Security agencies under spotlight for missing vital warning signs

Washington: As the nation mourned the 13 people shot dead last week at Fort Hood, Texas, finger-pointing in Washington intensified on Tuesday about whether officials at several agencies had failed to coordinate as they tracked the suspect's activities or to react to warning signs in the months before the attack.

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attended a sombre memorial service at the sprawling Army post, where he spoke about each of those killed.

"Their memory will be honoured in the places they lived and by the people they touched," the president said.

"Neither this country, nor the values that we were founded upon, could exist without men and women like these 13 Americans."

Near the base, investigators continued searching for clues, with FBI agents sifting through garbage outside the Islamic Community Centre of Greater Killeen, where Army Major Nidal Malek Hassan prayed before allegedly firing more than 100 rounds last week in what has been called the largest attack at an army base in the United States.

Raging debate

In Washington, lawmakers and counterterrorism experts debated whether officials bungled the intelligence analysis or played down the potential threat Hassan may have posed.

The concerns resonated in part because of similar accusations that, in the months leading up to the September 11, 2001, strikes, officials had missed opportunities and neglected to share information, contributing to their failure to detect or prevent the attack.

Reforms in the eight years since have focused on improving communication between agencies and making intelligence capabilities more nimble.

Hassan came to the attention of two Joint Terrorism Task Forces in December, as he corresponded as many as 20 times with radical imam Anwar Al Aulaqi, who has exhorted followers to pursue violent jihad.

The task of vetting Hasan fell to a Defence Department analyst on the Washington-area task force, who searched his background, employment records and other paperwork.

The analyst concluded that the chatter was innocent, in keeping with Hassan's research interests, and that he did not have ties to terrorism, two government officials said.

Authorities closed the matter this spring, opting against a full-blown investigation in which Hassan and his co-workers might have been questioned, one of the officials said.

Other facts that have emerged since did not enter into the analysis, including Hassan's purchase of a weapon August 1, his alleged posting to a website six months ago about suicide bombings, or unease among some of his colleagues after a 2007 presentation he delivered on Muslim soldiers with "religious conflicts."