Chowan Commissioner Shaffer Fires Back at Fivehouse Regarding Library Issue, Defends himself
Editor’s NOTE: After publishing a letter to the editor from Derence Fivehouse, Tony Shaffer sent this letter, as is his right to write a response, that includes links to stories and attachments that appear within the story and at the end that support him — what folks call “bringing receipts.”
“It’s notable that Mr Fivehouse does not focus on the issue of the board, or veterans or of the commission vote – he wants to, oddly, relitigate the 9/11 issue, import underhanded DC politics into Edenton, and attack me, not the issue.” — Tony Shaffer
BY TONY SHAFFER
Mr. Fivehouse is apparently a former US Air Force colonel and lawyer who lacks the basic research skills that one would expect him to have with his background.
The extension of the appointment of Ms. Battle to the Library Trust was not approved in a bi-partisan 7-0 unanimous vote of the Chowan County commissioners.
Mr. Fivehouse inadvertently reenforced and strengthened the record that Ms. Battle did not encourage, plan or include a single veteran centric or veterans’ inclusive event during her time as chairman in his poorly written opinion letter.
Not one veteran’s event occurred during the time Ms Battle was chair of the library trust. This is why Ms Battle was not renewed to the library trust.
Every local article produced on this topic has continued to emphasis that Ms Battle did not care about veterans or veterans’ issues. He’s now attacking a veteran for pointing out that Ms Battle refused to have veteran events…a bit of irony… This is where Mr. Fivehouse’ accuracy ends in his letter.
It’s notable that Mr Fivehouse does not focus on the issue of the board, or veterans or of the commission vote – he wants to, oddly, relitigate the 9/11 issue, import underhanded DC politics into Edenton, and attack me, not the issue.
Mr. Fivehouse has an active imagination and the gall to speak “for me” in his letter. Mr. Fivehouse does not list a single actual source in his emotional diatribe and ignores all openly available government records and credible media articles regarding ABLE DANGER, my career and the outcomes of the investigations.
Here is the full record of my military career, which is public, read into the Congressional Record by the late Congressman Walter Jones. This dispels Mr. Fivehouse ignorant allegations and highlights his personal animus against me:
https://irp.fas.org/congress/2011_cr/shaffer.html
Here is the actual report on regarding the ABLE DANGER Inspector General investigation, which is public, and contradicts Mr. Whitehouse personal and false narrative:
The IG report confirms multiple members of the ABLE DANGER team did support my contention that Mohammed Atta was within the data. A fact that Mr. Fivehouse is outright lying about this in his letter.
And here is the actual initial hearings on ABLE DANGER:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-109shrg25409/html/CHRG-109shrg25409.htm
And my cleared Congressional testimony on ABLE DANGER:
And, this testimony was in uniform, as a member of the US Army conducted with Army’s approval.
For the Record: ABLE DANGER was a military planning operation, signed by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen Hugh Shelton, tasking Gen Pete Schoomaker, the then commander of Special Operations Command, to put together operational capabilities to degrade deter and destroy al Qaeda on-call/as directed. This was implemented by SOCOM in the summer of 1999 and as Al Qaeda was a global target data mining was used as an intelligence tool. ABLE DANGER was not a “proof of concept”; this is a provable lie, and one has to wonder why Mr. Fivehouse would lie about something so easy to prove otherwise. Let me be laser clear on this point: Mr Fivehouse lied in his letter about what ABLE DANGER is and what my role was…why?
Even Wikipedia is more accurate than Mr. Fivehouse:
Further, John Crane, the lead investigator of the ABLE DANGER IG investigation became a whistleblower and made the allegation that DoD lawyers like Mr. Fivehouse forced him and the other IG investigators to lie about their findings and change their conclusions (see John Crane Affidavit). I’m curious if Mr, then Col, Fivehouse, participated, while on active duty in the Air Force, in the alleged cover-up of the ABLE DANGER investigation.
