of willful ignorance and malfeasance which led to the predicament of international terrorism that simply reacted to US foreign policy?  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

With the eve of the 22nd anniversary of the SEptember 11th 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States coming up Monday, myself and 9/11 researcher and co-host of the "Beyond Ground Zero" podcast, Sean Russell talk about various topics relating to 9/11. They include, US-Israeli Foreign Policy, 1993 WTC Bombing, the aftermath of the Soviet-Afghan war, Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, CIA-NSA surveillance of Bin Laden and Al Qaeda in the mid 90's, the Al Qaeda communications hub in Yemen, and addressing the false conspiracies pushed by certain mainstream media and the fringe elements of the 9/11 Truth Movement. This episode is dedicated to the families and loved ones of the 2,996 victims murdered in the September 11th attacks.Sean Russell (Beyond Ground Zero):https://odysee.com/@skrussellak:e/01-BGZ-1993-WTC-Full-Edit:1The Darkened Hour:https://adamfitzgerald.podbean.com/The Gerald Shea Memorandum: https://www.scribd.com/document/66321077/Gerald-Shea-Memo-to-the-9-11-CommissionThe Donald Canestraro Document:https://www.floridabulldog.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Canestraro-Declaration-dated-20-July-2021.pdf This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Tom Parker is the Project Coordinator for Counterterrorism Programming in Nigeria at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). He is also the author of “Avoiding the Terrorist Trap: Why Respect for Human Rights is the Key to Defeating Terrorism.” Parker is an experienced counter-terrorism practitioner, having formerly been Chief of Party of a European Union project providing assistance to the Office of the National Security Adviser in Baghdad, Iraq and also previously serving as an adviser on human rights and counter-terrorism to the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF). Avoiding the Terrorist Trap: Why Respect for Human Rights is the Key to Defeating Terrorism (Insurgency and Terrorism):https://www.amazon.com/Avoiding-Terrorist-Trap-Defeating-Insurgency/dp/1783266546 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Mansoor Adayfi born in Sanaa'Yemen was held without charge in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps in Cuba from February 9, 2002, to July 11, 2016. On July 11, 2016, he and a Tajikistani captive were transferred to Serbia. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 441. Al-Dayfi came to prominence in 2022 when he alleged that Florida governor Ron DeSantis oversaw beatings and force-feedings of detainees at Guantanamo He now lives in Belgrade, Serbia where he writes, creates artwork, and advocates for prisoner and detainee rights. His memoir of his time at Guantánamo, "Don’t Forget Us Here", was published in 2021 by Hachette Books.Don't Forget Us Here: Lost and Found at Guantanamo:https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Forget-Us-Here-Guantanamo/dp/0306923866Mansoor Adayfi website:https://www.mansooradayfi.com/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Brett Eagleson is the son of the late John Bruce Eagleson who worked for Westfield Management Corp. on the 17th floor of the south tower of the World Trade Center whom perished on September 11th 2001. Brett Eagleson is currently the CEO of 9/11 Justice, a grassroots movement made up of the 9/11 community, which consists of 9/11 survivors, first responders, family members of those lost, and all volunteers and lower Manhattan residents, students and workers who are now suffering fatal illnesses due to their exposure to Ground Zero. Today Brett, and other 9/11 victim family members, have hired law firms Motley Rice and Kreindler & Kreindler to push a civil litigation case against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their alleged role in having Saudi operatives give logistical and financial support to two known Al Qaeda operatives while living inside the United States, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, and later a few others, which has now been acknowledged thru the 2023 Donald Canestraro files and the FBI Operation Encore files which were declassified in 2021. In today's interview we go over the background of both father and son, Brett and his summation of what he was doing before, during and after the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001, the release of the Operation Encore files by Department of Justice, the release of the Donald Canestraro documents, and the State Department's continued coverup of Saudi intelligence involvement with some of the 9/11 hijackers and involvement with LIV Golf. 9/11 Justice: https://www.911justice.org/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Carol Hellermann is a former American Airlines flight attendant for Flight 1 in which 3 arab men who argued about not having to fly and only days after 9/11, that those men were planning to crash into the Sears Tower in Chicago on 9/11. Hellermann is speaking out about how there were likely a dozen more planes and targets than the FBI or anyone has ever admitted. Because of employment contract restrictions Hellermann could not speak out about what took place, and since retiring from her 21 years of service she is now speaking out about her experience that day.She also states that the FBI never interviewed her about her ordeal regarding those three arab men who argued about not having to fly on Flight 1 and that the FAA didn't disclose the additional attempted hijackings due to fear of losing clientele which would cause a nationwide economic crash and cause financial loss to the airline industry as a whole.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Anthony Shaffer is the President of the London Center for Policy Research, a New York Times bestselling author and CIA trained intelligence operations officer with 35 years of experience in global and national security. In his think-tank work he is an advisor to senior members of the White House, the Intelligence Community, Pentagon and key members of Congress.  He also works with National Geographic as an Advising Producer and Co-Producer of the series “Chain of Command”. In 2017 he became the Homeland Security Advisor to the Stafford County Sheriff’s Department in Virginia and works as its member of the NYPD Counterterrorism Bureau’s expanded task force. His New York Times (NYT) and International bestselling memoir, Operation DARK HEART: Spycraft and Special Ops on the Frontlines of Afghanistan – and the Path to Victory, provides an unprecedented look at intelligence operations during a period in the Afghanistan war, in 2003, where a small number of operators were able to effectively control this large country. In recognition of successful high risk/high gain operations. In our talk we discuss the 2021 declassification of the FBI's Operation Encore" files, and the latest release from Donald Canestraro from the Office of Military Commissions. London Center For Policy Research Center:https://londoncenter.org/Operation Dark Heart: Spycraft and Special Ops on the Frontlines of Afghanistan -- and The Path to Victory:https://www.amazon.com/Operation-Dark-Heart-Frontlines-Afghanistan/dp/031260369XDonald Canestraro Document:https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23787466/att-b-2021-07-20-donald-canestraro-declaration-dated-20-july-2021.pdfOperation Encore files:https://vault.fbi.gov/9-11-attacks-investigation-and-related-materials/9-11-material-released-in-response-to-executive-order-14040 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Elizabeth L. Miller is the Project Director for September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, a nonprofit 9/11 family member organization that promotes peace. Miller earned an MA in Middle Eastern Studies (2020) at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York. Her research has focused on the complexities of women’s involvement in terrorism, and examination of human rights abuses in a post-9/11 world. Elizabeth lost her father, firefighter Douglas Miller on September 11th 2001. She appeared in dozens of broadcast interviews and panels, in the U.S. and abroad, around the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Elected in 2021, she currently serves on the city council of Port Jervis, NY. In our discussion, Miller talks about her father, how she became emotionally driven to understand what Al Qaeda is, and how she ultimately became the Project Director for the September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows:https://peacefultomorrows.org/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

