09-12-2009, 03:26 AM
December 9, 2009
F.B.I. Sets New Review of Shootings at Ft. Hood
By DAVID JOHNSTON
WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday named a former director, William H. Webster, to conduct an independent review of the bureau’s handling of information about the Army major charged with murder in the Fort Hood shootings.
The F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, has asked Mr. Webster to examine how the bureau dealt with information about Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan before the Nov. 5 shootings in which he is accused of killing 13 people.
Mr. Mueller had ordered an internal review, and the F.B.I. late last month turned over a preliminary report to the White House describing its actions related to Major Hasan, a military psychiatrist.
Mr. Webster will now lead what the F.B.I. described in a statement as an “outside effort” that will review the initial findings and do further investigation to evaluate policies and procedures.
Mr. Mueller said Mr. Webster would coordinate his work with a Defense Department investigation and criminal prosecution in the case, adding that he had in the past led independent reviews of F.B.I. policies.
“We must be sure that the systems we have in place give investigators the tools they need to carry out their responsibilities,” Mr. Mueller said. “At the same time, we must ensure constitutional protections and the confidence of the American public we serve.”
In the fall of 2008, an F.B.I. counterterrorism team with members from several government agencies obtained about 20 e-mail messages exchanged between Major Hasan and Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born radical cleric who now lives in Yemen.
A Defense Department investigator on the F.B.I. team reviewed the e-mail and Major Hasan’s personnel records at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The investigator determined that the e-mail messages were consistent with Major Hasan’s academic research, and no further action was taken.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/us/09hood.html
www.baltimoresun.com/health/sns-dc-fbi-webster,0,1555651.story
baltimoresun.com
FBI Appoints Webster To Conduct Fort Hood Inquiry
Josh Meyer
8:25 PM EST, December 8, 2009
Washington
![[Image: trans.gif?PRAd=1274286&PRCID=1274286&PRp...PID=884385]](http://speed.pointroll.com/PointRoll/Media/banners/trans.gif?PRAd=1274286&PRCID=1274286&PRplcmt=884385&PRPID=884385)
The FBI today tapped former FBI and CIA director William H. Webster to lead an independent review of the bureau's "policies, practices and actions" before last month's shooting rampage at Fort Hood.
The decision was made by FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, who said Webster, who was also a federal judge, ``is uniquely qualified to undertake this task and look at the procedures and actions involved in this matter.'' Mueller said "It is essential to determine whether there are improvements to our current practices or other authorities that could make us all safer in the future."
The FBI has already conducted its own internal investigation into the Nov. 5 shootings, which killed 13 and injured dozens more, and recently sent those findings to the White House, several FBI officials confirmed. Bureau officials, congressional lawmakers and other sources familiar with the probe said that it uncovered gaps in the way the bureau investigates potential terrorist threats and shares that information with other agencies.
The FBI internal review has also raised questions about whether Justice Department guidelines in place at the time required too much evidence of suspected wrongdoing before agents could launch a criminal investigation; those guidelines were loosened late last year.
Two FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces, in San Diego and Washington, investigated the accused gunman, an Army psychiatrist who was on his way to Afghanistan, Major Nidal Hasan.
At least one of the multi-agency JTTFs discovered that Hasan exchanged more than a dozen emails with a Yemen-based Islamist militant with well-known ties to Al Qaeda named Anwar al-Awlaki over the past year. But they determined that the correspondence was not threatening and was in keeping with Hasan's academic research and declined to open a formal criminal investigation, senior bureau officials said in a briefing last month.
Since that briefing, however, more information has trickled out about Hasan's communications with several radical websites, including one run by Awlaki, an American-born radical cleric who in 2001 preached at a Virginia mosque attended by Hasan and at least two of the Sept. 11 hijackers. Awlaki also has incited militants here and overseas to plot or launch terrorist attacks.
The decision to conduct an outside reviw is ``not based on any findings or hot potato we're handing off to [Webster]. It really isn't,'' said one senior FBI official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he has not been authorized to discuss the findings. ``It is a logical step in the sequence. The director felt it was important to have someone who is independent take a look both at our review and anything else he wants to look at.''
That official described Webster as being well suited to look not only at the Fort Hood case, but ``how we go forward'' and balance civil liberties and privacy issues with the need to intensively investigate potential threats. Webster also will be in a better position to make recommendations that go beyond internal FBI practices and policies and into the realm of more significant changes to laws and broader inter-agency guidelines on information sharing and thresholds for opening investigations into U.S. citizens, according to several FBI officials.
Webster, 85, has led various other independent reviews of FBI systems and broader policies, including why the bureau didn't catch Russian double agent Robert Hanssen until 2001.
Webster and his staff will coordinate their review with similar reviews underway by the Pentagon, Mueller said, adding that the retired judge's review ``will be careful not to interfere'' with the ongoing, Army-led shooting inquiry and military legal proceedings. Hasan has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder.