Attached is an official letter from Congressman Chris Shays that confirms the retaliation for being a whistleblower regarding the 9/11 issues.
Most of what Mr Fivehouse lists as “allegations” he knows were false allegations as part of the retaliation against me as a whistleblower. These false allegations were perpetrated by DoD lawyers such as Mr Fivehouse, who, by his own admission, was serving on active duty as a DoD lawyer at the time of the ABLE DANGER investigation and events. It is interesting that he does not once mention the retaliation by DoD leaders in his “narrative”.
As to my NYTs Bestseller – Operation DARK HEART – I always appreciate individuals like Mr. Fivehouse bringing it up because it always adds to sales (thank you Mr. Fivehouse!). The truth is, the proper review process for clearing the book was followed, resulting in the successful outcome of our First Amendment lawsuit against DoD:
Operation DARK HEART made it to number 7 in the New York Times Bestseller list as well as number 1 on Amazon in October 2010. Here is the link to Operation DARK HEART:
Here is the full story of the DoD battle regarding their attempt to prevent publishing of then the full-blown censoring of Operation DARK HEART:
We won our First Amendment lawsuit regarding the illegal censorship of Operation DARK HEART, with Judge Rosemary Collyer:
Beyond the demonstrated ignorance of Mr. Fivehouse, here are additional facts:
The “allegations” against me that Mr. Fivehouse list were made when I was a major – the Army reviewed the allegations and dismissed them as baseless and retaliatory in nature, and I was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 2004 and served until my Mandatory Retirement Date (MRD) in 2011. Note: promotions are not made if there is any derogatory information…Mr. Fivehouse is attempting to amplify false allegations, just like occurred in the original retaliation in 2004…it is interesting that Mr. Fivehouse is attempting to resurrect false allegations made over 21 years ago and speaks to his progressive politics and his desperation. It appears he has taken a talking-point list from Media Matters and used it as his own opinion, and border on libel and were intended to be defamatory.
I am both a retired lieutenant colonel of the U.S. Army and a retired federal civil servant. If Mr Fivehouse had the ability to do research, there are public records of my being called back to help the US Government and DoD on several occasions.
I have also served as the National Security Advisor to the Trump 2020 Presidential Campaign. I advised multiple members of the first Trump administration, to include CIA director Mike Pompeo and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen Joseph Dunford Jr.
I remain a member of law enforcement in Virginia, where I serve as the Homeland Security Advisor to Stafford County Sheriff David Decatur.
I work for Newsmax as a Contributor and Australian Channel 9 Today Program also as a Contributor. In the past I have worked with the CBS News investigative unit.
Here’s my IMDb that notes my work for National Geographic as a producer of the TV series Chain of Command:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9614274
And I still work with Original Productions in Hollywood to produce television.
And now serve as a Chowan County Commissioner.
There are parts of Mr. Fivehouse’ letter that are so bizarre, fantastical, and inaccurate I don’t even know what to say…will he next accuse me of having been abducted by aliens in a spaceship flown by Joseph Stalin and full of dinosaurs?
It is clear that Mr. Fivehouse is a political activist whose own career is murky and hidden from the public, who, as an officer of the court, has embarrassed himself by trafficking in political deception and has demonstrated an unhealth emotional obsession with me – he clearly knows so much that is just not true.
Mr Fivehouse’s letter is a typical attempt by the progressive left to act out and retaliate against those who they disagree with politically – Mr Fivehouse is showing symptoms like those of certain Minnesota politicians, and those who act with extreme disregard to the truth that eventually resort to violence as political speech…on the bright side, he is helping me sell more books…
Congratulations, Mr Fivehouse – you are importing the dirty politics and deceptions you practiced in Washington DC, to Edenton…
Tony Shaffer
Comissioner Chowan County.
5 responses to “Everything But The Facts: Mr. Fivehouse and the White Rabbit”
Concise and factual information.
Hardly concise.