We continue off of Part 1 of the episode, as NYPD and the NY-JTTF investigate the assassination of Jewish radical firebrand, Rabbi Meri Kahane at a downtown Manhattan hotel. His killer? El Sayyid Nosair, who also has ties to a radical cleric from Egypt from the fundamnetlist sect, Gamma Islamiyyah, known as the "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel Rahman. Investigators find incriminating items at Nosair's home which went ignored, which would have showed a brewing arab fundamentalist problem. Meanwhile the FBI begins a sting operation at Rahman's inner cell in two mosques located in Brooklyn and Jersey City, where they employ a former Egyptian military officer to act as informant, Emad Salem, Who uncovers a massive terrorist conspiracy involving bombing of NYC landmarks. operated by Nosair and Rahman.The FBI suddenly removes Salem as its highly valued "confidential source "with a dire warming from Salem. Ramzi Yousef, a Baluchi citizen, with ties to an Israeli Mossad asset, Ahmed Ajaj. Replaces Salem, and begins assembling a bomb which would be used in the World Trade Center.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, i will be giving a very lengthy and quite descriptive talk about what led up to, and what took place, on February 26th 1993, which was the bombing of the World Trade Center. Speaking from various sources, all of which i will give dates for, as well as from books and the historical record, it will give a clear and broad picture of US Foreign Policy, the issue of how Israeli-Palestine in the 1980's, the meaning of Jihad and Takfir, the CIA's history involving arab mujahid in it's "Operation Cyclone" program and the individuals involved in the genesis of arab fundamentalism and it's organs. This will be the first of a two part program where i will concentrate on the multi-faceted stages and historical events leading up to the formation of the radical cells operating in Pakistan and over inside the United States with help from the intelligence services. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

