Army Wasn't Told of Hasan's Emails

The Wall Street Journal ^ | NOVEMBER 10, 2009, 8:33 P.M. ET | YOCHI J. DREAZEN and EVAN PEREZ

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The Pentagon said it was never notified by U.S. intelligence agencies that they had intercepted emails between the alleged Fort Hood shooter and an extremist imam until after last week's bloody assaults, raising new questions about whether the government could have helped prevent the attack.

A top defense official said federal investigators didn't tell the Pentagon they were looking into months of contacts between Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan and Anwar al-Awlaki. The imam knew three of the Sept. 11 hijackers and hailed Maj. Hasan as a "hero" after the shooting last week at Fort Hood that left 13 people dead.

"Based on what we know now, neither the United States Army nor any other organization within the Department of Defense knew of Maj. Hasan's contacts with any Muslim extremists," the official said.

The Pentagon comments fueled a growing dispute among various branches of the government about whether Maj. Hasan should have been more deeply investigated before he allegedly walked into a crowded soldier-readiness center at Fort Hood and opened fire.

A person familiar with the matter said a Pentagon worker on a terrorism task force overseen by the Federal Bureau of Investigation was told about the intercepted emails several months ago. But members of terror task forces aren't allowed to share such information with their agencies, unless they get permission from the FBI, which leads the task forces.

In this case, the Pentagon worker, an employee from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, helped make the assessment that Maj. Hasan wasn't a threat, and the FBI's "procedures for sharing the information were never used," said the person familiar with the matter.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama had ordered all agencies involved in national and homeland security to review Maj. Hasan's case to find out if warning signs were missed .......

[hoosiermama]

Seems to me that the military had the cards in their hand. They were the one with the player. Did they notify the CIA or FBI they had a problem/joker in their deck? OR was he just shuffled in the name of PC? How many more jokers are in the deck? Are they shuffling the pawns again to protect the king(s)?

Is this a scheme to undermine the militarize authority? Hatched by whom?

[browardchad]

 He can start by telling us who appointed him to his DHS transition team and who promoted him to Major in May.

He wasn't appointed to the DHS transition team. He was one of the "finest minds" selected to be on the The George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI) "Presidental Transition Task Force." It was a conference set up by "a nonpartisan “think and do” tank."

"With the historic Administration change in January, HSPI assembled a Presidential Transition Task Force composed of some of the finest minds in the country to leverage their expert insights into today’s most pressing matters of national and homeland security. The goal was to further policy discussions of the top strategic security priorities that command the attention of the new Administration. To push the boundaries of our thinking, the Task Force received briefings from subject-matter experts and launched a series of roundtable discussions, “Thinking Anew – Security Priorities for the Next Administration” to further consider vital security issues. Other events include a distinguished panel addressing terrorism finance issues, and several events with leading British and American experts on counter-radicalization and rehabilitation at home and abroad."

It was a privately-sponsored event, entirely separate from DHS and the Obama transition team.

As for the promotion -- it's been said by dozens of sources that it was an "automatic" for an Army doctor. The Army brass is answerable for that.

And I'm not defending Obama in any way. It's avoiding reality, though, to focus blame solely on one person, branch or institution for this -- there were a whole lot of people who passed the buck, or worse, in this case. Now 14 people, including an unborn child, are dead due to their dereliction and the worship of PC platititudes.

[CRBDeuce]

just damn

[MajorThomas]

The only way the DOJ, FBI, ARMY, etc begins to look remotely good given this trail of evidence, is that they WERE watching him and monitoring his contacts, emails, voice calls, etc...in an attempt to increase their knowledge of home growing terrorists in and around the country... and then Hasan finally learn’s of this, and thinks he is going to be taken out of the system, and then acts (shooting) too quickly for any of investigators to stop him. He did act like he was going to be taken out of the system by giving away all his worldly possessions right before his terrorist jihadist actions in Texas.

[MajorThomas]

The only way the DOJ, FBI, ARMY, etc begins to look remotely good given this trail of evidence, is that they WERE watching him and monitoring his contacts, emails, voice calls, etc...in an attempt to increase their knowledge of home growing terrorists in and around the country... and then Hasan finally learn’s of this, and thinks he is going to be taken out of the system, and then acts (shooting) too quickly for any of investigators to stop him. He did act like he was going to be taken out of the system by giving away all his worldly possessions right before his terrorist jihadist actions in Texas.

