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| Report on Fort Hood attack faults FBI | ||
| 2012-07-20 | ||
Army Maj. Nidal Hasan told a radical Islamic cleric — a man well-known to the U.S. intelligence community — that he advocated using suicide bombers and that he believed it was OK to kill civilians, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told The Associated Press. And the known terrorist, Anwar al-Awlaki, told Hasan in an email that the Army psychiatrist should keep the terrorist's contact information handy, McCaul said. But the agents on the FBI's Washington anti-terrorism task force thought the issue of a Muslim soldier talking to extremists was too sensitive to bring up with the Defense Department, McCaul said the report found. "It shows you the length of the political correctness stuff going on," McCaul said after he was briefed on the findings of the independent review Wednesday. FBI Director Robert Mueller called for the review in 2009 and asked a former bureau director, William Webster, to lead it. The FBI is expected to release an unclassified version of the report this week, McCaul said. A Senate report released last year also said the FBI missed warning signs about Hasan, who Senate investigators said had become an Islamic extremist and a "ticking time bomb" before the rampage. But McCaul said some of the emails described in the Webster report were ones he had not previously seen. Immediate reviews into the government's handling of the Hasan case revealed that members of two FBI anti-terrorism task forces saw emails between the Army psychiatrist and al-Awlaki beginning in December 2008. Those task forces reviewed the communications and decided they were in keeping with Hasan's research at the time, and as a result, no formal investigation of Hasan was opened. Hasan was writing a research paper about the effects of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
FBI agents also misinterpreted an abbreviation the Army used regarding Hasan, McCaul said. The Army identified Hasan as a "Comms. Officer," and, while the Army meant Hasan was a commissioned officer, the FBI interpreted it to mean that Hasan was a communications officer. The FBI decided not to disseminate an intelligence report on Hasan because the FBI thought that as a communications officer, Hasan would have seen the report, the government official said. Neither the FBI nor Webster responded to requests for comment. But the FBI and Defense Department have said that they've made several policy changes since the Fort Hood assault to help prevent similar attacks. Hasan is charged with killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in the November 2009 attack at the Texas Army post. He is being tried in a military court. Al-Awlaki, implicated in other terror attacks, was killed in a drone strike in Yemen last year. | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #9 100 is supposed to be Median IQ |
| Posted by: Frank G 2012-07-20 16:53 |
| #8 As Fred is fond of pointing out, by definition half our population has a two-digit IQ. Fred is indeed fond of pointing that out. Is it true, though? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2012-07-20 16:30 |
| #7 As Fred is fond of pointing out, by definition half our population has a two-digit IQ. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2012-07-20 14:11 |
| #6 It doesn't. It just thinks a majority are morons From their perspective it doesn't matter if the majority are of limited intelligence or limited attention, the latter being more try than the former, I suspect. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2012-07-20 11:45 |
| #5 Why does our gov't think we are all morons? It doesn't. It just thinks a majority are morons. I'm afraid it's probably correct. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2012-07-20 08:29 |
| #4 A "review" [not an investigation] called for 3 years ago by the current FBI director, handed to a former director to execute? [Anyone fired ?] Please, give me a break. Why does our gov't think we are all morons? The FBI in San Diego had been investigating al-Awlaki, a former San Diego resident, for his possible connections to the 9/11 hijackers. [For how long? How many intelligence reports submitted? What dissemination levels? POTUS briefed? Other potential terrorists mention in e-mails or copied in e-mails?] High level terrorist and Hasan e-mail pal Anwar al-Awlaki was eventually killed via drone strike by the CIA correct? [Terminated, not captured or interrogated? Any legal review of US person terminated? Future wrongful death suits?] Article alleged FBI did not coordinate with Army Counrterintelligence. No mention of FBI coordination with CIA. POTUS and CIA just assumed Anwar al-Awlaki needed killin and didn't bother to talk to the Bureau or DOJ about a US person? When the Fort Hood shooting took place, no one to include the Post Commander used the term "terrorism." Former president Bush drives to Fort Hood Hosptial to visit the wounded and is quietly told to leave. The trial for MAJ Hasan will take place when? Not even a nice try Directors Webster and Mueller. A sixth grader could have written a more plausible explanation. This is a classic 'source operation' gone terribly bad and a very, very shameful cover up. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2012-07-20 04:44 |
| #3 In Law, sometimes you just have no win. Especially when your DOJ is a stupid A-Hole. |
| Posted by: newc 2012-07-20 01:16 |
| #2 You know, the thing is, they were RIGHT. If they had investigated him for radical contacts, he would have screamed and the usual suspects would have run to his defense. |
| Posted by: gromky 2012-07-20 00:57 |
| #1 The feeling I have is they did not walk in with an investigation, they HAD to walk in with a narrative. It was directed and the investigated what they were directed to do - nothing more or else and I do not blame the FBI. I blame a higher "power". Let them go on this. |
| Posted by: newc 2012-07-20 00:10 |