President and CEO Richard (Richie) Rotanz has over 45 years of experience and expertise in the fire service, emergency management, operations, research, training and academia. His eclectic career has had him functioned as program manager in New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; co-developed and performed as the Executive Director of the Applied Science Foundation for Homeland Security; co-developed Adelphi University’s graduate degree in Emergency Management; and performed as the first Commissioner for the Office of Emergency Management of Nassau County, New York. Prior to his tenure in Nassau County, he served in the New York City Fire Department, working through the ranks and special divisions such as the Safety Command and with Special Operations Command.  After such an assignment, he was detailed by the Mayor’s office as Deputy Commissioner of New York City's Office of Emergency Management, located in World Trade Center 7. In this detail, he was responsible for research & planning, and to organize and manage the emergency operations center during major events.During the September 11th attacks upon New York City, and after digging his way out of World Trade Center 1 with his staff, he re-instituted and relocated the destroyed emergency operation center to Pier 92, and managed the multi-organization response of over 120 agencies, organizations, and businesses, to the 9-11 tragedy.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Ray Nowosielski is an Emmy-nominated non-fiction filmmaker, producer, and writer. Nowosielski worked on many successful projects, one in which he personally directed, 9/11 Press For Truth" where the film surrounds the lives and activism of widows of husbands who were killed in the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001.John Duffy is a writer and activist. He wrote and produced the critically-acclaimed documentary Press for Truth, His 2011 Who Is Rich Blee? was among the first podcasts to explore the true crime investigative genre, three years before Serial, exposing an alleged human rights abuser inside the CIA and resulting in a well-publicized threat of prosecution from that agency. collaborated with Barbara Kopple on 8 films. With John Duffy he created the iHeart BLM true crime podcast After the Uprising, nominated for a 2022 NAACP Image Award. The Intercept co-founder Glenn Greenwald later dubbed that work “fantastic” and “brave.” Both Nowosielski and Duffy would co-author an Amazon best selling book, The Watchdogs Didn't Bark: The CIA, NSA, and the Crimes of the War on Terror" which covers the US intelligence failures and publicly names certain CIA officers who embarked on a secret operation of hiding information from the FBI regarding two Al Qaeda operatives who would later hijack American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon on September 11th 2001.https://adamfitzgerald.podbean.com/e/an-interview-with-ray-nowosielski-john-f-duffy-the-watchdogs-didn-t-bark/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

In todays episode i invite Sean Russell and Darin Harvey, two geopolitical 9/11 researchers, writers and online activists who have created a newly formed podcast which delves into the various histories involved with the September 11th 2001 terrorists attacks. The podcast, "Beyond Ground Zero", is currently hosted at Odysee. Both Russell and Harvey have taken a passionate interest in studying the intelligence services along with domestic and foreign politics that are entwined with this event .Both Sean and Darin have come a long way, and i couldn't be more proud to watch them grow as responsible and historically accurate independent investigators over the last 4 years. During our conversation we went over Sean and Darin's initial beginnings into this subject and covered various areas, including, the Bojinka transatlantic airline bombing plot, the 1993 WTC Bombing and the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks. Beyond Ground Zero - 1993 World Trade Center Bombing:https://odysee.com/@skrussellak:e/01-BGZ-1993-WTC-Full-Edit:1The Lost Brooklyn Subway Bombing Plot of 1997, article published by Darin Harvey:https://911skepticsvstruth.wordpress.com/2022/03/31/1997-brooklyn-subway-bombing-plot/Sean Russell YouTube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@skrussellak/videosDarin Harvey YouTube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@darinharvey9186/videos This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Mohamedou Ould Slahi Houbeini was born in Rosso, Mauritania, the ninth of twelve children of a camel herder. His family moved to the capital of Nouakchott when he was a child, where he excelled in school and earned a scholarship to study electrical engineering at Gerhard-Mercator University in Duisburg, Germany. In 2001, he was living and working in his home country of Mauritania when he was detained and renditioned to Jordan, beginning an ordeal that he would chronicle in his internationally bestselling Guantánamo Diary. The manuscript, which he wrote in his isolation cell in the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, remained classified for almost eight years and was finally declassified, with substantial redactions, in 2013. It was first published in the United States and United Kingdom in January 2015 and has since been published in 25 languages.After 15 years of detention, Mohamedou was released on October 17, 2016, to Mauritania. The following year he published a “restored edition” of Guantánamo Diary, filling in the U.S. government’s redactions, and in 2021, his first novel, The Actual True Story of Ahmed and Zarga, is being published by Ohio University Press. In 2021, a theatrical film was released, entitled The Mauritanian, which is of course based on Slahi's detention and torture, in which actor Tahar Rahim, played the part of Slahi in which was nominated for two Golden Globe awards and five nominations at the British Film Academy Awards as well.In todays episode, Mohamedou extensively talks about his upbringing in Mauritania, his life in countries such as Canada, Germany, his experience in Afghanistan and training in an Al Qaeda camp (Al Farouq), his extradition to Jordan and his kidnap and torture by US authorities while to Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.Guantanamo Diary: https://www.amazon.com/Guant%C3%A1namo-Diary-Mohamedou-Ould-Slahi/dp/0316389250The Mauritanian:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4761112/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

