9 Officers Face Disciplinary Action in Fort Hood Shooting

Nine officers allegedly failed to flag potential warning signs against Maj. Nidal Hasan. Hassan is accused of killing 13 soldiers at Fort Hood in November 2009. The nine officers, who may face disciplinary action, were in Hasan’s chain of command at the Walter Reed Medical Center and the military’s medical school.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, displayed signs of growing Islamic radicalization. The indications of such actions on Hasan’s part were ignored by the officer’s in his chain of command; state authorities at Fort Hood.

Army Secretary John McHugh, who issued the order for disciplinary action, also stated that “certain officers failed to meet the high standards expected of them (in the case of Hasan.) McHugh ordered the Army Surgeon General to review the Army Medical Commands training and evaluation of all medical officers.

Investigators allege that Hasan’s medical evaluation reports had been inflated in order for him to be promoted. The Army was short of psychiatrists and investigators allege that Hasan was forced through the system in order to fill the psychiatrist position.

The Department of Defense and the FBI had enough information on Hasan to have him discharged the military. The report on the Texas army base shooting, states that both agencies were aware of Hasan’s radicalization to violent Islamist extremism “but failed both to understand and to act on it.”

The report, authored by Senate Homeland Security committee Chairman Joe LiebermanJoe Lieberman, I-Conn, and top Republican Susan CollinsSusan Collins, R-Maine, states “Although both the public and the private signs of Hasan's radicalization to violent Islamist extremism while on active duty were known to government officials, a string of failures prevented these officials from intervening against him prior to the attack.”