Intelligence barriers still standing

What is becoming increasingly clear by the day is how much our intelligence agencies knew about Maj. Nidal Hasan's communications with Islamic extremists and did nothing about it. They didn't tell the Pentagon. They didn't tell the Department of the Army. It never filtered down to the base commander of Ft. Hood.

Why didn't they?

We're told of legal barriers limiting communications among foreign intelligence agencies and domestic law enforcement. So the CIA couldn't tell the FBI what it knew. This hurt Ft. Hood. Wasn't the Sept. 11 Commission supposed to remedy this so that our agencies were sharing and coordinating information on terrorist threats? Evidently, the changes didn't go far enough.

Whoever viewed Hasan's e-mails to Yemen thought it wasn't "red flag" enough to act further. That makes no sense. An Islamic major in the U.S. Army speaking with a radical Islamic cleric is not a problem? There's a question about intent?

If in 1943 a German-American major in the U.S. Army were found talking via short wave radio to Nazi Germany functionaries, how would we have reacted? I'll guess a lot differently. A lot faster. If that German had jumped on a table at Ft. Hood and yelled "Heil Hitler" instead of "Allehu Akbar." would we be wondering about his motivations? I think not.

Hasan makes a presentation at a conference, compares suicide bombers to brave soldiers sacrificing their lives by throwing themselves on a grenade, and no one moves this ball?

How many clues did one need to have?

It is one thing to say we should not jump to conclusions, as was advised in the day after the murders. It's another thing to learn no one moved to obvious conclusions, or at least obvious reasons for suspicion given many signs months before.

What we had was a failure in human initiative and turf wars by those who care more about who gets credit than defending the country. The "CYA" crowd that covers its behind does what it has to do to get by, draws no attention to itself, and figures someone else will do the work. And then there is real fear of being terminated for labeling Muslims.

We don't need another commission to figure this out. That's on its way. Weeks of hearings and talk signifying nothing.

It does nothing to blame the Obama administration solely. The look at Hasan began during the Bush administration. And still, what happened, happened.

It's said the FBI is undermanned to cover the volume of potential threats coming in every day. That's no excuse. Divert some stimulus money and hire them. Hire all that you need and cover the bases.

Here's a solution. Break the "no talking" law. Deliberately. When the nation's safety is at stake, talk to each other and ignore any law getting in the way. It would collapse under the weight of its own stupidity.

Here's another solution. Purge the government of any manager who got in the way of this intelligence getting into the hands of the Pentagon and the Department of the Army. Add to that employment protection for staff like "whistle blowers" who put their necks on the line. That would send a message as to which priorities should come first.
 
Ray Charles loves to sing the third verse of "America the Beautiful" which reads in part "who more than self, their country loved."

That's what we need - people who put first the U.S.A., not "CYA" and more than their agencies' turf or their political position or keeping their jobs.

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Mike Shelton is a Yuma resident and guest columnist for the Yuma Sun. E-mail him at mikshelt@msn.com