In todays episode, i go over the near obscure written memorandum from retired corporate lawyer, Gerald Shea, who also once the District Attorney for San Luis Obispo County, California from 1998 to 2013. Shea had penned an extensive memo for the 9/11 Commission which was drafted on September 15th 2004. It is a 13 point summary regarding Israeli Mossad agents which were hiding under the guise of “art students” thru-ought most of the metropolitan cities of the United States. Selling cheap art to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and even to these employees personal homes. The Israeli DEA Groups were comprised of 125 or more Israelis, and had collected sensitive data about the details of the September 11th attacks before the event happened and did not share this information with any agency inside the United States.It also goes into great length about the daily investigations of the 9/11 operatives in NYC and Florida. Operations of both the Israeli New Jersey Group and the hijackers of the Pentagon Plane which were centered in Hudson and Bergen Counties in New Jersey. The chapter in today's episode will concentrate on chapter 4 from the memo, "The Israeli DEA Groups", where i read directly from and add some additional information in between. The Gerald Shea Memorandum:https://adamfitzgerald911.wordpress.com/2019/09/01/the-shea-memorandum/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

The comprehensive report detailing the National Security Agency (NSA) and their signals intelligence operation of Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. This operation allegedly began in 1991-1992, that extended up until and even after the terrorist events of September 11th 2001. Over the course of these long years, the NSA had amassed upwards up to a million pages of transcripts which were gleamed from Bin Laden satellite phones from 1991-1998, and from an Al Qaeda communications hub in Yemen, from 1996-2002. What exactly did the NSA hear from Bin Laden and other top Al Qaeda officials? Well, that information is deemed "classified" and the public won't know anything about it, unless they acknowledge the extent of the operation the NSA were conducted and are being afforded protection by the CIA and White House.   This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Dave DeCamp is the News editor of of Antiwar.com and Host of "Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp". In today's episode, Richard Cox and myself join Dave DeCamp to talk about the current crisis in Yemen. How the war started, the terrorist Al Qaeda affiliates involved, how the United States got involved by aiding weapons to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the future prospects of peace in the region. The conflict has witnessed many horrors, including the approximate deaths of over 400,000 people, and over 1.2 million Yemeni's displaced which has caused a massive overhaul of immigration problems in nearby cities. DeCamp also speaks on the World Health Organization which talks about the violence in the country and the close proximity to the health facilities, impeding their ability to function and restricting the movement of health staff, patients and ambulances and how the military industrial complex continues to benefit to the tomes of billions as the conflict rages on with full support of the Trump and Biden administrations.Dave DeCamp articles at Antiowar.com:https://original.antiwar.com/author/Dave_DeCamp/Antiwar News With Dave DeCamp:https://www.youtube.com/@antiwarnews/videos This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

As American Airlines Flight 11 steered directly into the World Trade Center's North Tower, the response by mostly everyone watching or hearing about it was unsurprising, many were in shock and in a state of paralysis. As United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower, however, many people believed the nation was under a terrorist attack. What was the government response? In this episode i specify the actions and inactions made by our elected officials and the complete and utter incompetence of specific officials who seemed to have either been caught "off guard" or simply just paralyzed to make any action that could have prevented extra attacks on the nations capitol and in Pennsylvania at the very least. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

One of the most infamous and maligned conspiracies involving the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks has been the story of the Israeli moving company, Urban Moving Systems, and the three Israeli employees that were found celebrating the attack of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. When the East Rutherford Police Department later detailed these individuals, there seemed to be much more to their backgrounds than what was originally suspected. When the FBI field office in Newark. New Jersey became involved, it was led by Kevin Donovan (Special Agent in Charge) (SAC). Over the following 71 days until they were deported, the FBI and East Rutherford Police uncovered what seemed to be, a large illegal foreign intelligence operation, which are from Israel, which may have obtained specific data regarding the hijackers involved with the terrorist attacks. I read from, the FBI and East Rutherford redacted reports and fill in some of those blanks to the best of my knowledge using articles and archives of documents as well as media reports from the days after the events of September 11th 2001.Dancing Israelis Police and FBI Reports 9/11/01:https://archive.org/stream/DancingIsraelisFBIReport/fbi%20report%20section%202_djvu.txt This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

