Dept. of Defense OKs Fort Hood Recommendations
On Thursday the Department of Defense announced actions it would take to "address gaps and deficiencies in personnel policies, force protection measures, emergency response, mass casualty preparedness and support to Department of Defense health care providers."
Army Maj. Midal Malik Hasan is accused of opening fire at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009. Thirteen people died from wounds sustained during the shooting. More than 30 were injured. The violence is believed to be the worst mass shooting in history at a U.S. military base.
A panel chaired by former Army secretary Togo D. West, Jr., and retired Adm. Vern Clark, the former chief of naval operations, made 79 recommendations after the Fort hood shooting. The actions taken by the Department of Defense will follow up on 26 of the recommendations, according to a Department of Defense press release. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense & Americas' Security Affairs Paul Stockton will make recommendations on the remaining 53 in June, according to the press release.
The press release detailed four actions explicitly. Those actions include: a) expanding a pilot program to "fully deploy eGuardian as the [Department of Defense]-wide force protection threat reporting system to handle suspicious incident activities;" b) completing "the deployment of the Law Enforcement Defense Data Exchange system;" c) establishing "the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas' Security Affairs as the [Department of Defense] lead for the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force program;" d) strengthening the" [Department of Defense]'s antiterrorism training program."
Details of the actions to be taken on each recommendation can be read here.
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