pwaldo
07-22-2012, 08:29 PM
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2175978/FBI-did-investigate-Fort-Hood-shooter-political-correctness-according-new-report.html
In emails to a known terrorist, the man charged with killing 13 people in a 2009 attack at Fort Hood, Texas, expressed his support for suicide bombings and killing civilians — glaring signs that the FBI did not act on but should have, a report has claimed.
Army Maj. Nidal Hasan told a radical Islamic cleric that he advocated using suicide bombers and that he believed it was OK to kill civilians.
And the terrorist, Anwar al-Awlaki, a man well-known to the U.S. intelligence community, told Hasan in an email that the Army psychiatrist should keep his contact details handy.
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, Rep. Michael McCaul said after he was briefed on the findings of the independent review on Wednesday.
'It shows you the length of the political correctness stuff going on,' he told the Associated Press.
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.
When agents saw emails between Hasan and al-Awlaki, they asked the FBI's Washington office to talk to Hasan's bosses, according to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the Webster report.
But the Washington agents thought that interviewing American Muslims who visit extremist websites was a sensitive issue and did not reach out to Hasan's bosses at the Defense Department.
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.
In emails to a known terrorist, the man charged with killing 13 people in a 2009 attack at Fort Hood, Texas, expressed his support for suicide bombings and killing civilians — glaring signs that the FBI did not act on but should have, a report has claimed.
Army Maj. Nidal Hasan told a radical Islamic cleric that he advocated using suicide bombers and that he believed it was OK to kill civilians.
And the terrorist, Anwar al-Awlaki, a man well-known to the U.S. intelligence community, told Hasan in an email that the Army psychiatrist should keep his contact details handy.
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, Rep. Michael McCaul said after he was briefed on the findings of the independent review on Wednesday.
'It shows you the length of the political correctness stuff going on,' he told the Associated Press.
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.
When agents saw emails between Hasan and al-Awlaki, they asked the FBI's Washington office to talk to Hasan's bosses, according to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the Webster report.
But the Washington agents thought that interviewing American Muslims who visit extremist websites was a sensitive issue and did not reach out to Hasan's bosses at the Defense Department.
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.