When the Soviets invaded the capitol of Afghanistan in 1979, Kabul, the Islamic community declared a fatwa against the secular communists from the North. Inn doing so, hundreds of thousands of Arabs from all over the world heeded the call. Making up less than 10% of the fighting force, they hardly made an impression. All except for two individuals, a Palestinian imam, Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, and a wealthy Saudi, Osama Bin Laden. Both men served as examples for the Afghan and Arab Mujahedeen fighters who battled long and heavy against the Soviets. By the near end of the conflict, Azzam had fell out of favor with the Arabs who gravitated towards the silent but stout, Bin Laden who by now had the full protection of Egyptian militants from groups like Egyptian Islamic Jihad under Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was let out of prison for his suspected role in the assassination of the Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat. By 1990, Azzam was assassinated, and Bin Laden and the Arab Mujahedeen had returned back to their native countries. Some, went to the United States, and continued the jihad there. Years later, many terrorist attacks in the country and outside of it, were precipitated by their years of training and funding from the intelligence services who gave them money, weapons and logistical support to defeat the Soviets. Now the war was against the very country who assisted them, in the United States. Had the CIA and US State Department not realized that the very monster they unleashed against the Soviets would return to haunt them?  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

In the immediate aftermath of the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks, US President George W. Bush, along with members of the White House Legal Counsel, went to work on circumventing domestic laws and the Constitution on two programs. The bypassing of the Geneva Convention for those suspected or labeled "enemy combatants" and the NSA warrantless wiretapping of Americans. On September 14th 2001, the Senate voted unanimously, 420 to 1, to expand on more unlimited War Powers for the President. John Yoo, Deputy Chief of the Justice Department, and Timothy Flanagan, lawyer for the White House Counsel Office, began to draft legislation by passing the Constitution regarding the Presidents checked authority during times of war, while David Addington, Cheney's person lawyer, began drafting memos regarding the Presidents authority to label any suspected of terrorism as an "enemy combatant".Meanwhile, leading Neoconservatives such as Douglas Feith, Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz began pressuring Bush to engage Iraq militarily, even if no intelligence was found linking them to the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington DC. The CIA were given full authority from Bush to begin the "rendition and torture" programs which were given no vetting from any independent agency. On November 13th 2001, John Yoo had sanctioned White House plans to give the Defense Department sole authority to decide which terrorists will be tried in Military Commissions. These dangerous memos and pieces of legislation could very well, one day, be met against us,, the American people.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

