Lawmaker: Report threats in the ranks - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Lawmaker: Report threats in the ranks

The U.S. lawmaker whose congressional district includes Fort Hood, Texas, has introduced a bill he hopes will encourage service members to report potentially dangerous people to law enforcement agencies.

The bill, HR 4267, extends whistleblower protection rights to service members who tell defense investigators or law enforcement officials of their concerns about someone in their chain of command who might have dangerous ideological views that post a threat.

Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, the chief sponsor of the bill, said, “If a military service member believes any person poses a clear and present danger to the military or the public, they need to be assured that reporting the danger or taking decisive action to prevent an attack is protected under the same whistleblower regulations as those for reporting suspected sexual harassment or mismanagement of funds or resources.”

Carter spokesman John Stone said the Nov. 5 shooting at Fort Hood — where an Army officer, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, is alleged to have opened fire on soldiers in a processing center — might have been avoided had some of Hasan’s current and former colleagues reported suspicions about his beliefs about U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A statement from Carter’s office says that so-called “political correctness” may have preventing warnings from being made. “Members were afraid of being accused of ‘profiling’ based on religious and ethnic grounds, which could be a career-killing offense,” the statement says.

“Never again should we allow all the glaring warning signs of a Major Hasan to be ignored,” Carter said in his statement. “This bill should close the door on excuses for preventative action, and should help us all recognize that we cannot allow political correctness to cost another American life.”

Current whistleblower protection for military members applies to situations where a service member is reporting waste, fraud or abuse or some other illegal action to military investigators or to members of Congress, and does not specifically cover law enforcement.

Under the protective umbrella of the law, the person who reports a problem cannot be punished in any way, including demotion, denial of promotion, reassignment to new or lesser duties, or denial of a reassignment. A person who believes they have faced reprisal is able to file a complaint about mistreatment, and if their claim is upheld, the adverse action can be undone.

Carter’s bill, which has eight original cosponsors, was referred to the House Armed Services Committee for action. Congressional aides said they do not expect the bill to be considered before the committee holds hearings into the Fort Hood shooting, which have been delayed at the Defense Department’s request while a criminal investigation continues.

Hasan has been charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder for the shooting, in which 13 people were killed and more than 30 injured.