DoD’s final report classifies Fort Hood jihad as “workplace violence”

Man-made disaster. Homegrown terror. Workplace violence.

Offensive jihad in the name of Islam against the U.S. military – perpetrated by a Muslim member of the military – who preached jihad – is now being referred to by the Department of Defense as “workplace violence.” A pdf version of the report is here, and there is a lot to review milbloggers and others. via Defense.gov News Article: Pentagon Releases Final Fort Hood Shooting Review.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2010 – Pentagon officials today released the Defense Department’s final review of recommendations issued by an independent panel in the wake of the Nov. 5, 2009, shooting spree on Fort Hood, Texas.

Among the department’s top priorities, as outlined in the review, are boosting on-base emergency response capabilities, improving law enforcement and force protection information sharing with partner agencies, and integrating force protection policy, a Defense Department news release said.

In a memorandum signed Aug. 18, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said he carefully considered the panel’s recommendations — detailed in the report titled, “Protecting the Force: Lessons Learned from Fort Hood” — and is directing the department to take “appropriate action” to address the initiatives detailed in the follow-on review.

“I expect department leaders to place great priority on implementing these recommendations,” Gates said. All actions are aimed at contributing to the safety and health of military forces, the release said.

Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, allegedly opened fire at a Fort Hood facility where soldiers were processing for overseas deployments. He has been charged with 13 counts of murder and 32 counts of attempted murder.

“The tragic shooting of U.S. military personnel at Fort Hood … underscored the need for the [Defense Department] to thoroughly review its approach to force protection and to broaden its force protection policies, programs and procedures to go beyond their traditional focus on hostile external threats,” Gates said…

The review puts forth “concrete actions” for the majority of the recommendations, Gates said. In some cases, however, further study will be required before the department can take additional steps.

In particular, he said, the department will strengthen its policies, programs and procedures in the following areas:

– Educating commanders about the symptoms of potential workplace violence and the tools available to them to address it;

After a cursory review, responding to future acts of jihad (although DoD won’t call it that) seems to be a significant focus of the recommendations. One would think preventing infiltration of the U.S. military by jihadists and stealth jihadists would be the focus rather than responding to future attacks.

Additionally, much of the recommendation revolve around health care, and access to health records of military members. Jihad does not appear to even be mentioned, although the version we’ve seen is unsearchable so that has not been confirmed yet.

Backstories on the Ft. Hood jihad attack that killed 14 people including an unborn child, here.

We’ll add links as others delve into the details of the DoD report so check back.