The only oops or black eye, in this scenario in this the failure of the “watchers” in learning and or preventing Hasan from purchasing and or using the weapon(s) he used to kill American Soldiers. Note that the US Army does not issue weapons to physicians, so he got this from someone, probably even from one of his contacts that the very same “watchers’ were following and gathering evidence of more jihadist activities.

[MajorThomas]

Hmmm... maybe we have two new recipients to Gitmo, and the one they thought was going to die, Hasan, is recuperating in the hospital.

Hopefully, if this is the case, we are presently working in gathering information in Gitmo from these other two to stop additional jihadist activity in the USA.

[azkathy]

Thanks for posting this.
America is in BIG trouble. Diversity is killing us. It is time to celebrate intolerance. Did you ever hear a parent say, “I will not tolerate that.”

The leaders of America are pathetic. A committee to study why this happened will not stop any more killings. A swift and immediate removal of those currently under suspicion would surely save lives.

[STARWISE]

The FBI said it turned over the information to the Army, but Defense Department officials today denied that. One military investigator on a joint terror task force with the FBI was shown the e-mails, but they were never forwarded in a formal way to more senior officials at the Pentagon, and the Army did not learn of the contacts until after the shootings.

______________________________________________________

" ... Mr. Obama says his administration will investigate the incident as thoroughly as possible. "On Friday, I met with FBI Director (Robert) Mueller, Defense Secretary (Robert) Gates and representatives of the relevant agencies to discuss their ongoing investigation into what led to this terrible crime. And I will continue to be in close contact with them as new information comes in," he said.

________________________________________________________

"Earlier Saturday, W. Roy Smythe, chief of surgery at Scott & White Memorial Hospital, said "a lot of progress has been made" in treating patients wounded in the rampage and that "some of them are out of the woods."

But Smythe, flanked by Texas Gov. Rick Perry and two state representatives, told reporters there is a possibility some patients will be "physically impaired" for life. And, he said, there's "no doubt many" will be "psychologically impaired the rest of their lives."

_________________________________________________________

The FBI (ROBERT MUELLER) is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (ERIC HOLDER). It has the authority and responsibility to investigate specific crimes assigned to it. The FBI also is authorized to provide other law enforcement agencies with cooperative services, such as fingerprint identification, laboratory examinations, and police training.

[exit82]

" ... Mr. Obama says his administration will investigate the incident as thoroughly as possible. "On Friday, I met with FBI Director (Robert) Mueller, Defense Secretary (Robert) Gates and representatives of the relevant agencies to discuss their ongoing investigation into what led to this terrible crime. And I will continue to be in close contact with them as new information comes in," he said.

Translation is the same as Sept. 2008 during the financial meltdown: Call me if you need me.

[SE Mom]

I can’t keep up now. I’ve read so many accounts about who knew what and when that I am just sticking to my normal jaded belief that bureaucrats screwed up.

It’s still a shock this happened.

[potlatch]

Thanks Kathy. They better start paying attention, there are more warnings out there!

 

 

[potlatch]

Thanks STARWISE.

[swheats]

This is the result of 11 months of an Obama administration that spent months going after our CIA agents and anyone else given the task of protecting America.

Then we have Eric Holder refusing to prosecute those who intimidated voters.

Napolitano having lists of pro-lifers and right wing extremists.

But no one watching or communicating on actual enemies embedded in our military and the homeland.

This is definately not the change many were looking for.

[Freedom2specul8]

Thanks for the important updates starwise!

(Marked for archive)

[STARWISE]

[STARWISE]

Welcome .. ;)

[Freedom2specul8]

Remember when I said I would ping you if there was an update on the health status of the victims?

See post #108..

“But Smythe, flanked by Texas Gov. Rick Perry and two state representatives, told reporters there is a possibility some patients will be “physically impaired” for life. And, he said, there’s “no doubt many” will be “psychologically impaired the rest of their lives.””

[Freedom2specul8]

I think I need to copy the entire post for the archives. Not sure there are any FR threads with those articles. I’ll post a link back to here...

[thouworm]

See Post #92 for Eric Holder to speak at Cair

and ALL, see here for ZAID SHAKIR:

Eavesdropping on a Sunni Muslim Scholar Upon the Passing of One of Islam’s National Leaders

FACES of ISLAM’S FUTURE?-—Four Prominent Scholars

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2278969/posts?page=434#434

[potlatch]

Thanks.
Officially they say anything, and then do it ‘Under The Radar’.

Attorney General Eric Holder has agreed to give a keynote speech next week to a Michigan group which includes CAIR, even though the FBI has formally severed contacts with the controversial Muslim civil rights organization.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/1109/Despite_ban_Holder_to_speak_to_CAIRlinked_group.html