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The Department of Defense and the FBI had enough information about the suspect in the 2009 Fort Hood massacre to have discharged him from the military before he killed 13 DOD employees and wounded 32 others, according to a new bipartisan Senate report.
The report on the Texas army base shooting, authored by Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman and top Republican Susan Collins, says that both agencies were aware of suspected gunman Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan's radicalization to violent Islamist extremism "but failed both to understand and to act on it."
"Although both the public and the private signs of Hasan's radicalization to violent Islamist extremism while on active duty were known to government officials, a string of failures prevented these officials from intervening against him prior to the attack," it says in its executive summary.
The senators say their investigation found "specific and systemic failures" in the government's handling of the case and cited additional concerns about possible broader systemic issues. "The FBI and DoD together failed to recognize and to link the information that they possessed about Hasan" they write.
Hasan's move toward violent Islamist extremism "was on full display to his superiors and colleagues during his military medical training,” according to the report’s findings. One instructor referred to Hasan as "a ticking time bomb."
"Not only was no action taken to discipline or discharge him, but also his Officer Evaluation Reports sanitized his obsession with violent Islamist extremism into praiseworthy research on counterterrorism."
In a stinging charge against the Defense Department's handling of the matter, the report added, "DOD possessed compelling evidence that Hasan embraced views so extreme that it should have disciplined him or discharged him from the military, but DoD failed to take action against him."
While the inquiry credited one FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force unit for initially flagging Hasan because he was communicating with a suspected terrorist, it criticized a second unit's follow-through. According to the report, the second JTTF unit "failed to identify the totality of Hasan's communications" and didn't inform Army security about them.
"Instead, the JTTF inquiry relied on Hasan's erroneous Officer Evaluation Reports and ultimately dismissed his communications as legitimate research," the senators write.
The report suggests that because the two FBI units had different views of the severity of other unit's findings, the matter was eventually dropped "rather than cause a bureaucratic confrontation."
"The JTTFs never raised the dispute to FBI headquarters for resolution, and entities in FBI headquarters responsible for coordination among field offices never acted. As a result, the FBI's inquiry into Hasan ended prematurely,” it reads.
*** UPDATE *** The FBI responded to the report in a written statement, which reads in part: "The FBI recognizes the value of congressional oversight and agrees with much in the report and many of its recommendations. During the internal FBI review undertaken immediately after the attack at Fort Hood, we identified several of the areas of concern outlined in the report, and, as noted in the report, have implemented changes to our systems and processes to address them. We will review each of the report's recommendations and adopt them, as appropriate."
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Well, this is the price of "political correctness"; any more bright ideas?
Sometimes one must call a spade a spade, pin the tail on the donkey, do or die. Get it yet?
Instead of some you idiots blaming the President like he knows every soldier in the country,we should be asking what happened to the people that made a mess of this. Did they keep their jobs or get canned like they should have,have the DOD and FBI improved their tracking process or is it or is it the SOS? No one cares if things are right or better,but they want to throw these childish names around instead worring about if things are fixed and the guilty parties are dealt with.
Political correctness will be the death of America...the illegal aliens know it, and the Muslims know it; both play it to the hilt...
We are so stupid...stupid enough to believe what our government tells us to think...even though we know in our hearts that it is wrong, and detrimental to future generations...
It's unfortunate for our children, that there is still no cure for stupid...
Big John - 6223659: It's no wonder Maj. Hasan wasn't kicked out of the Army. If all he had to do was perform satisfactorily, and then was allowed to exhibit terrorist leanings. This premise implies that it's OK to kill innocent people, but do your job satisfactorily and all is well. Frankly, I'd rather see someone screw up in his job and not be a murderer. The military is too politically correct and has their priorities wrong. Poor performance has a chance of being corrected, but someone can't be brought back from the dead. Death is final! Being proactive in weeding out the radicals and nut cases is the real answer.
Illegal Alien Medical Costs
$2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
Illegal Alien Education Costs
$12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!
$17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
Illegal Alien Welfare Costs
$11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year.
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html http://tinyurl.com/zob77 http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0 604/01/ldt.01.html http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
$2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
$90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.
Illegal Alien Suppressing American Wages
$200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are
caused by the illegal aliens.
Illegal Alien Incarceration Costs
$3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US
The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States.
Illegal Aliens And Drugs
During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions
http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html
of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border. Homeland Security Report:
Illegal Aliens And Deportation
The National Policy Institute, "estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period."