Copyright © 2009, Tribune Interactive
http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/sns-d...5651.story
F.B.I. Sets New Review of Shootings at Ft. Hood
By DAVID JOHNSTON
WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday named a former director, William H. Webster, to conduct an independent review of the bureau’s handling of information about the Army major charged with murder in the Fort Hood shootings.
The F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, has asked Mr. Webster to examine how the bureau dealt with information about Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan before the Nov. 5 shootings in which he is accused of killing 13 people.
Mr. Mueller had ordered an internal review, and the F.B.I. late last month turned over a preliminary report to the White House describing its actions related to Major Hasan, a military psychiatrist.
Mr. Webster will now lead what the F.B.I. described in a statement as an “outside effort” that will review the initial findings and do further investigation to evaluate policies and procedures.
Mr. Mueller said Mr. Webster would coordinate his work with a Defense Department investigation and criminal prosecution in the case, adding that he had in the past led independent reviews of F.B.I. policies.
“We must be sure that the systems we have in place give investigators the tools they need to carry out their responsibilities,” Mr. Mueller said. “At the same time, we must ensure constitutional protections and the confidence of the American public we serve.”
In the fall of 2008, an F.B.I. counterterrorism team with members from several government agencies obtained about 20 e-mail messages exchanged between Major Hasan and Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born radical cleric who now lives in Yemen.
A Defense Department investigator on the F.B.I. team reviewed the e-mail and Major Hasan’s personnel records at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The investigator determined that the e-mail messages were consistent with Major Hasan’s academic research, and no further action was taken.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/us/09hood.html
www.baltimoresun.com/health/sns-dc-fbi-webster,0,1555651.story
baltimoresun.com
FBI Appoints Webster To Conduct Fort Hood Inquiry
Josh Meyer
8:25 PM EST, December 8, 2009
Washington
The FBI today tapped former FBI and CIA director William H. Webster to lead an independent review of the bureau's "policies, practices and actions" before last month's shooting rampage at Fort Hood.
The decision was made by FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, who said Webster, who was also a federal judge, ``is uniquely qualified to undertake this task and look at the procedures and actions involved in this matter.'' Mueller said "It is essential to determine whether there are improvements to our current practices or other authorities that could make us all safer in the future."
The FBI has already conducted its own internal investigation into the Nov. 5 shootings, which killed 13 and injured dozens more, and recently sent those findings to the White House, several FBI officials confirmed. Bureau officials, congressional lawmakers and other sources familiar with the probe said that it uncovered gaps in the way the bureau investigates potential terrorist threats and shares that information with other agencies.
The FBI internal review has also raised questions about whether Justice Department guidelines in place at the time required too much evidence of suspected wrongdoing before agents could launch a criminal investigation; those guidelines were loosened late last year.
Two FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces, in San Diego and Washington, investigated the accused gunman, an Army psychiatrist who was on his way to Afghanistan, Major Nidal Hasan.
At least one of the multi-agency JTTFs discovered that Hasan exchanged more than a dozen emails with a Yemen-based Islamist militant with well-known ties to Al Qaeda named Anwar al-Awlaki over the past year. But they determined that the correspondence was not threatening and was in keeping with Hasan's academic research and declined to open a formal criminal investigation, senior bureau officials said in a briefing last month.
Since that briefing, however, more information has trickled out about Hasan's communications with several radical websites, including one run by Awlaki, an American-born radical cleric who in 2001 preached at a Virginia mosque attended by Hasan and at least two of the Sept. 11 hijackers. Awlaki also has incited militants here and overseas to plot or launch terrorist attacks.
The decision to conduct an outside reviw is ``not based on any findings or hot potato we're handing off to [Webster]. It really isn't,'' said one senior FBI official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he has not been authorized to discuss the findings. ``It is a logical step in the sequence. The director felt it was important to have someone who is independent take a look both at our review and anything else he wants to look at.''
That official described Webster as being well suited to look not only at the Fort Hood case, but ``how we go forward'' and balance civil liberties and privacy issues with the need to intensively investigate potential threats. Webster also will be in a better position to make recommendations that go beyond internal FBI practices and policies and into the realm of more significant changes to laws and broader inter-agency guidelines on information sharing and thresholds for opening investigations into U.S. citizens, according to several FBI officials.
Webster, 85, has led various other independent reviews of FBI systems and broader policies, including why the bureau didn't catch Russian double agent Robert Hanssen until 2001.
Webster and his staff will coordinate their review with similar reviews underway by the Pentagon, Mueller said, adding that the retired judge's review ``will be careful not to interfere'' with the ongoing, Army-led shooting inquiry and military legal proceedings. Hasan has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder.
Copyright © 2009, Tribune Interactive
http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/sns-d...5651.story
"Where is the intersection between the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?"