Lieberman, Collins endorse training to recognize radicals
The US Department of Defense (DoD) must outright ban violent Islamist extremism in the US military and train its service members to recognize and report signs of extremism among their ranks, recommended a Senate investigation into the Fort Hood shootings Wednesday.
Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) began their investigation after the Nov. 5 murders of 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, at the apparent hands of suspect Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.
Although their investigation is ongoing, they have concluded that the DoD does not do enough to combat homegrown terrorism within the military, including "lone wolf" radicals who silently embrace radical Islam through exposure to literature or virtual contacts through the Internet.
"Even at this stage of our investigation, however, it has become apparent to us that DoD's approach to the threat of service members who adopt a violent Islamist extremist ideology needs to be revised," Lieberman and Collins wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates Wednesday. "Updating that approach will protect from suspicion the thousands of Muslim-Americans who serve honorably in the US military and maintain the bonds of trust among service members of all religions which is so essential to our military's effectiveness."
The Defense Department does not have an explicit ban on violent Islamist extremism among its members, but it should adopt one, the senators argued. An increase in homegrown terrorism, as seen in more than a dozen terrorism plots in 2009, demonstrates that radicals could all too easily enter the US armed services.
DoD has explicitly addressed procedures for service members who engage in racist activities and criminal gangs, the senators noted, setting a precedent for the ban on radical Islamists. In the past, service members other than Hasan have become radicalized--such as Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar, who killed two US military officers in Kuwait in 2003.
"Given these events, and the increasing incidence of violent Islamist extremism in the United States, the department must revisit its policies and procedures to ensure that violent radicalization, whether based on violent Islamist extremist doctrine or other causes, can be identified and action taken to prevent attacks before they occur," Lieberman and Collins wrote.
The US military also must increase training for its service members at all levels, from commanders to foot soldiers, to spot the signs of Islamist radicalization, they added.
"Existing DoD policies provide some authority for commanders and other appropriate officials to respond to service members that exhibit signs of violent extremist views, behaviors, or affiliations. However, commanders should be trained to apply such policies to service members who exhibit signs of violent Islamist extremism and to recognize those signs in a specific service member," the senators' letter stated.
Once having spotted signs of violent Islamist extremism, service members must report it, the letter stressed. Existing Defense policies do not require service members to report others who exhibit signs of Islamist radicalization. DoD should revise all relevant policies to obligate service members to report personnel who exhibit radical views, behaviors, or affiliations, the letter recommended.
"Concomitantly, the Army needs to ensure that its personnel receive training that clearly outlines their obligation to report indicators of violent Islamist extremist views, behaviors, or affiliation," the letter said. "The training should explain how such activities differ from the exercise of religious faith, including the practice of Islam. The other services also should clearly require that their service members report signs of violent Islamist extremist views, behaviors, or affiliations and provide training."
Initiatives designed to identify Islamist extremism will turn internal attention appropriately to radicals and not to the general practice of the Muslim religion, the senators believe. Non-Muslims and Muslim-Americans would build trust over an understanding of what constitutes Islamist radicalization and how extremism is different than mainstream Islamic worship, they wrote.
The senators reserved the right to make further recommendations as it continued its investigation of the Fort Hood murders specifically and homegrown terrorism generally.
DoD is set to conclude its own internal investigation of the Fort Hood murders Friday.
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