Hasan's Supervisor Warned Army In '07

[sabra]

Source: NPR

Two years ago, a top psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was so concerned about what he saw as Nidal Hasan's incompetence and reckless behavior that he put those concerns in writing. NPR has obtained a copy of the memo, the first evaluation that has surfaced from Hasan's file.

Officials at Walter Reed sent that memo to Fort Hood this year when Hasan was transferred there.

Nevertheless, commanders still assigned Hasan — accused of killing 13 people in a mass shooting at Fort Hood on Nov. 5 — to work with some of the Army's most troubled and vulnerable soldiers.

The Damning Memo

On May 17, 2007, Hasan's supervisor at Walter Reed sent the memo to the Walter Reed credentials committee. It reads, "Memorandum for: Credentials Committee. Subject: CPT Nidal Hasan." More than a page long, the document warns that: "The Faculty has serious concerns about CPT Hasan's professionalism and work ethic. ... He demonstrates a pattern of poor judgment and a lack of professionalism." It is signed by the chief of psychiatric residents at Walter Reed, Maj. Scott Moran.

When shown the memo, two leading psychiatrists said it was so damning, it might have sunk Hasan's career if he had applied for a job outside the Army.

Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120540125

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[sinkingfeeling]

1. I didn't read any warning, just an evaluation that he lacked judgment and professionalism.

[LeFleur1]

3. Lacked Judgement and Professionalism

That should have been enough to take a deeper look at the guy.
This is the same type of thing those in charge of protecting us did when reports were coming in questioning the behavior of those men who were here with legal visas, who later, hijacked our planes and killed our people. There were danger signals concerning them, too. Security personnel can look in all of the old ladies shoes in the world, but until these types of reports cause the hair on the back of the necks of security/FBI/CIA/military officials/Presidents,etc. to raise we are in danger.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. Really? I've written the very same thing on numerous employee evaluations in the past. You want the

CIA, FBI, and the President to check those people out as well?

[LeFleur1]

13. Damn Right

If that's what it takes. This guy was in a position to harm our troops who had been through horrendous experiences. Any smidgen of unprofessionalism should have had a second look, at the very least.
A second look at anyone exhibiting strange enough behavior to have it noted on an evaluation should be 'evaluated' more thoroughly. If the evaluator is just tossing words around for the heck of it, then someone should 'evaluate' him/her.

[sinkingfeeling]

18. "This guy" is an American citizen, an army officer, and a doctor. His 'unprofessionalism' was for

"his poor attendance record, tardiness and questionable work ethic". Hardly 'strange behavior'

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34044522/ns/us_news-tragedy_at_fort_hood/

Moran concluded that Hasan still could graduate and did not deserve even probation because Hasan was able to improve his behavior once confronted by supervisors. About a year after Moran's memo was written, Hasan was selected for promotion from captain to major, a position that would give him increased pay and responsibilities. He would formally become a major in May 2009 and by July he was on his way to Fort Hood.

Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., said any "telltale signs that he was a disgruntled major were not as apparent as the rumors you've heard." Rooney spoke to reporters after he left Wednesday's classified briefing.

Rooney, a member of the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee and a former Army lawyer, also said Hasan was qualified to be promoted but was in "more toward the bottom third of his class."

[EFerrari]

21. Disorganization is one big fat clue of mental illness.

If his bosses were mechanics or field commanders, maybe I'd feel differently. But these people where PSYCHIATRISTS.

[cali]

25. so you supervise medical doctors?

you're clearly commenting on something you know nothing about.

[atreides1]

11. Lacking judgement and professionalism

In one's occupation does not send up warning signs that you're a potential serial killer, or that you'll strap a bomb to yuorself and walk into a crowded shopping mall.

It just means that you need either remedial training, or some job rehabilitation.

If you could point out the danger signals in this evaluation I would appreciate it.

[dgibby]

14. The person receiving that memo should have:

1. Asked for specific examples of the behavior being described.

2. Based on that info, ordered a complete psych work-up.

3. Notified the appropriate security organizations that he had extremist
views.

I have taken stuff like this up the chain of command many times. If I didn't get what I believed was an appropriate response, I just kept going. I wasn't the most popular kid on the block with the brass sometimes, but I slept well. I also made sure to let the PTB know I was documenting everything, ie, the problem, who I notified, their response, when notification was made, kept copies of all correspondence, etc. Amazing how well that worked. I always followed that old Navy medical dept. adage, "If it's not documented, it's not done".

I don't know about the Army, but the Navy has a Hot Line directly to Washington, where one could anomalously report problems not being addressed at the local command level. If the Army did have this program in place, someone should have utilized it.

[EFerrari]

16. Isn't the writer of this memo saying, I think you people need to watch this guy

because he broaches the subject of supervision directly as the reason he's writing the memo?

