Washington (CNN) – Defense Secretary Robert Gates is ordering a number of changes to address problems discovered by a review of the military after the deadly shooting at Fort Hood Army Post last November.
Thirteen people died in the shooting at the sprawling base in central Texas. Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan is charged in the case. He has not yet entered a plea.
After the shooting, a number of investigations and reviews were launched. One of the reviews focused on the lessons learned from the incident. In April, after releasing a preliminary report from the review, Gates implemented some two dozen of the recommendations. Friday he released the final "Lessons Learned" review and ordered implementation of most of the other recommendations from that review.
During a Rose Garden ceremony, Obama paid homage to the officers who, he said, risked their lives to save countless others.
"The men and women here today have jumped into cars to rescue victims held at knifepoint. They have pulled trapped children from burning cars seconds before it was engulfed in flames," Obama said.
"They weren't thinking about medals or commendations. I'm pretty sure they weren't thinking about being honored at the White House. Instead, they were focused on their partners, the face of a child who was in harm's way, a victim, the innocent bystander who desperately needed their help," he said.
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Washington (CNN) – As a deadline loomed, the Departments of Defense and Justice Tuesday offered partial cooperation to Congressional requests and subpoenas to get more information for the investigation of the Fort Hood shooting that left 13 people dead last November.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has been investigating the Fort Hood shootings since a week after the incident. Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut, and the committee's top Republican, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, sought a number of documents and witnesses as part of their investigation but were "stonewalled" with "foot-dragging" by the Obama administration, Lieberman said earlier this month.
On April 19, Lieberman and Collins issued subpoenas to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Attorney General Eric Holder, demanding that they provide the materials the committee wanted by Monday, or respond by Tuesday explaining why they would not grant the request.
"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," Lieberman and Collins wrote in a letter accompanying the subpoenas.
"The purpose of the Committee's investigation . . . is to answer questions that are critical to our government's ability to counter homegrown terrorism," Sens. Lieberman and Collins wrote in a letter accompanying the subpoenas. . (Photo Credit: Getty Images/File)
Washington (CNN) – Two top senators on the Homeland Security Committee served the government with subpoenas Monday for witnesses and documents involving the 2009 shooting attack at Fort Hood, Texas, that killed 13 people.
Committee chairman Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Connecticut, and ranking Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said the Defense Department and Justice Department had so far failed to provide information about the shootings sought by the panel.
Maj. Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, has been charged with 13 counts of murder in the November shootings.
"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," Lieberman and Collins wrote in a letter accompanying the subpoenas.
Washington (CNN) – A top GOP Senator promised Thursday to subpoena the Obama administration if they fail to provide information sought in a Congressional investigation into last November's mass shooting at Fort Hood.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said the Obama administration is "stonewalling" their investigation.
Both Collins and Sen. Joe Lieberman, the chairman of the committee, have been trying since November to obtain information from the Justice and Defense Departments about the shooting rampage, in which Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 people.
"It makes you wonder if the White House doesn't want to hear what we're going to find about inadequate information sharing between the FBI and DoD, information that had it been shared might have prevented this tragedy," Collins said on CNN's "John King USA."
Though the administration has provided some details about the shooting, officials have said that turning over more information could compromise their case against Hasan.
The White House has announced that two police officers who responded to the shooting at Ft. Hood will join the first lady at the president's State of the Union address Wednesday night. (Photo Credit: Getty Images/File)
Washington (CNN) - Two heroes from last year's shooting at Ft. Hood will be among the guests for Wednesday night's State of the Union address. A White House official confirms that Sgt. Kimberly Munley and Sgt. Mark Todd will be seated with first lady Michelle Obama for the speech in the gallery above the House Floor.
The two officers responded to the November 5 shooting in a processing center at Ft. Hood where Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan went on a rampage killing 13 people and injuring dozens of others. Sgt. Munley, a civilian police offier, is credited with stopping the shooting spree by exchanging fire with the suspect and disabling him. She was injured in the shooting. Hasan was paralyzed from the waist down in the gunfight and now faces 13 charges of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
Washington (CNN) - Former FBI and CIA Director William Webster will lead an outside investigation of the FBI's "policies, practices and actions" before the November massacre at Fort Hood, the bureau announced Tuesday.
Webster, a former federal judge, led the FBI from 1978 to 1987. The bureau's current director, Robert Mueller, picked him to look into "whether there are improvements to our current practices or other authorities that could make us all safer in the future," Mueller said in a statement Tuesday.
Washington (CNN) - A Defense Department review in the wake of the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, is aimed at determining whether weaknesses in programs or procedures put service members and their families at risk, the military said.
The Pentagon Monday released the objectives of the 45-day review, announced last week by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The review began Friday, and a report will be provided to Gates by January 15, 2010.
Authorities say Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist, opened fire at a military processing center at the Fort Hood Army Post on November 5. Thirteen people were killed and dozens of others wounded.
Hasan has been charged with 13 preliminary counts of premeditated murder, the Army has said. Hasan, who was wounded in the incident, remains hospitalized.
In announcing the policy review last week, Gates said the incident raised questions that "demand complete but prompt answers."
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Washington (CNN) – Defense Secretary Robert Gates Thursday announced a 45-day review of military policies in response to the Fort Hood killings, telling reporters the November 5 massacre raised questions that "demand complete but prompt answers."
The review will examine whether Pentagon policies fall short in identifying service members who pose "credible threats to others," or in personnel screening programs and security and emergency response at U.S. bases.
Gates said the investigation won't ease the pain of the families of the 13 people killed, but said the Pentagon must do "everything in our power to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future."
"In all of these, I promise the Department of Defense's full and open disclosure," he said.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – A key congressional committee opened its investigation Thursday into the November 5 Fort Hood shootings with a pledge to find out if authorities failed to "connect the dots" and could have prevented the attack.
The head of the committee promised the inquiry would not interfere with a separate investigation into the shootings being conducted by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Attorney General Eric Holder.
"Their investigation looks backward and is punitive. Ours looks forward and is preventive," said Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut,
Authorities say Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist, opened fire at a military processing center at Fort Hood Army Post, killing 13 people. Dozens of others were wounded.
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