Found this via a google news break midway through a weird shift...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =133459867
"The Senate report was released Thursday by Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and its ranking Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. It is being delivered to the president and the heads of the FBI, Defense Department and Department of Homeland Security.
It charges that evidence of Hasan's radicalization was "on full display" to his superiors, and that an instructor and colleague "each referred to Hasan as a 'ticking time bomb,'" but no action was taken to discharge him and his evaluations were sanitized.
"This is not a case where a lone wolf was unknown to the FBI, unknown to the military officials, until he struck," said Collins."
Two thoughts:
1) The most sophisticated risk identification system in the world won't help if we don't have individuals who can get past their Genovese Syndrome.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese
This happens all over the place, and in my line of work, under performing doctors are permitted time and time again to squeak by in medical school, training and practice. One example was a multiple murderer eventually caught and when people looked back, the only thing wrong with the record was I think gynecology had said they were concerned about his professionalism once. I met a doctor who was saying and doing crazy stuff while hospitalized and on speaking to his psychiatrist and internist, they both felt he had been a risk to patients for the last NINE years and said nothing (I cared for him only 4 hours but it fell to ME to report him to the medical board for some reason).
2) The current military is having some problems balancing rational decisions and limit setting against providing appropriate psych care. Some problems I hear about often from my bunches of Navy / Marine psychiatry friends are:
a) dozens of enlisted soldiers threatening to x, y, or "kill my commander" or "hurt someone" or "do something wrong" if they're deployed or even if their ship leaves town--and the response isn't to throw them in the brig, but to put them in a very cozy psych ward until whenever they promise they're entirely well again (often the moment their ship has sailed and they can lay around getting paid for nothing, it turns out).
b) seriously disturbed people who aren't getting forced therapy they have been found to need by everyone they've seen (plus visiting consultants!) because no one wants to man or woman up and make the decision, which keeps getting passed along the chain of command
c) applying for disability for people who have obviously fabricated psych symptoms or symptoms that only occur when they have to work, ie, can't be from a major psychiatric disorder which would continue off hours. not liking your job isn't a reason to slurp up tax funded disability and medical your whole life!
I understand some of what's driving this--partly it's entrnched medical culture there, partly it's legitimate concerns about the high mental costs of our current wars and a desire to avoid any risk of suicide / outbursts, but wow... we bend over backwards for grumpy 20 year old sailors with no real psych problems (or service traumas!) who are acting out, yet we let Hassan stay in the military, TREATING patients, for years, despite professions of radical Islamic belief, attempts to convert his patients to Islam (!!), and extremely poor work record including an inability to maintain even a reduced workload? He shoulda been expelled for any of those things?
There's a long way to go...