2007 Memo Details Trouble With Hasan
AP Wire Services (Nov. 19)
Nidal Malik Hasan's psychiatry supervisors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center were so concerned about his behavior in May 2007 that they wrote a memo about his "pattern of poor judgment and lack of professionalism."
The memo on Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in a shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, on Nov. 5, was obtained by National Public Radio, which published it on Wednesday.
A memo obtained by National Public Radio showed that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's supervisors were troubled by his "poor judgment and lack of professionalism" more than two years before a shooting rampage left 13 people dead at Fort Hood, Texas, on Nov. 5. Hassan, an Army psychiatrist, is accused of carrying out the attack, which wounded more than 30 others
'A Horrific Outburst'
Investigators on Friday were trying to determine why Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 13 people and wounding 30. Hasan, a military psychiatrist, was shot by police. He was hospitalized in a coma but was expected to live. Thursday's rampage is believed to be the worst mass shooting at a U.S. military base.
The memo, signed by Maj. Scott Moran, the chief of psychiatric residents at Walter Reed in Washington, said that Hasan worked little, seeing just 30 patients in 38 weeks, NPR reported. It also said Hasan proselytized to his patients, skipped an important exam and allowed a homicidal patient to escape from an emergency room.
But Moran concluded that Hasan still could graduate and did not deserve even probation because Hasan was able to improve his behavior once confronted by supervisors. About a year after Moran's memo was written, Hasan was selected for promotion from captain to major, a position that would give him increased pay and responsibilities. He would formally become a major in May 2009, and by July he was on his way to Fort Hood.
The memo was released as Defense Secretary Robert Gates planned to announce a broad review of the Fort Hood shootings, which injured more than 30 people, including Hasan. The Associated Press reported that Gates would announce the probe Thursday and had chosen a former senior defense official to lead it.
Gates planned to order a single, coordinated review, and a quick, short-term report, followed by a longer, more extensive study, according to an administration official.
Components of the wide-ranging probe could include self-examinations by the Army and the military's medical community, and likely look at personnel policies and the availability of mental health services for troubled troops. It would go well beyond Hasan's case.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because announcements have not been made. The identity of the former official leading the review was not revealed.
Details were still being worked out Wednesday night, but the review would mirror other department inquiries during Gates' tenure, including a probe of the Air Force's handling of nuclear materials.
President Barack Obama already has ordered a review of all intelligence related to Hasan, including his contacts with a radical Islamic cleric overseas and concerns about the major voiced by some medical colleagues, and whether the information was properly shared and acted upon within government agencies.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder said he was disturbed to learn that Hasan had communicated with the radical Islamic cleric.
Investigators have said e-mails between Hasan and the imam, Anwar al-Awlaki, did not advocate or threaten violence. After the shootings, al-Awlaki's Web site praised Hasan as a hero.
Holder said investigators still were gathering evidence in the case. (On Thursday, The New York Times published a profile of al-Awlaki that explored his apparent success at getting some Western Muslims to turn to terrorism.)
At the hearing, Holder was asked what he would do to prevent such an occurrence in the future.
"I think what we have to do is understand exactly what happened that led to that tragedy," Holder said. "Were their flags that were missed? Were there miscommunications or was there a lack of communication? And once we have a handle on that, I think that we can propose and work with this committee on ways in which we can prevent such a tragedy from occurring again."
"I will say that on the basis of what I know so far, it is disturbing to know that there was this interaction between Hasan and — and other people that is, I find, disturbing," Holder said.
As Congress prepared to open oversight hearings into the massacre, Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I., said Wednesday there was no suggestion that Hasan was working with others. "All the information we have is that this is a lone wolf," Langevin, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said after a closed-door briefing on the Fort Hood investigation.
Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, are investigating whether a breakdown in communications or poor judgment calls contributed to the shootings, considered the deadliest attack on a military base in the U.S. The Senate Homeland Security Committee that Collins and Lieberman sit on was expected to open hearings in the case Thursday.
A joint terrorism task force overseen by the FBI learned late last year of Hasan's repeated contact with the cleric, who encouraged Muslims to kill U.S. troops in Iraq. The FBI said the task force did not refer early information about Hasan to superiors because it concluded he wasn't linked to terrorism.
"The Fort Hood massacre also raises questions about whether there are unnecessary restrictions on information sharing and whether those restrictions resulted in a failure to trigger a further inquiry," Collins said.
Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., said any "telltale signs that he was a disgruntled major were not as apparent as the rumors you've heard." Rooney spoke to reporters after he left Wednesday's classified briefing.
Rooney, a member of the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee and a former Army lawyer, also said Hasan was qualified to be promoted but was in "more toward the bottom third of his class."
