U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-8) today commended U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), House Homeland Security Committee chairman, for asking the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to brief the committee about the extent to which information sharing gaps and violent extremism contributed to the shootings last week at Fort Hood that left 13 people dead and another 29 people wounded. 

Congressman Pascrell had written Chairman Thompson on Thursday requesting the hearings after a report in The Washington Times of alleged communications between the man charged with the shootings, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, with numerous extremists – some of whom had already been under federal investigation.

“I thank Chairman Thompson for his quick response to everything I expressed to him on Thursday,” said Pascrell, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee.  “I look forward to working with him and my colleagues on the Homeland Security Committee in the effort of obtaining the best understanding possible of what led to the tragic shootings at Fort Hood. It may very well be that the shootings were simply the act of a dangerously unbalanced man. But if it was an incident that was encouraged by those who would seek to do harm to Americans, then we have an obligation to the people of this nation to bring those facts to light and do all we can to make sure prevent such a tragedy from happening again.”

A copy of Rep. Pascrell’s letter to Chairman Thompson is attached.

###