US President Barack Obama’s administration defied US lawmakers on Tuesday by providing some, but not all, of the information demanded in a Senate probe of last year’s shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, that left 13 soldiers dead and an Army psychiatrist charged with murder.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee, which subpoenaed the materials from the justice and defense departments, called the response insufficient and said it was considering its options, which include holding the administration in contempt.
In a joint letter to lawmakers, top officials said they would provide the committee with the personnel file of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who has been charged in the shooting, but would not give them access to potential witnesses for the trial or all the internal investigative reports sought.
RISK TO PROSECUTION
“We do not believe we can go beyond this point without incurring significant risk to the successful prosecution of Major Hasan,” Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn and acting Deputy Attorney-General Gary Grindler told the panel.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, an independent, and Senator Susan Collins, the panel’s top Republican, called the administration’s response to the subpoenas “an affront to Congress’ constitutional obligation to conduct independent oversight of the Executive Branch.”
Committee spokeswoman Leslie Phillips stopped short of saying whether the panel would pursue a contempt of Congress citation.
“Senators Lieberman and Collins are weighing their options for future action,” she said.
The two senators have been trying for months to obtain documents and gain access to witnesses they say are critical to their investigation of November’s shooting spree, in which 13 soldiers were killed and dozens wounded.
MORE ACCESS
In addition to Hasan’s personnel file, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the committee would be given access to sensitive information contained in an internal Pentagon investigation of the shooting that had previously been withheld from the committee.
The two departments, however, refused to make the investigating agents available for interviews by the committee, arguing they could be witnesses at Hasan’s trial, and instead offered additional briefings with other officials.
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, has been charged by the military with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder.
The US military drew heavy criticism for its oversight of Hasan after it became known he had been in contact with an anti-US Muslim figure sympathetic to al-Qaeda.
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