Very briefly during the 9/11 Commission hearings, focus was turned to the role of Commission member Jamie Gorelick, who in the Clinton Administration served as the co-chair of the Advisory Committee of the President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection, Deputy Attorney General, and General Counsel of the Department of Defense. The hearings brouhaha arose over Gorelick’s role in strengthening and building higher the “wall” that separated evidence and information gathered during intelligence operations from being shared with criminal prosecutions.

But now, Gorelick’s name is popping up in the “Able Danger” investigations that are sprouting up across the media and on Capitol Hill. Able Danger has become the short-hand for charges made by military intelligence personnel that 9/11 terrorist Mohammad Atta had been identified as a potential threat during the Clinton Administration, and nothing was done about it.

In the past few days, it has come to light that a number of documents related to Able Danger and the Mohammad Atta connection were destroyed. Although her stint at DoD does not track with the approval to destroy those Able Danger documents, Gorelick has again become a point of interest by reporters wanting to advance the story. According to Capitol Hill sources, there is talk that Gorelick’s role on the 9/11 Commission had a very real effect of tamping down enthusiasm to pursue the Able Danger angles, just as her presence on the Commission served to tamp down enthusiasm to look into Clinton administration policy decisions that hindered the fight against terrorism.