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Fort Hood suspect reached out to Islamist-sources
Source: Agencies |
November 10, 2009, Tuesday
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US intelligence agencies learned an Army psychiatrist contacted an Islamist sympathetic to al Qaeda and relayed that information to federal authorities before the man allegedly went on a shooting spree that killed 13 people in Texas last week, US sources said yesterday.
The sources said the spy agencies intercepted electronic communications between the suspect, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, and an anti-American cleric in Yemen beginning late last year and reported them to the FBI and other federal authorities.
One source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Hasan communicated with Anwar al-Awlaki, a cleric in Yemen known for his incendiary anti-American teachings and sympathies toward al Qaeda.
Hassan, a US-born Muslim of Palestinian descent, was expected to be charged in a military court following Thursday's shooting at the Fort Hood Army post in which 13 people were killed, two senior US government officials said.
One of those officials said there was no indication that the accused gunman had been planning an attack or was following orders from anyone.
The comments late yesterday by various US officials suggested that different parts of the government were angling to avoid being blamed for having failed to prevent the shooting.
One intelligence official said: "There's no sign at this point that the CIA had collected information relevant to this case and then simply sat on it."
In a letter to Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair and the heads of the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency, Representative Pete Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, has asked intelligence agencies to preserve the information they have on Hasan.
"I believe members of the full committee on a bipartisan basis will want to scrutinize the intelligence relevant to this attack, what the agencies in possession of that intelligence did with it, who was and wasn't informed and why, and what steps America's intelligence agencies are taking in light of what they know," Hoekstra said in a statement.
HOW US AGENCIES ACTED
Hoekstra's comment was reminiscent of questions asked after the Sept. 11 attacks, when there was deep soul-searching and recrimination in Washington over how US intelligence and law enforcement agencies failed to prevent the hijacked plane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Asked if she was satisfied that the FBI and the army had coordinated appropriately, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Diane Feinstein said: "(The) only thing I can tell you is that there is an investigation ongoing ... There is a very serious investigation that's taking place."
The shooting spree took place last Thursday at Fort Hood's crowded Soldiers Readiness Processing Center, where US troops were getting medical checkups before deploying abroad.
Hasan, 39, had spent years counseling severely wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, many of whom had lost limbs fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He was transferred to Fort Hood in April and was to have been deployed to Afghanistan, where the US military is engaged in an increasingly bloody war against Taliban and al Qaeda fighters.
The sources said the spy agencies intercepted electronic communications between the suspect, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, and an anti-American cleric in Yemen beginning late last year and reported them to the FBI and other federal authorities.
One source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Hasan communicated with Anwar al-Awlaki, a cleric in Yemen known for his incendiary anti-American teachings and sympathies toward al Qaeda.
Hassan, a US-born Muslim of Palestinian descent, was expected to be charged in a military court following Thursday's shooting at the Fort Hood Army post in which 13 people were killed, two senior US government officials said.
One of those officials said there was no indication that the accused gunman had been planning an attack or was following orders from anyone.
The comments late yesterday by various US officials suggested that different parts of the government were angling to avoid being blamed for having failed to prevent the shooting.
One intelligence official said: "There's no sign at this point that the CIA had collected information relevant to this case and then simply sat on it."
In a letter to Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair and the heads of the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency, Representative Pete Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, has asked intelligence agencies to preserve the information they have on Hasan.
"I believe members of the full committee on a bipartisan basis will want to scrutinize the intelligence relevant to this attack, what the agencies in possession of that intelligence did with it, who was and wasn't informed and why, and what steps America's intelligence agencies are taking in light of what they know," Hoekstra said in a statement.
HOW US AGENCIES ACTED
Hoekstra's comment was reminiscent of questions asked after the Sept. 11 attacks, when there was deep soul-searching and recrimination in Washington over how US intelligence and law enforcement agencies failed to prevent the hijacked plane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Asked if she was satisfied that the FBI and the army had coordinated appropriately, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Diane Feinstein said: "(The) only thing I can tell you is that there is an investigation ongoing ... There is a very serious investigation that's taking place."
The shooting spree took place last Thursday at Fort Hood's crowded Soldiers Readiness Processing Center, where US troops were getting medical checkups before deploying abroad.
Hasan, 39, had spent years counseling severely wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, many of whom had lost limbs fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He was transferred to Fort Hood in April and was to have been deployed to Afghanistan, where the US military is engaged in an increasingly bloody war against Taliban and al Qaeda fighters.
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