James Corbett is an award-winning investigative journalist, who has lectured on geopolitics at the University of Groningen's Studium Generale, and delivered presentations on open source journalism at The French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation's fOSSa conference, at TedXGroningen and at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. He started The Corbett Report website in 2007 as an outlet for independent critical analysis of politics, society, history, and economics. Since then he has written, recorded and edited thousands of hours of audio and video media for the website, including a podcast and several regular online video series. His latest series "False Flags: The Secret History of Al Qaeda" is a three part docu-series which details the initial and past history of the ultra-orthodox sect Al Qaeda led by Osama Bin Laden.https://adamfitzgerald.podbean.com/e/an-interview-with-james-corbett-false-flags-the-secret-history-of-al-qaeda/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Ben and Erik, created a 9/11 geopolitically themed podcast where the public can learn about the obscure anomalies that are found in the "pre-intelligence" operations of September 11th 2001. Along with discussions surrounding US foreign policy, national security, Israel-Saudi policy issues, and foreign intelligence, Ben and Erik tend to bring a "lighter" attitude in these very tenebrous subjects. Relatively new, the PNAC duo are quite learned in their geopolitical discussions which give their listeners a full education on the many various subjects entwined with the terrorist events of September 11th 2001. In today's episode, we speak about Ben and Erik's journey into this expansive subject of 9/11, what their motivations are for the future, the intelligence history of Al Qaeda, Bojinka Plot, the 1998 East Africa bombings, the Yemen Hub, the history of Alec Station, and the Israeli-Saudi foreign intelligence operations which were involved with monitoring the 9/11 hijackers and Al Qaeda affiliates.The Podcast For The New American Century:https://podnac.libsyn.com/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Immediately after the terrorist incidents of September 11th 2001, the FBI conducted the largest criminal inquiry in it's history. Thousands of leads started to come into the bureau, and the Saudi link was impossible to ignore. The operation's code name, PENTTBOM, it's name stands for "Pentagon/Twin Towers Bombing Investigation". The investigation was launched on September 11, 2001, and involved 4,000 special agents and 3,000 professional employees. On September 27, 2001, the FBI released photos of the 19 hijackers, along with information about the possible nationalities and aliases of many. Among the many affiliates and others who assisted logistical and financial support to the 9/11 operatives, were Saudi officials such as Fahad al-Thumairy, Omar al-Bayoumi, Osama Basnan, Musaed al-Jarrah, Sam Mustafa, Mohdhar Abdullah and Anwar al-Awlaki. Yet, much of the information from the FBI's PENNTBOM report, was classified, and names were redacted in a congressional inquiry headed by the House and Senate Select Committee, known as the "28 pages".Years later the 9/11 victims families asked US President Donald Trump to release documents from the FBI’s investigation into the 9/11 plot, documents that the Justice Department has long fought to keep secret. Later, the families were told that Trump ordered the attorney general, William P. Barr, to release the name of a Saudi diplomat who was linked to the 9/11 plot in an FBI report years earlier. Justice Department lawyers handed over the Saudi official’s name in a protected court filing that could be read only by lawyers for the plaintiffs. But Barr dashed the families’ hopes. The full story of the FBI’s investigation into Saudi links to the 9/11 attacks has remained largely untold.However, in 2020 Propublica in partnership with the New York Times Magazine published an article entitled "Operation Encore and the Saudi Connection: A Secret History of the 9/11 Investigation". Operation Encore, the FBI's "follow up" to PENTTBOM, where a group of FBI agents found evidence of a much larger Saudi operation which supported two known Al Qaeda operatives living inside the United States who were later involved with the 9/11 attacks. The Biden administration has declassified a 16-page FBI report tying 9/11 hijackers to Saudi nationals living in the United States. The document, written in 2016, summarized an FBI investigation into those ties called Operation Encore. In today's episode, i talk about the latest and remarkable findings under Executive Order 14040 released on September 3, 2021, which shows a larger Saudi network who collaborated with some of the 9/11 hijackers and who knew they were coming inside the United States as early as December 2000. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, former guest of the show, Ed Brotherton (WeAreChangeLA) joins me in a laid back discussion of revisiting old stories of how we were led down the path of 9/11 and what we once had believed while studying the geopolitical aspects. We also speak on the actual anomalies involving the single most divisive issue that has literally created a "sectarian" divide of sorts on the 91/1 Truth Movement, the incident over what happend at the Pentagon. The signals intelligence operation involving the National Security Agency (NSA) and their foreign and domestic operations of two Al Qaeda terrorists, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operation involving certain people at the Bin Laden Issue Station and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that were involved in the "cover-up" afterwards which involved, to this day, the interference of 91/1 victims families in their civil suit case against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We also spoke in depth about the Saudi and Israeli intelligence data collection operations that had seemingly knew about those involved with the 9/11 operators years, that even went back, some years prior to the 9/11 attacks.  We often shoot from the hip here and even involves some "loose" language at times. Nevertheless, thank you Ed Brotherton for this very invigorating discussion about the many facts that were often blanketed by fiction from not just the 9/11 Truth Movement, but also, by the legacy national media and our own federal government. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Ben Howard is an independent researcher. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife and daughter. You can follow Ben on Twitter: @housetrotter. Howard has been an ardent, often anonymous, 9/11 and geopolitical writer and student. Just last year he would so-author a 3 part series entitled "The Twenty Year Shadow of 9/11" along with Aaron Good and Peter Dale Scott. In this episode, Ben and i discuss the NSA monitor of Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, the Yemen Hub, CIA operations involving surveillance of the Yemen Hub, the high level terrorist summit in Malaysia, the intentional withholding of pertinent information from the FBI concerning al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi entry into the United States while possessing US Visas, the CIA "phishing" the FBI in 2001 concerning al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi, Richard Blee and Tom Wilshire's roles in the coverup and hoarding of information. This is part 1 of a series concerning the domestic and foreign intelligence involvement with Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, along with the greater geopolitical goals involved. The Twenty Year Shadow of 9/11:https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/09/11/the-twenty-year-shadow-of-9-11-u-s-complicity-in-the-terror-spectacle-and-the-urgent-need-to-end-it/American Exception: Empire and the Deep State:https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510769137/american-exception/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