I pray for all those who are bound up in this conflict, especially for Ms Battle who I still believe has been dealt with unjustly. Her maltreatment was at best an impulsive mistake.
Come on gentlemen, stop this. You both are acting like bullies in front of our citizens. Thank you both for your service to our country but, somehow it seems you have lost track of your essential leadership responsibilities to our citizens …. “Protect against all enemies foreign and domestic”. We are making ourselves seem like enemies. I am not taking sides but, I can assure you I was in the world you are historically fighting over, possible even more so I would suggest.
I too am a retired officer who has had five combat unit tours and many battlefield and “agency” challenges and successes from 1975 to 1997 in Special Operations and regular service. I could jump in on both sides of your arguments from the perspectives of boots on the ground in theater and in the Penatagon up to our time in Edenton. To add to it all, I was on the ground working In New York during 9-11 and saw the jets hit and the poor souls jumping. We all should be honoring those times and people and not huffing and puffing on egotistical driven adrenalin based on our former glory days.
The person making the most sense around here is Josanna Burkow. Did you read her thoughtful article in 21 June 2025 Chowan Herald entitled “Commissioners wrong to dismiss Battle from the library board”? Given the terribly written Chowan Herald article on this event, I am still at a complete loss on why Schaffer went after Ms Battle? He seems to have bullied the board into her dismissal. Why did Shaffer pick on Battle and NOT the other Commissioners? Battle seems to have served our community with the finest distinction. Given all the acumen Shaffer expressed about himself, why did he not act like an officer and a gentlemen that his rank and advisory position on some many “pristine” engagements requires? He apparently has had many blessings with books and etc. So, why deface his successes? Why did he not have a personal conversation with the library, Battle and other commissioners as the article made it seemed like he ambushed Battle in the meeting? Why did he not accuse the other members of the Board who were on the Board at thesmae time as Battle. This all does not make sense.
Yes it is fascinating to read the battle between Shaffer and Fivehouse but, we all must make public communication in Edenton more objective and thoughtful. We all need to do better to help our citizens feel safe in the very frightful world. The local online and in print local newspapers are not helping and adding to the fire of discontent. For example, The Chowan Herald seems to have allowed political bias be featured in their paper on numerous levels and occassions
For example, besides doing horrible job reporting on on the Battle issue and inflaming the issue with less than objective writing, the Chowan Herald published another inaccurate opinion piece in the same edition as the Battle issue was published.. This is the second time in the same Chowan Herald 14 June edition that the Chowan Herald published poorly written and misguided information. Besides the Battle battle on page one, the CH published an inaccurate opinion article on Page 4 “Modern protesters have forgotten lessons of the holocaust” by Michael Worthington. I wrote the CH editor a long historical clarification about this piece. Interestingly, the Battle article and the article on the opinion page actually feel similar.
Please see below the opening line to my letter to the editor about the Holocaust and the editors response to me. The editor more or less blew me off.
MY OPENING LINE
On Saturday, 14 June 2025, the Chowan Herald crossed the line of objective reporting and used its opinion page to express misconceived and non-documented subjective opinions of Palestine, the Gaza war, the Holocaust, Gaza and Israel.
EDITOR’S RESPONSE
“An opinion piece is not objective reporting. It is also not the opinion of the Chowan Herald or Adams Publications. Mr. Worthington’s Op-ed was a guest editorial. If you want to write a letter to the editor in response, that is appropriate.
It would seem that despite the Chowan Herald trumpeting the fact they ARE NOT responsible, it would seem they have a moral responsibility for the “opinion page” and what is stated
All in all, it si diheartening to see the animosity and personal attacks on Ms Battle, Shaffer and Fivehouse. We need to express our maturity and respect for due process. What message are we sending to our youth about veterans and citizens. Let’s do better.
Berkow for Mayor !!!
[…] men made their case, however, I agree with William Ross who left a comment at the end of Shaffer’s letter – click the link for Ross’ full […]