Obama administration asks Congress to delay Fort Hood briefing
The Obama administration specifically requested that the Senate Armed Services Committee postpone a planned briefing today on the Fort Hood massacre, The Cable has learned, in another clear sign that the White House is pushing Congress away from doing its own investigative work into the tragedy. The briefing, which had been announced last week to ...
The Obama administration specifically requested that the Senate Armed Services Committee postpone a planned briefing today on the Fort Hood massacre, The Cable has learned, in another clear sign that the White House is pushing Congress away from doing its own investigative work into the tragedy.
The Obama administration specifically requested that the Senate Armed Services Committee postpone a planned briefing today on the Fort Hood massacre, The Cable has learned, in another clear sign that the White House is pushing Congress away from doing its own investigative work into the tragedy.
The briefing, which had been announced last week to include Secretary of the Army John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey, was to be for members and staff only.
The development shows the administration is following up on remarks made by Obama over the weekend encouraging Congress to hold off pursuing independent action on the case while the government is still investigating.
"I know there will also be inquiries by Congress, and there should," Obama said in his weekly address on Saturday traveling around Asia. "But all of us should resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater that sometimes dominates the discussion here in Washington. The stakes are far too high."
A spokesman for the committee confirmed to The Cable that the briefing was postponed at the administration’s behest. The meeting was set to be closed, but knowing how Congress leaks like a sieve, the administration may not have wanted to risk giving lawmakers who want to try Hasan in the press any more ammunition. General Casey cautioned last week that too much public speculation could lead to a "backlash" against Muslim soldiers.
Several members of the committee have been out in front of the administration in making statements about the alleged shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan and his alleged links to extremists, which may or may not have been overlooked by the military.
Among the committee members who are working actively on the "Hasan is a terrorist" angle is Joseph Lieberman, I-CT, who has pledged to use his Homeland Security committee to launch an investigation into Hasan’s motives.
Committee ranking Republican John McCain might also be looking for evidence to support his statements regarding Hasan. During a question-and-answer session following his speech at the University of Louisville, McCain said of the incident, "I believe it was an act of terror."
A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
UPDATE: "Tomorrow morning, an interagency briefing team will go to the Hill to brief House and Senate leaders and committee chairs and ranking members. This is the latest in a series of engagements with the Hill since the horrific events at Fort Hood, and further evidence of the administration’s commitment to appropriately inform Congress without interfering in the prosecution of this case," said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor.
Josh Rogin covers national security and foreign policy and writes the daily Web column The Cable. His column appears bi-weekly in the print edition of The Washington Post. He can be reached for comments or tips at josh.rogin@foreignpolicy.com.
Previously, Josh covered defense and foreign policy as a staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, writing extensively on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, U.S.-Asia relations, defense budgeting and appropriations, and the defense lobbying and contracting industries. Prior to that, he covered military modernization, cyber warfare, space, and missile defense for Federal Computer Week Magazine. He has also served as Pentagon Staff Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily newspaper, in its Washington, D.C., bureau, where he reported on U.S.-Japan relations, Chinese military modernization, the North Korean nuclear crisis, and more.
A graduate of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Josh lived in Yokohama, Japan, and studied at Tokyo's Sophia University. He speaks conversational Japanese and has reported from the region. He has also worked at the House International Relations Committee, the Embassy of Japan, and the Brookings Institution.
Josh's reporting has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, CBS, ABC, NPR, WTOP, and several other outlets. He was a 2008-2009 National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow, 2009 military reporting fellow with the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the 2011 recipient of the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter: @joshrogin
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