Government Knew of Fort Hood Suspect's Ties to Radical Cleric

Intelligence agents intercepted 10 to 20 messages between Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who is charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., last week, and Anwar al-Awlaki, an Islamic cleric in Yemen who had once been his spiritual leader in Virginia, the New York Times reports. Government officials say the messages gave no indication that Hasan was planning an attack and contained no orders to do so from the cleric. They concluded the contact was consistent with Hasan's research into post-traumatic stress disorder and did not warrant further action.

"At this point, there is no information to indicate Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan had any co-conspirators or was part of a broader terrorist plot," the FBI said in a statement. "[B]ecause the content of the communications was explainable by his research and nothing else was found," investigators decided "that Major Hasan was not involved in terrorist activities or terrorist planning."

Officials from the Departments of Defense and Justice have decided Hasan will be tried in military court, indicating the military's belief that he acted alone. But the two departments said they would review the Hasan case to see if they had mishandled the previous information, and congressional scrutiny seems likely.

On Monday, al-Awlaki praised the massacre, saying the shooter "did the right thing." He added: "The only way a Muslim could Islamically justify serving as a soldier in the U.S. Army is if his intention is to follow the footsteps of men like Nidal." Al-Awlaki originally spoke out against the violence of the Sept. 11 attacks, but became increasingly hard-line after leaving the United States in 2002.

The military said the communications did not change their view that Hasan acted alone and was motivated by a combination of factors.