“A Ticking Time Bomb”: the Hasan Fort Hood Shooting report

“Although neither DoD nor the FBI had specific information concerning the time, place, or nature of the attack, they collectively had sufficient information to have detected Hasan’s radicalization to violent Islamist extremism but failed both to understand and to act all it. Our investigation found specific and systemic failures in the government’s handling of the Hasan case and raises additional concerns about what may be broader systemic issues.”

Unsurprisingly, there were a host of errors that were unveiled by this report from the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The report was a bipartisan product led by Senator Lieberman of Connecticut, and my birth-state Senator Susan Collins of Maine. Apparently everyone just looked the other way to avoid a PC problem. Well done there I’d say….

Here are some key excerpts:

Major Nidal Hasan’s public displays of radicalization toward violent Islamist extremism during his medical residency and post-residency fellowship were clear and led two officers to describe him as a “ticking time bomb.”

During his medical residency and post-residency fellowship, his vicws were no secret to his superiors and colleagues, and he showed clear evidencc of escalating radicalization to violent Islamist extremism. Witnesses reported that Hasan expressed support in open class presentations for many of the principles of violent lslamist extremism, and this support is reflected in written academic papers Hasan prepared during this time frame.

That conduct disturbed many of his superiors and colleagues, yet no action was taken against him. In fact, his Officer Evaluation Reports were uniformly positive – and even described his exploration of violent lslamist cxtremism as something praiseworthy and useful to U.S. counterterrorism efforts. Notwithstanding his manifestations of violent Islamist extremism and his concomitant poor performance as a psychiatrist, Hasan was not removed from the military but instead was promoted to the rank of major in May 2009 and eventually ordered to be deployed to Afghanistan in the fall of 2009.

Apparently there was one guy that got it:

While Hasan’s evident radicalization to violent Islamist extremism occurred gradually and escalated over time, the fact that he obviously had strong religious views that created conflicts with his military service manifested during the early part of his residency (2003-2006). One classmate told investigators that Hasan openly questioned whether he could engage in combat against other Muslims.

During the third year of his residency, Hasan’s conflicts with service obligations ripened to the point that one of his supervisors tried twice to convince him to leave the military. The first time, Hasan’s superior told him, “I don’t think you and the military will fit,” and offered Hasan “a way out” to “just say goodbye.” Later, after that adviser and Hasan unsuccessfully explored whether Hasan qualified for conscientious objector status, that supervisor again tried to convince Hasan to resign.

Just how obvious was it that this guy was fruitier than bat guano? You judge:

The next two years were the final year of Hasan’s Walter Reed residency and the first year of his USUHS fellowship (2006-2008), and it was then that his radicalization to violent Islamist extremism came into plain view. In the last month of his residency, he chose to fulfill an academic requirement to make a scholarly presentation on psychiatric issues by giving an off-topic lecture on violent Islamist extremism. The presentation was a requirement for graduation from the residency, commonly referred to at Walter Reed as “Grand Rounds.” Hasan’s draft presentation consisted almost entirely of refernces to the Koran, without a single mention of a medical or psychiatric term. Hasan’s draft also presented extremist interpretations of the Koran as supporting grave physical harm and killing of non-Muslims. He even suggested that revenge might be a defense for the terrorist attacks of September I I, 2001. Hasan’s superiors warned him that he needed to revise the presentation if he wanted to graduate and concluded that it was “not scientific,” “not scholarly,” and a mere “recitation of the Koran” that “might be perceived as proselytizing.”

Might be? Wonder what they thought about this:

The most chilling feature of both the draft and final presentation was that Hasan stated that one of the risks of having Muslim-Americans in the military was the possibility of fratricidal murder of fellow servicemembers.

In case the subtlety (or lack thereof) of Hasan’s statements is lost on anyone, the report details the following:

In sum, Hasan engaged in the following conduct in front of or as reported to his superiors within little more than one year:

• Making three off-topic presentations on violent Islamist extremist topics instead of medical subjects.

• Giving a class presentation perceived as so supportive of violent Islamist extremist conflict against the United States that it was almost immediately stopped by an instructor after classmates erupted in opposition to Hasan’s views.

• Justifying suicide bombings in class at least twice, according to the accounts of classmates.

• Suggesting in writing in his proposals lor presentations that some actions of Osama bin Laden may be justified.

• Telling several classmates that his religion took precedence over the U.S. Constitution he swore a military oath to support and defend.

• Stating three times in writing that Muslim-Americans in the military could be prone to fratricide.

Remember, this guy didn’t just graduate, he was advanced to the rank of Major. I can’t even imagine signing off on this guy being promoted to PFC, but they just kept moving him through the ranks.

I was overjoyed when I was judged in the middle of my peers on my NCOER, since I had a habit of disagreeing with my CO and 1SG. Not Hasan, or, atleast according to his rater:

• His Officer Evaluation Report for July 2007 to June 2008 described Hasan as “among the better disaster and psychiatry fellows to have completed the MPH at the Uniformed Services University.” The report described how Hasan had “focused his efforts on illuminating the role of culture and Islamic faith within the Global War on Terrorism” and that his “work in this area has extraordinary potential to inform national policy and military strategy.” The report also stated, “His unique interests have captured the interest and attention of peers and mentors alike.”

• His Officer Evaluation Report for July 2008 to June 2009 gave him passing marks for all seven Army Values and all 15 Leadership Attributes. “Islamic studies” was listed under the category or “unique skills” Hasan possessed. The evaluation commented on Hasan’s “keen interest in Islamic culture and Jaith and his shown capacity to contribute to our psychological understanding of Islamic nationalism and how it may relate to events of national security and Army interest in the Middle East and Asia.”

I remember seeing a joke thing sent around about sentences from OERs, and one of the funniest I read said:

This Lieutenant is of two minds: one is lost and the other is out looking for it.

Apparently Hasan was of two minds as well, one was a military officer, and the other was trying to blow it up.

My dopey underground newspaper I wrote while in my unit probably didn’t help my NCOER, but it did help with morale, or so I am led to believe. And what did these positive OERs do for Hasan?

In sum, the officers who kept Hasan in the military and moved him steadily along knew full well of his problematic behavior. As the officer who assigned Hasan to Fort Hood (and later decided to deploy Hasan to Afghanistan) admitted to an officer at Fort Hood, “you’re getting our worst. On November 5, 2009, 12 servicemembers and one civilian employee of DoD lost their lives because Hasan was still in the U.S. military.

Just thinking about Hasan makes me mad. The Army’s non-reaction made me even more angry. I still leave the room every time my wife has Dr. Phil on, and I can’t take anything that “Veterans for Common Sense” says seriously. If everyone is going to pad the OERs to just keep crappy officers in service, why even bother doing them? He has an OER that says he is among the best and brightest, and then another officer says “you are getting our worst”? How on Earth does that make any sense?

You can read the entire report here.

Category: Politics