BY NANCY A. YOUSSEF AND MARK SEIBEL
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON -- The November 2009 shootings of more than 40 people by an Army psychiatrist at Fort Hood revealed a wide range of security lapses at U.S. military bases, including a failure to consider the possibility that a threat might come from an "insider," according to a Pentagon report released Friday.
The 23-page document makes 47 different recommendations on how to improve security in the aftermath of the attack in Texas, which left 13 people dead.
The report provides scant information, however, on how the security lapses contributed to the Fort Hood shootings. Pentagon officials continue to refuse to release the actual report of an independent panel into the shootings.
Among the recommendations:
Better screening of military personnel for signs that they may become violent. Currently, the report said, there's no requirement to screen soldiers for violent tendencies before their deployment, and post-deployment screenings rely primarily on soldiers to report their own symptoms on questionnaires. Maj. Nidal Hasan, who's accused in the Fort Hood shootings, was about to be deployed to Afghanistan when he was alleged to have opened fire on fellow soldiers.
Improved 911 emergency call systems. An independent Pentagon review after the Fort Hood shootings determined that emergency phone systems on most military bases were not as sophisticated as those in neighboring civilian communities and couldn't, for example, give dispatchers a caller's location.
Tougher screening of civilians working at U.S. military facilities and of noncitizens working on military bases overseas. The report said that background checks on U.S. citizen civilians "may be incomplete, limited in scope or not conducted at all."
Better focus on threats from military insiders. "Force protection programs and policies are not focused on internal threats," the report said. Noting that issuing credentials and checking IDs doesn't ensure against violence, the report recommended that security guards, police officers and others on bases be trained to recognize signs that visitors might be violent. "Detecting a trusted insider's intention to commit a violent act requires observation of behavioral cues/anomalies," the report said.
The report also said that the Defense Department's commitment to Joint Terrorism Task Forces with other government agencies "is inadequate" and called for the appointment of a senior Pentagon official to oversee Defense Department involvement with such task forces.
The report made just one mention of the events of Nov. 5 -- in a section urging that the Pentagon establish better communication between bases about violent incidents.
Other military installations were not aware of what was happening at Fort Hood, the report said. Most learned about the shootings through media.
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