Senators subpoena agencies for Fort Hood shooting data

The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Monday served administration officials with subpoenas for witnesses and documents relating to the investigation of the Nov. 5, 2009, shootings at Fort Hood, Texas.

Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, said they have tried for five months to obtain information critical to their investigation of the terrorist attack, in which Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly opened fire on his colleagues, killing 13 and maiming dozens of others. Hasan is in military custody awaiting court martial on murder charges.

In a six-page letter accompanying subpoenas to Attorney General Eric Holder and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the senators maintain the information they seek is vital to their oversight responsibilities.

"The purpose of the committee's investigation of the Fort Hood attack is to answer questions that are critical to our government's ability to counter homegrown terrorism," the senators said. "Given the warning signs of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's extremist radicalization and growing hostility toward the U.S. military and the United States generally, why was he not stopped before he took 13 American lives, and how can we prevent such a tragedy from happening again?" the letter said.

The senators have sent four formal letters to the Defense Department and two to the Justice Department requesting the information, and they have spoken to senior White House officials as well. "Our efforts have been met with delay… and shifting reasons why the departments are withholding the documents and witnesses that we have requested," they said.

Specifically, the senators are asking for information about all policies and regulations concerning how Defense handles extremist service members and how it shares information with other agencies; the personnel records of Maj. Hasan; witnesses and documents regarding Maj. Hasan's reported communications with Islamist extremist Anwar al Alakwi; and witnesses to Maj. Hasan's conduct while in the Army.

The senators are not investigating the attack itself -- the criminal investigation is being handled by Defense and Justice -- but rather whether government officials responsible for protecting the homeland against terrorism did their jobs properly.

In a conference call with reporters on Monday, Lieberman panned administration arguments that providing such information could jeopardize the ongoing criminal investigation of the shootings or Defense's more recent argument that it already has provided some of the requested information to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"I don't think that's a good argument at all," Lieberman said. There is no legal or other precedent for withholding the information from the committee, he said.

The subpoena demands the requested information be provided to the committee by 10 a.m. on April 26.