FBI Seeks Outside Assessment on Missed Fort Hood Signals

Citing anonymous sources, the Washington Post reports that the FBI has tapped former director William H. Webster to review the Fort Hood attack to review the bureau's investigation of shooter Nidal Malik Hasan prior to last month's attack.

"This is the first indication that FBI officials are sufficiently concerned about bureau actions in the case that they would order an independent investigation," writes reporter Carrie Johnson.

The emphasis seems to be on determining how investigators discounted communication between Hasan and radical cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki in Yemen. According to the Post:

"Webster will have free rein to pursue leads about what the FBI should have done in advance of the Nov. 5 shootings, the deadliest ever on a U.S. military base on American soil. He will have the authority to make recommendations about changes to the FBI's internal guidelines for national security investigations, as well as possible legislative fixes that could allow the bureau to share more information on U.S. citizens who emerge on the law enforcement radar screen under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the government officials said."

The story builds on last week's National Public Radio report that communication breakdowns resulted in agents failing to realize there were additional emails between Hasan and Awlaki.

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