WASHINGTON – Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., issued the following statement Thursday in memory of 13 Department of Defense employees who were slain and the scores who were wounded during the Fort Hood terrorist attack on November 5, 2009:
“We remember this day with sorrow in our hearts for the 13 victims of a terrorist attack last November, for the dozens of wounded, for their families, and for the greater Fort Hood community. Like September 11, November 5 will always be a reminder of the price of defending our freedoms and of the sweeping intolerance of our fanatic and murderous enemies.
“Last November, we launched a bipartisan investigation into the circumstances leading up to the Fort Hood attacks. We have agreed on findings, reached conclusions, and made recommendations, and are now working with the Administration before we issue the report to ensure it does not compromise classified material.
“Together, we have concluded that the Fort Hood shooting spree by an officer of the U.S. Army may have been prevented had the government acted on information in its possession.
“Our report will show that our domestic intelligence system must be strengthened in order to counter the threat of homegrown terrorism, and that our military must have zero tolerance for the expression of violent Islamist extremism in its ranks.
“This anniversary – and last week’s interception of bombs made in and sent from Yemen to Chicago synagogues – reminds us that foreign and homegrown terrorists are actively seeking to strike us again. We have had successes in foiling terrorist plots, but the country must understand that violent Islamist extremism is a clear and present danger in an ongoing battle that we must and will win.”
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