Five months after the shocking attack on military centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the decision on whether to award five slain service members and one survivor the Purple Heart medal hangs in limbo from bureaucracy, indefinitely. TK and could be TK  It's been more than five months since the attack on a recruiting station and a reserve center in Chattanooga claimed the lives of four Marines and a sailor, and officials say the decision to award the victims and wounded the Purple Heart is indefinitely in limbo. 

The FBI's top official Director James Comey suggested the final report from the joint FBI/Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation into the Chattanooga shootings may never be made public. The Navy is waiting for that report to assess whether the four Marines and sailor were killed by a shooter with ties to a foreign terror organization, as required by law to award the Purple Heart.

Award experts say the interminable limbo is unfair to the families of the fallen, especially after the recent case in which an airmen was awarded the Purple Heart only weeks after heroically thwarting a terror attack on a train in France.

"There is definitely a fairness issue," said awards expert Doug Sterner. "The Air Force moved quickly because this is one of their heroes."

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, Lance Cpl. Squire K. Wells, Staff Sgt. David Wyatt and Sgt. Carson Holmquist were killed at Navy Operational Support Center Chattanooga on July 16, and Navy Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Randall Smith died on July 18 from wounds sustained during the shooting. Marine Sgt. DeMonte Cheeley was shot in the leg and later recovered. All have been officially put in for Purple Hearts packages for the five slain and one wounded were prepared in the weeks following the attacks, but the Navy and Marine Corps have said they are waiting on the FBI to definitively draw a line between foreign terror and shooter Muhammad Abdulazeez.

Long delays in awarding the Purple Heart are are have become typical in cases where service members are killed or wounded in stateside shootings, an award once considered only for injury on the battlefield. The awarding of the Purple Heart in particular has become controversial because it has always been a battlefield award. But as America and the world grapple with terror groups that try to incite attacks against troops at home, come to grips with terror groups an ever-deepening global war on terror, the Purple Heart's role in honoring those wounded in these battlegrounds is convoluted —  in battle has become confused – bogged down in bureaucracy, semantics and an evolving definition of terrorism.

In the case of the 2009 Fort Hood shootings at the hands of Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan, who had been in contact with al-Qaida Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, it took more than five years and an act of Congress to award the Purple Hearts to the victims. But more recently, Staff Sgt. Airman 1st Class Spencer Stone was awarded the Purple Heart within weeks of being wounded while breaking up a terrorist attack on a French train while on leave with his friends, with the investigation in the early stages.

The FBI continues its wide-ranging criminal investigation of Chattanooga shooter Muhammad Abdulazeez, a naturalized American citizen, whose attack may have been incited by or aided by foreign terrorists organizationsBut according to multiple sources, the determination is still months away at best, and FBI Director James Comey suggested Nov. 13 that the final report on the Chattanooga shootings mayight never be made public.

"I don't know if we will be in a position to release that publicly," Comey told the Associated Press, in a transcript provided to Navy Times. "It would be good if we could lean forward trying to get as much information out as possible. We're not done; we are still trying to make sure we understand Abdulazeez, his motivations and associations, in a really good way."

In many ways, the military's awards system is still trying to catch up to evolving terror tactics that target troops at home and off-base, such as the so-called Islamic State's "hit list" that urged attacks against 100 American troops., like the But what makes it even more opaque is the seemingly arbitrary way the award is meted out.

A new law allows the Navy secretary to award Purple Hearts to sailors and Marines injured in

Congress recently changed the regulations around issuing the Purple Heart to service members killed instateside terrorist attacks, which would allow Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to award the medals, but his office is still waiting to hear the conclusions from the investigation.

"The Department of the Navy's award process, while sometimes lengthy, is designed to ensure compliance with federal law — in this instance, a determination that the attack was carried out by an individual in communication with a foreign terrorist organization before the attack and that the attack was inspired or motivated by a foreign terrorist organization — and fairness to all service members being considered for any award," said Mabus's spokesman Lt. Eric Durie, a spokesman for Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.

"Part of the process in the case of Chattanooga is allowing the FBI's investigation to run its course. Once the FBI's detailed investigation is complete, and we have reviewed all applicable information, we will make our final award determination."

The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act gave service secretaries broader authority to awardissue the Purple Heart. The language of the law says the perpetrator whas to be in contact with and inspired by a foreign terrorist organization, but the law does not necessarily tie Mabus's decision to a law enforcement determination, according to a congressional staff member who spoke on background, under the 2015 law.

Tennessee Sens. Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander both expressed support for awarding the Chattanooga victims all due honors.

"The men we lost on July 16 in the deadly attack in Chattanooga exemplify the very best that America has to offer, and I am confident they will continue to be appropriately honored," Corker said.

Alexander said he would be watching Mabus's decision.

"The Marines and sailor who lost their lives and the Marine recruiter who was wounded in the Chattanooga attack deserve every honor to which the Navy determines these brave servicemen are entitled," Alexander said. "The Navy's investigation is still underway and I look forward to the Secretary's decision."

'Terrorism is terrorism'

The latestrecent precedents for awarding the Purple Heart are is all over the map, and critics say the handling of these cases can be politicized when the military is looking to keep a story in the news cycle.

French President Francois Hollande declared the attack on the TGV train a terrorist attack right away way and issued Stone and his two travelling companions the nation's highest award, the Legion of Honor, within days. That put pressure on the Air Force to move quickly, said military decorations expert Doug Sterner, who manages Military Times' Hall of Valor awards database.

"There is definitely a fairness issue," he said. "The Air Force moved quickly because this is one of their heroes," Sterner said. "DoD has a precedent established by the Air Force in regards to the Purple Heart. This is an example of why this consistency becomes necessary."

The most comparable precedent is the 2009 attack on a Little Rock, Arkansas, recruiting station that killed one soldier and wounded another is perhaps even more relevant to the awarding of the Purple Heart to the Chattanooga victims. In that attack The shooter, an American named Abdulhakim Muhammad, had traveled in Yemen and claimed he was part of al-Qaida Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, though there was no evidence that he had ever interacted with the group.

Former Then-Army Secretary John McHugh awarded the two soldiers the Purple Heart in April 2015, along with the Fort Hood victims, under the expanded authority of the 2015 NDAA, despite not having a solid connection to overseas terrorism.

Service members and congressmen alike have complained about the bureaucratic and seemingly arbitrary awards policy.

Joe Kasper, chief of staff to California Republican Rep.resentative Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said in a telephone interview that Hunter's office has fielded dozens of calls from constituents and service members who say the awards system is broken.

"There is example after example of these cases getting dragged out, and there is consensus across the Defense Department that this system is broken," Kasper said in a phone interview.

Hunter, a former Marine and combat veteran, has been a vocal critic of the military's and its handling of awards, and has said it is eroding contributing to a lack of trust in senior leaders, DoD-wide. Hunter blasted the Army in February after it stripped a former Army Special Forces major of his Silver Star when questions arose about a questionable killing in Afghanistan, a man the major claimed was a known bomb maker.

Kasper said his office believes that the Chattanooga victims should be awarded the Purple Heart, because they were targeted specifically for being service members.

"Terrorism is terrorism and we're in a global fight against terrorism," he said. "If you do wait for law enforcement, it will be years and it won't change what we all know will ultimately happen: these guys are going to be awarded the Purple Heart.

"In the end, what the FBI comes up with doesn't matter because the fact is that they were killed because they were service members and that's the bottom line."

David B. Larter was the naval warfare reporter for Defense News.

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