Fort Hood Shooting
Jose A. Gonzalez
HSM 433

October 1, 2012

Fort Hood Shooting
Brief Description of Attack
On November 5, 2009 at approximately 1:30 p.m., a gunman opens fire inside the base's Soldier Readiness Center at U.S. Army Base, Fort Hood, Texas. Soldier Readiness Center, is where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening (http://search.proquest.com). During the shooting the gunman killed 13 and wounded 31 others. The gunman was shot and wounded by base police during the incident. This was the first time that an attack like this has happened in a military base on U.S. soil. All the soldiers and civilians inside of the Soldier Readiness Center were unarmed at the time of …show more content…

After the Fort Hood shooting investigators did not find any clear signs that Hasan would commit a terrorist attack. But they did indicate that the FBI should have questioned him about his connection to Awlaki. A news article from July 2011 stated that “American counterterrorism officials have long worried about the possibility of a “lone wolf” jihadist committing a terrorist attack. Such individuals, inspired by ideology alone, can come out of nowhere. And if they are truly unconnected to the international terrorist network then they can be undetectable, setting off no warning bells before their day of terror (http://www.weeklystandard.com).
There is no clear definition of what a lone wolf terrorist is or how to identify a lone wolf terrorist. But it is clear that Hasan acted alone and that he was inspired by the jihadist ideology. Even though his coworkers expressed concerns about Hasan’s ideas and beliefs, he never showed any signs that he would commit mass murder.
It is still unknown what exactly Hasan goal was for committing the shooting, but one thing is for sure. By committing a terrorist attack inside one of the U.S. Military’s biggest military bases, he sent a clear message to the American people. The message was “No One Is Safe”. When the War on Terror began the U.S. Military knew that this war would be different from any other ever fought by the