Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today that he has forwarded recommendations to the Army for disciplinary action against supervisors of the accused Ft. Hood shooter.
The LA Times reports.
The report recommends clarifying for unit commanders their responsibility in identifying people who could pose a threat. Unit commanders, according to the report, must become attuned to indicators of behavioral problems or the potential for violence or radicalization.
Reporting from Washington – Between five and eight Army officers are expected to face discipline for failing to take action against the accused Ft. Hood shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, over a series of behavioral and professional problems in the years leading up to the November rampage.
Reports the LA Times. No word on the status of the R.C.M. 706 proceedings, when an Article 32, UCMJ, hearing might be scheduled, or a court-martial held in the Fort Hood slayings.
The Killeen Daily Herald reports that LTG Cone recently gave a briefing about “behavioral health care.”
The Army is behind Fort Hood’s effort to address behavioral health care issues and plans to institute it across the board, the post’s commander said Friday.
In response to incidents like the Nov. 5 shooting and an Army-wide increase in suicides, Fort Hood officials implemented the Behavioral Health Care Plan, a two-year process which is set to undergo periodic reviews and leverage the "whole of community" to accomplish tasks in several phases, Cone said. The goal is to make sure everyone who needs behavioral health care is reached and that its capabilities and capacities are right for Fort Hood’s soldiers, families and the civilian workforce.
Cone also talked about a Recovery and Resiliency Task Force, part of which includes a comprehensive approach to identify, diagnose and holistically treat those impacted by events like the Nov. 5 shooting at the post’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center where 13 were killed and more than 30 were wounded when a gunman opened fire.
During the briefing apparently the following was said about Major Hasan and his pending court-martial issues.
A counterterror airstrike in Yemen that may have targeted Anwar al-Awlaki, the extremist cleric linked to Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, could raise new questions about whether Hasan’s rampage in Killeen, Texas, on Nov. 5 was the act of a lone wolf or part of a conspiracy.
Reports the Christian Science Monitor.
An Army psychiatrist accused of fatally shooting 13 at the Fort Hood, Texas, military base had asked for a Muslim cleric’s advice about killing U.S. troops, according to a new interview.
Retired Army Col. John Galligan, Hasan’s civilian attorney, has said his client is considering pleading not guilty by reason of insanity [at his court-martial].
The lead defense lawyer for accused Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan said Monday that he believes the Army is violating Hasan’s religious rights because it prohibited him from praying from the Koran in Arabic with a relative.
Attorney John P. Galligan said he learned that police guarding Hasan at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio cut short a phone conversation Hasan was having with one of his brothers on Friday because Hasan was not speaking in English.
San Antonio Press News reports.
Someone has made a valid request of Congress, and they have agreed:
The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday suspended its investigation of the Nov. 5 shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, until the Department of Defense had finished its investigation.
DoD requested that Congress wait until its review had been complete before calling DoD witnesses to testify in public hearings, according to a release from committee chairman Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo.
Rumor has it that there are now 12 trial counsel assigned to the prosecution of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, at least one of whom has military death penalty litigation experience.
The defense remains at three with Mr. Galligan and two military defense counsel, none of whom have death penalty experience under the UCMJ.
The Army psychiatrist charged with fatally shooting 13 people at Fort Hood last month has been moved from a hospital intensive care unit to a private room, his attorney said Wednesday. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan remains under guard at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio and is rehabilitating from wounds that left him paralyzed from the waist down.
I’ve commented before about The Conscience of a Lawyer, the story of a how could you represent a really bad person. Here is an excellent article about Colonel Galligan who is representing Major Nidal Milak Hasan for the shootings at Fort Hood.
The Dallas News.com
The Army Times reports that the prosecution is being bolstered for the court-martial of Major Hasan for his court-martial at Fort Hood.
A senior military official said Friday that a new lead prosecutor has been appointed in the Fort Hood shooting case, a man who secured the death penalty in a similar case four years ago.
Col. Michael Mulligan will head the prosecution of Maj. Nidal Hasan, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the investigation.
Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog