Pentagon launches review in wake of Fort Hood rampage

Nov 20, 2009, 8:48 GMT

Washington - The Pentagon plans a department-wide review to identify security gaps in the wake of the deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.

Gates said the wide-ranging review would examine security at military bases, and how to better identify personnel who could pose threats to security and prevent a similar attack in the future.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old Army psychiatrist, is accused of opening fire with two handguns on November 5 at Fort Hood, killing 13 people and wounding 43. He has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder.

'There is nothing any of us can say to ease the pain for the wounded, the families of the fallen and the members of the Fort Hood community touched by this incident,' Gates said at a Pentagon press conference. 'All that is left for us to do is everything in our power to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.'

Gates named a former secretary of the Army, Togo West, and a former Navy chief, Admiral Vernon Clark, to head the 45-day internal review.

The Army will conduct a separate, longer review, which will also look at mental health treatment for soldiers returning from war. President Barack Obama has also ordered an investigation into intelligence gathering across the government.

The three investigations are all designed to improve coordination in the future, after possible warning signs about Hasan's mental health were not passed between departments or up the chain of command.

'The shootings at Fort Hood raise a number of troubling questions that demand complete but prompt answers,' Gates said.

Hasan had reportedly exchanged emails with Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical imam, who was born in New Mexico and preached at a mosque in Virginia before relocating to Yemen. Hasan also reportedly expressed misgivings about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how he was treated as a Muslim in the US Army.