In 1996, Osama Bin Laden's brother in law, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, has started funding a militant group in Yemen called "The Islamic Army Of Aden", named after the port city Aden. By mid 1998, the group starts operations and making political statements and carries about kidnappings and assaults on local law enforcement, similar to what was transpiring in the Philippines, in which Khalifa also runs small businesses and funds the Islamic militant group affiliated with Bin Laden, Abu Sayyaf. US Intelligence however, are quite familiarized with what is happening in Yemen, as the NSA and CIA have begun monitoring an Al Qaeda safehouse located in the Yemen capitol, Sana'a. The house owned by a Bin Laden associate, Ahmed al-Hada, is also sometimes frequented by the son-in-law and future 9/11 hijacker, Khalid al-Mihdhar, whom is married to his daughter.The US monitors the house through bugs planted inside and through spy satellites to monitor people leaving and entering it. A high ranking Al Qaeda facilitator and financial courier, Walid bin Attash (Khallad), travels to Yemen and meets with Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri as they begin preparations to attack US naval ships in the port of Aden. The plan is to attack the USS Sullivans which is part of an Al Qaeda international terrorist plot known as the "Millenium Bombing Plot", but the operation fails. On October 12, 2000 the USS Cole is bombed by martyrs from the Islamic Army Of Aden. Meanwhile, US intelligence services such as NSA had begun signals operations on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda back in 1992 or 1996 (depending on who you ask), while CIA had begun human intelligence operations in Yemen in 1996. How is it certain terrorist operations were stopped, according to them, yet certain terrorist operations were successful. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

John Kiriakou is a former CIA officer, former senior investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and former counterterrorism consultant for ABC News. He was responsible for the capture in Pakistan in 2002 of Abu Zubaydah, then believed to be the third-ranking official in al-Qaeda. In 2007, Kiriakou blew the whistle on the CIA’s torture program, telling ABC News that the CIA tortured prisoners, that torture was official U.S. government policy, and that the policy had been approved by then-President George W. Bush. He became the sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act. In 2012, Kiriakou was honored with the Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage, an award given to individuals who “advance truth and justice despite the personal risk it creates,” and by the inclusion of his portrait in artist Robert Shetterly’s series Americans Who Tell the Truth, which features notable truth-tellers throughout American history.He was later named “Peacemaker of the Year” by the Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County, California. He won the PEN Center USA’s prestigious First Amendment Award in 2015 and is the author of The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA’s War on Terror. While also authoring other books such as "The Convenient Terrorist: Two Whistleblowers' Stories of Torture, Terror, Secret Wars, and CIA Lies" "Surveillance and Surveillance Detection: A CIA Insider's Guide" and "Doing Time Like a Spy: How the CIA Taught Me to Survive and Thrive in Prison". Kiriakou spoke about how his college professor, Jerrold Post, was actually a CIA case officer and recruited him into the agency. How Kiriakou became involved with the CIA's arab fundamentalist squad, his time at the Bin Laden Issue Station, the raid and capture of Abu Zubaydah, his whistleblowing of CIA's torture program and his subsequent arrest and release. Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror:https://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Spy-Secret-Life-Terror/dp/1616086289/ref=sr_1_6?qid=1658452695&refinements=p_27%3AJohn+Kiriakou&s=books&sr=1-6&text=John+KiriakouJohn Kiriakou (Consortium News Articles):https://consortiumnews.com/tag/john-kiriakou/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Shayna Steinger, was a US visa official working in the Jeddah, Saudi Arabia US consular office, who issued visas to 12 of the 19 hijackers blamed for the attacks of September 11th 2001. The 9/11 Commission Report does not mention her by name, but states that a single official gave visas to 11 of the hijackers - though other information included in the report suggests that the correct number should be 12, a figure Steinger herself has reportedly confirmed. However, Steinger gave verbal testimony to the State Department Inspector General in 2002, in which she stated that it did not matter that all the hijackers’ visa applications were incomplete, because Saudis were eligible for visas anyway thru the "Visa Express Program". She also stated that she did not interview most of the hijackers she issued visas to and, even if she had interviewed them, she would probably have issued them with visas regardless. She also claims that the Jeddah office was understaffed and overwhelmed with applicants. Yet she was met with criticisms from inside the consular office by her coworkers who said she was irresoluble in allowing many of the applications, which went without review, that shouldn't have been approved. There were even rumors that Steinger herself was affiliated with the Central Intelligence Agency at some level. This incident is similar to what happened during the Afghan-Soviet war where a former US consular official, J,Michael Springmann, denied applications that were incomplete but overruled and approved by another consular official, Stephanie Smith, who happened to also be a CIA official. In this episode i explore the months leading up to the 9/11 attacks and what was happening inside the Jeddah consular office. Shayna Steinger interview with State Department Inspector General report:file:///C:/Users/adamf/Downloads/18074784-Memo-of-State-Department-IG-Interview-of-Consular-Officer-Who-Issued-11-Visas-to-9-11-Hijackers.pdfVisas for Al Qaeda: CIA Handouts That Rocked The World – An Insider’s View:http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2016/02/02/visas-for-al-qaeda-cia-handouts-that-rocked-the-world-and-8211-an-insider-s-view.html This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Adam Taylor has been researching the events of September 11th since August of 2007. From 2010 to 2014 he contributed to the blog "Debunking the Debunkers of the 9/11 Truth Movement". He has also contributed technical articles to sites such as AE911Truth.org and ScientificMethod911.org. He is the author of the AE911Truth multi-part essay "Debunking the Real 9/11 Myths: Why Popular Mechanics Can't Face Up to Reality." More recently he's published a paper on the collapse of the Twin Towers in the April edition of the International Journal of Engineering and Techniques. We spoke on the scientific anomalies surrounding World Trade Center Towers 1, 2 and 7, and what he thinks, along with the scientific data from various engineers and scientists have come up with, happened at Ground Zero on September 11th 2001. We also talk about the past, present and future of the 9/11 Truth Movement and the fringe conspiracy theorists have done to hurt it's public image. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

