Fort Hood honor detail carries Sgt. Amy S. Krueger (courtesy of Creative Commons)

According to a report released Thursday about the Fort Hood shootings, the FBI and the Army ignored multiple warning signs. These signs could have prevented the November 2009 massacre that left 13 dead and 32 wounded.

Accused of the shootings is 41 year-old Maj. Nidal Hasan, an American-born Muslim of Palestinian descent. Hasan served as an army psychologist in Fort Hood, TX.

The report, titled “A Ticking Time Bomb,” was written by Senator Joseph Lieberman, an Independent from Connecticut who serves as the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Maine Senator Susan Collins, the committee’s top Republican.

The report claims that, although, the Department of Defense and the FBI did not have specific information regarding an attack by Hasan, there was information to detect his growing Islamic extremist views.

The FBI Joint Terrorist Task Force learned Hasan was in communication with suspected terrorist, radical Yemeni cleric Anwas al-Awlaki via e-mail. The task force flagged his file for further review. A second task dropped the evidence and the investigation. The FBI is also accused of failing to share this information with the Army.

"People in the Department of Defense and the FBI had ample evidence of alleged killer Nidal Hasan's growing sympathies toward violent Islamist extremism in the years before the attack. He was not just a ticking time bomb, but a traitor. Thirteen people died needlessly at Ft. Hood," Lieberman said to the LA Times.

The report also cites failure of Walter Reed, the officer in charge of Hasan’s Officer Evaluation report, in not recognizing his obsession with violent Islamic extremism. Instead, Reed praised Hasan on his research on counterterrorism.

Criticism is also reaped on the Pentagon for failing to inform commanders and service members how to identify violent Islamist extremism. The report tells the Pentagon to revise policies and training to recognize and deal with the threat.

Further blame is placed on the FBI investigation for focusing on if he was taking part in terrorist activity and not if he was radicalizing or posed a threat.

The report says the failures should "lead in the development of an integrated approach to law enforcement and intelligence domestically and a comprehensive national approach to encountering homegrown radicalization to violent Islamic extremism," according to CNN.

The Army has taken many preventative steps since the shooting. Now, soldiers report behavior of fellow soldiers indicative of extremism.

A Pentagon spokesman responded that it places priority on implementing initiatives to strengthen its policies. Lt. Col. Robert L. Ditchey said the Pentagon is "implementing initiatives that will significantly improve the department's ability to mitigate internal threats, insure force protection, enable emergency response, and provide care for victims and families," to CNN.

An FBI statement also said it agreed with the report’s recommendations and would be implementing them.

According to the Washington Post, the House of Homeland Security Committee Rep. Peter King, a republican from New York, plans a hearing later this month or early in March. The hearing will investigate hidden radicalism in the American-Muslim community and if people are failing to investigate out of fear of political correctness.

"Political correctness has clearly become a part of the problem,” Rep. John Carter, a Republican from Texas whose district includes the Fort Hood base said. “We've become so careful about saying certain things that might hurt people's feelings that we don't recognize real threats."

Despite different groups now saying they will listen to the recommendations of the report, research for it was difficult. According to the LA Times, the FBI, the Department of Justice and the Pentagon sometimes refused to give Senators documents that would shed light on Hasan, causing the committee to threaten subpoenas.

The findings of the report are a secret. Hasan’s lawyer, John Galligan, however, has said he wanted access to the reports to prepare an accurate defense of Hasan.

Last week, mental health experts said Hasan was fit to stand trial. The army is considering sending Hasan to a general court martial where he could face the death penalty.

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