Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al Awlaki described both the Fort Hood Shooter and the Christmas Day bomber as his “students” in a tape released this weekend, according to press reports. This is not surprising – the evidence tying Awlaki to both terrorists has continued to mount. But Awlaki’s comments highlight, once again, the U.S. Intelligence Community’s many failures in investigating the al Qaeda cleric. The Obama administration should declassify as much information about Awlaki’s ties to these attacks (as well as previous ones) as possible, because American authorities have repeatedly failed to detect Awlaki’s hand until it was too late. The public has a right to see the evidentiary threads that were missed — in particular, Awlaki’s emails with Major Nidal Malik Hasan.
With respect to Major Hasan, Reuters quotes Awlaki as saying: “Nidal was my student … I’m proud of Nidal Hasan and this was a heroic act.”
