Hood suspect earlier came under FBI scrutiny

Fort Hood shooting suspect Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan came to the attention of terrorism investigators late last year, but the FBI ultimately determined that there was not enough evidence to warrant a full-scale investigation into him, three senior investigation officials said Monday.

The three officials, who only would speak on the condition of anonymity because the investigation into the Army base massacre in Texas is ongoing, said Maj. Hasan drew scrutiny from a Joint Terrorism Task Force after being in contact with someone whom authorities were monitoring. The officials would not specify which task force.

The officials refused to confirm media reports that the person whom Maj. Hasan contacted was radical Imam Anwar al-Awlaki, who was jailed in Yemen and wrote a blog post Monday praising Maj. Hasan.

Meanwhile on Monday, hospital officials at San Antonio’s Brooke Army Medical Center said Maj. Hasan was alert and talking, but authorities say he has refused to speak to investigators probing Thursday’s shooting rampage that left 13 dead and 29 wounded.

Maj. Hasan — who has been hospitalized since he was shot four times by a civilian police officer after, officials said, he opened fire into a soldier processing center — has not been charged in the shooting rampage. But the three law-enforcement officials said he will be charged in military court instead of civilian court.

The officials said that all evidence so far points to Maj. Hasan acting alone, without direction from anyone else.

They said Maj. Hasan’s contact with the man under surveillance was related to research that he was doing in his job as a psychiatrist at Walter Reed Medical Center last year.

“There was no indication that Major Hasan was planning any attack at all,” one of the officials said.

The officials said they looked into Maj. Hasan’s background when they learned about him, but they refused to say whether they spoke to him.

They said that without any evidence of impending violence or a potential threat, they did not have the authority to continue a full-fledged investigation.

The officials said they could not be certain whether the Army knew about investigators’ interest in Maj. Hasan. Members of the military would have known about the interest in Maj. Hasan because the Department of Defense takes part in joint terrorism task forces. It is not clear whether the Army knew about the actual inquiry into Maj. Hasan, the officials said.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III has ordered a full review of the case to determine whether any policies or practices should be changed.

Legal experts say it is likely that Maj. Hasan could ultimately face the death penalty, even though the judicial process in his case could take years, if not decades to resolve, with mental health concerns and religious extremism on the forefront.

“I think it’s virtually certain that this case would be referred to as a capital case given the crime and the fact that there are multiple victims,” said Michelle Lindo McCluer, executive director of the National Institute of Military Justice in Washington.

Maj. Hasan’s lawyer, retired Col. John P. Galligan, has asked investigators not to question his client, the Associated Press reported. Mr. Galligan was on his way to San Antonio. Maj. Hasan, who is entitled to free military legal counsel, met with his attorney Monday night.

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