Illegal Aliens Sending Money Home
In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin.
The total cost is a whopping
$ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR
It would be much cheaper to round them up, and send them back to their countries of origin...
http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htmhttp://tinyurl.com/t9sht
Refrain to be sung by the left: How could Obama be blamed? He had just taken office. This guy was in the military based on Bush's policies.
Refrain to be sung by the right: It is Obama's fault! It happened on his watch. If Bush takes 9-11 then Obama has to take this.
Refrain to be sung by the center: Who cares whose fault it is. Get it fixed so that it doesn't happen again.
I am so tired of the sophomoric level of "discussion" on these boards. Reminds me of a couple of kids calling each other names. How about 1) backing up what you say with verifiable facts; 2) stop the name-calling; and 3) start pulling together to solve problems rather than dragging what could be a great country down? From what I have observed, those on the right-wing fringe seem to be the most obnoxious in this regard (voting fraud, "swift boating", cherry-picking facts to start an illegal war, blaming current economic problems not on Bush but on Obama, tax cuts for billionaires, ad nauseum), but unfortunately plenty on the left are joining in.
I believe they over-looked this man's actions for too long and didn't do what they must primarily because he was a psychiatrist. And, the military desperately needs psychiatrists, and all manner of mental health practitioners. They are very short. And the troops keep coming home, more and more very messed up from battle. I had a contract with the Army and it was a hard, hard job, but they paid extremely well. I chose to go off and move into private practice, but sometimes, despite all the terrible things I saw and heard, wish I would have stayed because I can't get paid nearly that well, anywhere. So, anyone out there in the mental health field need a well-paying position? Obviously, who doesn't, right? Just be prepared to see and hear some of the most horrendous stuff you've ever encountered. You'll have nightmares about it, too. Many of the people I worked with did.
It's always easier to spot the "ticking time bomb" after it goes off.
I'm not saying that signals were not missed, or that Maj. Hassan was not fit for duty. He sounds like an erratic, marginal performer, who, in any well run organization, would be placed on a probationary status, as an intermediary step before dismissal (aka discharge).
But we've all worked with the occasional odd-duck, who was difficult to deal with, and marginally effective in his (or her) job. They aren't all crazy. They are not all dangerous. And it is impossible to presort these people and predict who may become dangerously violent.
To all who attribute this attack to the deficiencies of either Bush or Obama, please get a grip. The chief executive does not deal with personnel issues at this level, not unless his name is Jimmie Carter. If he is, one has to wonder what he is not doing.
Complacency runs high in all goverment entities...but most noticeable in the defense and security side. I see it oversees everyday....and am shocked by it. What is going on...from what I've seen....is that too many people in the military structure with little to do. They are NOT sharp, not disciplined, but lazy. We are not talking about the SF on a small outpost......In general, the average government supported security entity is given little responsibility in a narrowed field and stays in that lane, without questioning the system. And that lack of want to handle greater responsibility combines with inaction, immaturity, laziness and systemic routine of simple tasks to create a system that isn't sharp.
I would add that much of our security forces on every level are not of great foresight, but are reactionary with perfect hindsight. Why would homeland security, the FBI, border patrol and the TSA be any different?
Political correctness and not wanting to be accused of racial profiling is what led to this tragedy. In the military, this is especially predominant.
The Army brass failed with Hasan clearly and the troops paid the price for that failure. The Brass failed with Manning and the country paid the price. Both had known problems and in the case of Manning, it was poor security/protection of classified data. There have been procedures in place for years to protect us from the Mannings of the world. So why weren't they followed. No answers yet from the Brass? Wonder why?
This happened because we don't want to "stereo type" anyone! Really? How about now! I, for one, am sick to DEATH of PC bull 'stuff'! What do you tell the victims' families about PC NOW? "Sorry - am I bad!" And yes I have seen this is the military also. It's called passing the buck so you can get him out of YOUR hair! Give him Ol' Sparky NOW. Or you can just wire his up for sound! I hope he meets his 72 Virginians in Heaven! Let's see what they have to say about him.
Having intelligence and using it are two very different things! I do not believe ANYONE in our Government is using common sense. Let alone, intelligence!
First we kill 100 HAMAS members for every American this muslim moron killed, then we kill 1oo of them for every one of ours.That should have no problem with translation.
Crusader