FBI data on Fort Hood suspect scrutinized

[unhappycamper]

FBI data on Fort Hood suspect scrutinized
By Thomas Frank and Kevin Johnson - USA Today
Posted : Monday Nov 16, 2009 21:27:11 EST

WASHINGTON — The FBI's effort after 9/11 to improve terrorism investigations will face sharp scrutiny this week as Congress begins probing whether authorities missed or ignored warning signs about the Army major charged with murdering 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas.

Inquiries will focus on FBI-led terrorism task forces that were expanded after 9/11 to unite federal and local authorities in 100 cities. The Joint Terrorism Task Force is "our nation's front line on terrorism," the FBI says on its Web site.

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"A lot of the dots were not connected," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation. Leahy's committee will question Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday. The Senate homeland security committee opens its probe Thursday.

The FBI has defended its actions, and former security officials say the case illustrates constraints on exchanging investigative results.

"There are limits on sharing information on U.S. persons," said former Department of Homeland Security intelligence chief Charles Allen. "There are issues of privacy, civil rights and civil liberties, and those are taken very seriously."


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_hood_fbi_data_111609/