Galligan off Hasan defense team
Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood jihadist, went to court yesterday and announced that his civil attorney, John Galligan was no longer on his defense team. Nasan will be represented at his trial scheduled for March next year by a team of military defense lawyers. No reason was given for Galligan’s removal, but Fox News says it’s because he couldn’t get a security clearance for all of the information he’d need to defend his client;
Fox News has learned that a new filing in the case shows a key White House intelligence report on the shooting is still being withheld from the defense. Galligan also had a long-standing complaint that his requests to get the proper security clearances for the case were ignored. The new filing supports Galligan’s claim that he is still without the clearances he has requested to adequately defend his client.
Galligan is, reportedly, a former Army colonel, so I’m wondering what keeps him from getting proper clearance and what would be so classified that Galligan can’t see it.
Category: Terror War
Jonn,
I had the same thought as I was reading the post. Doesn’t make sense to me, but then again I’m just a retired NCO
Yet the military officers can get access to it?
Hasan [is alleged to have] committed his crimes during processing for deployment. Even though the unit(s) involved have deployed and returned, some information is still classified. And, frankly: those that manage clearances are morons (with apologies to real morons) who’re overwhelmed, understaffed, and are of course Government Employees.
The result is the same: not having a clearance keeps Hasan alive that much longer. Every day he is not being tried is another day alive.
Spitballing one possible defense theory is that the unit would be in vicinity of a Muslim holy place (there are a couple of them incountry), then Hasan would have seen his religion desecrated, et cetera. The exact location, while likely knowable using open sources, would still be classified under the usual OPSEC/archive requirements.
Sue and TSO likely have better theories or insight.
I’m putting this out with the idea that it might get picked apart, but for whatever it’s worth:
One probable reason Galligan can’t get a security clearance is because he’s not in the military anymore. If Hasan’s lawyers are all military counsel, then any released information stays secret, instead of having the possibility of it being released by a civilian – albeit “cleared” – civilian lawyer.
Why? Because that secret report probably details the extent of knowledge the military had of the threat that Hasan posed.
Unless he has retired recently enough that his clearance hasn’t expired yet, the retired Colonel would have to go through the investigation and interview process which, BEST CASE SCENARIO, would take between 9-15 months. My TS clearance took nearly 3 years to complete.
I have a problem, because I want Hassan to have the best defense he can. I want his trial to go as smoothly as possible and there be no question of any his rights to a fair trial being violated. When he is found guilty I want there to be no question.
So… we tried to turn Hasan but he was really a super-secret triple agent or something?