Hasan, 39, is accused of murdering 13 people on Nov. 5 at Fort Hood, the worst multiple killing on a US military base.
What remains unclear is why Hasan was promoted in spite of the worries over his competence. That probably will be the subject of a more detailed accounting by the department. Recent statistics show the Army rarely blocks junior officers from promotion, especially in the medical corps.
Hasan showed no signs of being violent or a threat. But parallels have been drawn between the missed signals in his case and those preceding the thwarted Christmas attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound US airliner.
The Defense Department review is not expected to delve into allegations Hasan corresponded by e-mail with Yemen-based radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki before the attack. Those issues are part of a separate criminal investigation by law enforcement officials.
In telling episodes from the latter stages of Hasan’s lengthy medical education in the Washington area, he gave a class presentation questioning whether the US-led war on terror was actually a war on Islam. And fellow students said that he suggested that sharia, or Islamic law, trumped the Constitution and that he attempted to justify suicide bombings.
Yet no one in Hasan’s chain of command appears to have challenged his eligibility to hold a secret security clearance, even though they could have because the statements raised doubt about his loyalty to the United States. Had they done so, Hasan’s fitness to serve as an Army officer might have been called into question long before he reported to Fort Hood.
Instead, in July 2009, Hasan arrived in central Texas, his secret clearance intact, his reputation as a weak performer well known, and Army authorities believing that posting him at such a large facility would mask his shortcomings.