I'm thinking that when my ex was still undiagnosed, his psychosis showed up exactly as "poor judgment and lack of professionalism" because he was struggling cognitively, going in and out of shared reality. That presented as eccentricity or being erratic or even absence sometimes -- he was late, he didn't show, he showed up and did poorly and it looked on the outside as if he didn't care enough, i.e., lazy, poor work ethic, sloppy, unprepared.

[dgibby]

17. Exactly!

The onus was on the recipient of the memo to take appropriate action.

The really troubling aspect of this is that Doctors in the military, like their civilian counterparts, have to really screw up to get this kind of evaluation. Everyone knew he was troubled, yet he was not dealt with appropriately.

The saddest part of all of this, notwithstanding the unnecessary deaths and injuries he caused, is that the Army knowingly turned him loose on the very people he viewed as his enemies, ie, those returning from the war.

Seeking psychiatric help is a problem in the military to begin with. I cannot imagine anyone in the Army ever being able to trust a mental health professional again. This is going to set the psych programs back to the Stone Ages.

[starroute]

19. It's not a question of 'warning signs' but of total incompetance

"The memo ticks off numerous problems over the course of Hasan's training, including proselytizing to his patients. It says he mistreated a homicidal patient and allowed her to escape from the emergency room, and that he blew off an important exam. According to the memo, Hasan hardly did any work: He saw only 30 patients in 38 weeks. Sources at Walter Reed say most psychiatrists see at least 10 times that many patients. When Hasan was supposed to be on call for emergencies, he didn't even answer the phone. ... Sharfstein says that in the 25 years he has been supervising and hiring psychiatrists, he has seen only a half-dozen evaluations this bad."

This guy was a walking disaster area. Even if he hadn't started shooting people, his negligance was capable of leading to the death or unnecessary suffering of many of his patients. And it was clearly foreseeable that under the pressure of being sent to a war zone, whatever was awry with him would be greatly magnified.

You don't need to alert Washington in these cases to say "we have a potential terrorist" -- you just need to be able to say "this guy is bad news and we can't afford to keep him around."

Somebody asked downthread whether their keeping Hasan on means the military is broken, and I'm very much afraid it does.

[jdlh8894]

2. Supervisor? In the military? n/t

[Alcibiades]

4. Yes, that's the word for it

People in the military in your chain of command who have supervisory authority are called supervisors.

[jdlh8894]

6. Could have sworn it 's superiors.

on edit: Addressed as Sir or Ma' mm.

[Alcibiades]

9. It's both

I'm sure you're right that superior is the preferred term, but "supervisor" is also used in Army regulations. I don't know if this was always the case, or if this is simply something that has crept in from elsewhere in the government.

[dgibby]

15. Archaic terminology.

The proper terms are juniors and seniors. The term supervisor is correct if that individual is responsible for ensuring your work/performance is up to par. This is especially true in the military medical community, which closely parallels the civilian medical community. Both have a distinct chain of command.

I was in the Navy nurse corps for 22yrs, never thought of anyone as my "superior", but had plenty of "seniors" I had to answer to!

[Alcibiades]

5. So much for the "political correctness" meme

If he were a civilian, he would have been fired. But government employees are protected, and there's a reason these evaluations are carefully worded: government workers have legal rights. Sometimes folks who are incompetent or lazy hide behind those rights, and Hasan was certainly smart enough to do just enough not to get drummed out of the service.

So why was he assigned to his job at Ft. Hood? Because the Army is in desperate need of psychologists and psychiatrists. They are raiding basically every other branch of government that employs ex-military head shrinkers to deploy: there are many, many folks who have had to go two or three times.

[Crowman1979]

8. Our intelligence agencies are more concerned with trivial BS that poses no threat, like protestors.

And they ignore actual threats such as this. Sometimes I think there are some government employees loyal to PNAC who want violent acts like this to happen.

[Ozymanithrax]

10. Is the military so short of people to handle PTSD and other psychological maladies of war...

that they simply could not get rid of Hasan?

Has Iraq/Afghanistan/war or broken the military that all they want is a body that fills a position, no matter how incompetent?

[izzybeans]

12. I wonder if these are the reasons they saw fit to promote him.

Makes you wonder about the stripes on anyone's uniform these days.

[damntexdem]

20. But, but, but ... no one could have imagined!

Sound familiar?

[Crowman1979]

22. That's what all intelligence and law enforcement angencies have always said to cover their own ass!

[EFerrari]

23. It's famously what Condi Liar Rice said to the 9/11 committee when

she had to try to explain the President's Daily Briefing that said "bin Laden determined to strike in the US".

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

24. Not much change.

[47of74]

26. I just saw the CNN clip on this just now

And I thought of Frank Burns right away.