>>>
wealth. "nightly news" begins now.
>>>
good evening. we are learning a lot more tonight about the army psychiatrist, major nidal malik
hasan
, who's accused of killing 13 people and wouning dozens of other at ft. hood in texas. he's off a ventilator in the hospital. sources say he's awake and talking and thus can soon be interviewed. sources also say the feds were on to him and watching him, though many will now say not closely enough. we begin with what we learned tonight. our justice correspondent
pete williams
is in our washington newsroom. pete, good evening.
>>
reporter: brian,
law enforcement
officials say
hasan
actually exchanged e-mails earlier this year with a radical cleric who was well known to
u.s. intelligence
, but this was not considered any kind of a sign, they say, that
hasan
was considering an
act of violence
. early this year when nidal malik
hasan
was still assigned to
walter reed army hospital
outside washington,
u.s. intelligence
officials say he sent an e-mail to a
muslim cleric
living in yemen, anwr al alackey, an outspoken advocate of violent jihad.
>>
the person who's killing has no idea why he's killing.
>>
reporter: he's been closely follow by american intelligence. he's a
u.s. citizen
,
american born
, early
2002
the 9/11 hijackers turned up at a
san diego
mosque, where hes with them an imam. he left in
2002
for yemen and since then in video and online lectures, he's offered justifications for attacks on the west.
>>
he is literally taking
al qaeda
propaganda written by some of
al qaeda
's key leaders and translating it into english, and interpreting it for a western audience.
>>
reporter: al laki's website now calls
hasan
a hero, asking how can there be any dispute about the virtue of what he has done?
law enforcement
officials say
hasan
's e-mail kd a question of the radical imam and got an answer but that the he was general about the role of
muslim soldiers
. it was not, they say, anything specific or threatening. the officials say the army was notified but that no action was taken against
hasan
.
>>
i think there's a real examination signed the
intelligence community
and the army about whether any opportunity was lost to identify
hasan
as a potential problem.
>>
reporter: al laki was was an image at this mosque sometimes attended by
hasan
. today the mosque denounced them both.
>>
we offer no justification for his ungodly and heinous, cowardly
act of violence
.
>>
reporter: at
brooke army medical center
in texas, officials say
hasan
is now off a ventilator and can speak, but he now has a lawyer, a
military veteran
.
>>
until i meet with my client, i've advised appropriate military officials that no interviews, no interrogations should be conducted by
law enforcement
.
>>
reporter: members of congress are already demanding to be cold more about what the army knew about
hasan
before the shooting. the first
congressional hearing
on the shooting is already scheduled for next week, brian.
>>
pete williams
starting us off in d.c. tonight. pete, thanks for that.
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