Mark Fallon government service spans more than three decades, and includes serving as the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Deputy Assistant Director for Counterterrorism, NCIS Chief of Counterintelligence Operations for the Europe, Africa and Middle East Division, and as a Senior Executive in the Department of Homeland Security, as the Assistant Director for Training of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). Following the attacks of September 11th, Mark was the Deputy Commander of the military task force established to bring terrorists to justice before Military Commissions in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  He previously served as the NCIS Commander of the USS Cole (DDG-67) Task Force, overseeing the investigation of the terrorist attack on the ship in Aden, Yemen, and worked on the investigation and prosecution of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman (“the Blind Sheik”). Mark is the author of “Unjustifiable Means: The Inside Story of How the CIA, Pentagon and US Government Conspired to Torture,” and a contributing author and co-editor of “Interrogation and Torture: Integrating Efficacy with Law and Morality.” In this today's episode, Mark Fallon, former tactical commander of the USS Cole bombing, who also helped to prosecute the radical Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel Rahman (Blind Sheikh) for his role in the Landmarks Bombing Plot. He also was Deputy Commander of the military task force where he assisted in bringing Al Qaeda and their affiliates to face the military commissions in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Fallon was an ardent opponent of the "enhanced interrogation techniques" which were employed by CIA contractors James Mitchell and Bruce Jessens, which was authorized by the Bush White House, especially Department of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Fallon speaks about his involvement with prosecuting known radical arab fundamnetlist and how he became embroiled in a heated controversy at Guantanamo Bay as he was one of the first people to speak out against the US government approved torture methods.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

James Schwartz is a senior fellow with the Program on Crisis Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and teaches in the Executive Education programs including, Leadership in Crises, the General and Flag Officer Homeland Security Executive Seminar, and Leadership in Homeland Security. Schwartz is a member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs Committee on Terrorism and Homeland Security which he chaired from 2008 until August 2014. He previously served on the Advisory Council for the Interagency Threat Assessment and Coordination Group (ITACG) and subsequently the Joint Countererrorism Assessment Team (JCAT) at the National Counter Terrorism Center. He also served on the Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee and was a member of the Advisory Committee for the Department of Homeland Security’s first Quadrennial Review in 2010. Jim Schwartz retired in 2021 after serving five years as the Deputy County Manager for public safety and technology in Arlington, Virginia. Prior to that he served in the Arlington County Fire Department for 32 years, the last eleven as Chief of Department. The Arlington County Fire Department was the lead agency for the response to the September 11, 2001 attack at the Pentagon. Chief Schwartz led the unified command effort for the Pentagon incident. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe

The Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 was the the official name of the inquiry conducted by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence into the activities of the U.S. Intelligence Community in connection with the September 11, 2001 attacks. The selected co-chairs to lead the inquiry were Senator Bob Graham chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence, and Representative Porter Goss, chair of the House Intelligence Committee. The Committee lasted ten months which focused on the domestic intelligence services and their capacity to counter terrorist activities. The panel had 16 members of Congress involved, but one panelist had stood out than most, in regards to intelligence sharing and the malfeasance involved.However, one member of the committee stood out from the rest, as his demanding inquiries were met with perjury, and outright denial. Carl Levin, a Democratic senator from Michigan was selected to take part when the committee formed in 2002. He was also  the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2007 to 2015 while also a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence. Levin passed away on July 29th 2021. Levin's authoritative voice, steely demeanor and authentic inquiries witnessed the Director of the Central Intelligence, George Tenet, commit an act of perjury, Director of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center, Cofer Black, mislead in his statements and former Chief of the Bin Laden Issue Station, Tom Wilshire, stammer in his response. In this episode, i will play specific excerpts from the Joint Inquiry regarding Senator Levin's interviews with a number of intelligence officials, some who were hidden behind security screens to protect their identities as i give additional commentary thru ought. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adamfitzgerald.substack.com/subscribe